FOOTBALL 1954-'56
All CIF
All Tri-Valley League
Kiwanis Most Valuable Player
American Legion Most Valuable Lineman

Santa Barbara City College

San Francisco State University

TENNIS 1956-'57

BASKETBALL 1955-'56

The 1965 Warrior football team is best remembered as the team coached by USC great, Marv Goux. Goux led the Warriors to the Tri-Valley League championship and a playoff birth against South Pasadena. Two members of that 1956 football team are presently enshrined in the Warrior Hall of Fame, center Rudy Duarte, and halfback Danny Velasquez. Duarte was one of two down linemen, the first in Warrior history, to be selected by the Helms Foundation to the prestigious All CIF Football Team for 1956. The other selectee that year was this year’s Hall of Fame nominee, John Kuizenga.

Kuizenga played on three Tri-Valley League championship teams, 1954, 1955, and 1956. During his senior year, Kuizenga developed into one of the most formidable tackles to ever play Warrior football. He was voted by the league coaches to the All Tri-Valley Team.

He made all CIF. The Kiwanis selected John as that year’s most valuable football player. The American Legion selected him as the most valuable Warrior lineman.

Besides being a ferocious blocker and tackler on the football team, many of John’s classmates remember him for his talent on the tennis court. He earned two varsity tennis letters, three in football, two in basketball, and one in track, giving him a total of nine career varsity letters.
John is the third of four children born to Reverend Eldred and Elizabeth Kuizenga in Dover, New Jersey. The Kuizenga family moved to Carpinteria when John was five years old. He attended Aliso and Main schools before entering Carpinteria High School as a freshman.

In 1957, following high school graduation, John attended Santa Barbara City College for two years earning varsity letters in football and tennis. From Santa Barbara City College, Kuizenga transferred to San Francisco State University, again playing football and tennis for two years. Following San Francisco State University, he spent two years in the U. S. Navy playing defensive end for the Newport Islanders of the U. S. Military Base League.

Kuizenga earned his B. A. degree from UCSB and is at present a psychomotor/Adaptive P. E. Specialist for the Goleta Union School District. He has two daughters, Maria, who works as a Design Specialist for the Bureau of Land management in Fairbanks, Alaska, and Marisa, who is a senior at UCSB majoring in Art History.

Asked what his fondest and worst memories are in participating in Warrior Athletics, John is proud of playing on a football team that, except for CIF competition, went undefeated for three years. His worst memory was the “fear of losing”. His two most memorable teachers/coaches at Carpinteria High School were his English teacher, Miss Marjorie Holmes for forcing him to transcend sports, girlfriends, and cars., and from Coach Schotz, Kuizenga remembers the emphasis he placed on honesty, integrity, morality, and that the code of ethics you live by will build character.