On Saturday, March 10, 2018 in Visalia, Cerritos College assistant football coach Frank Montera was inducted into the California Community College Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
From 1972-2003, Montera was a member of the Falcon football coaching staff and then returned in 2015, where he has served as a part-time assistant. During his time on the staff, Cerritos has appeared in 16 post-season bowl games (8-8 record), while they have won five conference titles.
Coach Montera, who has been a coach at some level for the last 54 years, started his career at the University of Colorado as a graduate assistant after playing for the Buffaloes, where he was a member of the 1962 Big Eight Championship team and played in the 1962 Orange Bowl. Montera received an athletic scholarship to Colorado, where he earned three varsity letters in football and baseball.
He then moved on to Downey High School for two seasons before being hired at El Rancho High School for another two seasons. In 1965, he helped El Rancho win the CIF Championship and posted a 13-0 record. Montera was then hired as a defensive coach at Santa Monica College, where he stayed from 1968 until his hiring with the Falcons in 1972.
Upon his retirement due to hip replacement surgery from Cerritos, where he also served as the department's Athletic Coordinator and a math instructor, Montera became a volunteer varsity football coach at Mayfair High Schol for 12 years. The head coach at the time was his son Pete, who was a Falcon quarterback from 1989-90. Montera and his wife, Kendel (pictured, left) have been married 54 years.
Montera is the 10th former Cerritos player or coach to be inducted into the CCCFCA Hall of Fame and joins Ron Yary (inducted in 1985), Ray Wersching (1987), Joe Gibbs (1988), Bill Nelson (1990), Jim Zorn (1995), Don Hall (2001), Jeff Tedford (2008), Warren Simmons (2008) and Bob Newton (2014).