Hal Sears - Pillar of Achievement

It has happened many times before. A young man walked into the football office at Glendale College and talks to a coach about playing for the Vaqueros. He is new to the city, fresh out of the service and plays two years before transferring to the University of Miami.

In this instance that player was Hal Sears, weeks out of the Navy in 1969 who found himself on the Glendale College campus with a few friends who were planning on taking classes. They encouraged Sears to think about playing football and signing up for classes.

“It really was the best thing for me that I ended up at Glendale College because it was a nice community to live in and a good team to play for. Head Coach Lou Massei was very welcoming to me and I made a lot of good friends through that experience,’’ said Sears, who played for the Vaqueros in 1969-70and was an all-conference linebacker. “I had not played football since high school and had attended the University of Connecticut for a short time before I entered the service in 1966, but I got acclimated quickly and really enjoyed my experience at Glendale College. It served me well for the rest of my life.’’

An inductee as a pillar of achievement for the hall of fame class of 2013, Sears has had the kind of career that is the essence of this category. He transferred to the University of Miami following his stint at Glendale and played for the Hurricanes in 1971-72, including one game as a junior linebacker against Notre Dame when he had 26 tackles, 21 unassisted and earned All-American honors that season. He was inducted into the Miami Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.

He joined the Miami Dade Fire Department in 1976 as a paramedic, retired six years ago and was part of three major emergency relief efforts domestically including the Oklahoma City bombing in April,1995, Hurricane Katrina in August,1995 and the Twin Towers disaster in New York on Sept 11, 2001as well as providing aid internationally.

Sears’ impressive background also includes a 15-year stint as a grinder on several boats that participated in America’s Cup races from 1986 to 2001 in locals from San Diego to Australia and New Zealand and participated in his last regatta in Sardinia, Italy in 2000. He said that the grinder spot is the focal point on the boat where the labor intensive spot functions much like the players on a football team, having to work together to achieve success.

Happily retired in Florida, Sears said he spends most of his time traveling in the family RV towing a jeep or taking his bike out for some off road fun and said that the honor of returning to Glendale for the hall of fame brings back a flood of memories, “The opportunity to comeback to Glendale College for this occasion means a lot because I get to reconnect with players and coaches who played a big role in my career. I have a background as a football player, working as a fire fighter and in sailing and those are all team activities where success depends on people working together,’’ Sears said. “All of these people in my life have meant so much to me and the chance to relive the Glendale experience means a great deal to me and will be something I will never forget.”