2017 Cerritos College Hall of Fame Inductees

Distinguished Coach - Jeff Smith (Wrestling) - After spending 21 years as the Cerritos College wrestling coach, Jeff Smith spent seven years as the department's Athletic Director. In his time as the wrestling coach, Smith led the Falcons to 12 South Coast Conference championships, as well as one State Championship (1995) and two dual meet state championships. Prior to winning the state championship, his teams had finished in second place at the state championships for three straight seasons. During his tenure as the Falcons head coach, Smith posted a 212-32-2 record, coached 22 individual state champions during his tenure, 75 All-Americans, while his teams also won seven Southern California championships. As a collegiate wrestler, Smith was a State Champion and All-American for the Falcons during the 1966-67 season while posting a 65-4 record on the mat. He then moved onto Michigan State University where he went 50-2, was a two-time Big Ten Champion, finished second and third at the NCAA National Championships, while also being named the conference's Most Outstanding Wrestler. Also a two-time All-American, Smith went on to win national titles in Freestyle and Greco Roman styles of wrestling and was a four-time USA Wrestling All-American. He was also Pan American Games gold medal winner in free style wrestling and was an alternate on the 1972 Olympic Team.




Distinguished Male Athlete - Lorenzo Romar (Basketball) - From 1976-78, Lorenzo Romar was a men's basketball player and earned All-South Coast Conference recognition as a sophomore. He was recruited to play at the University of Washington before being drafted by the Golden State Warriors in the NBA and had a five-year professional career that saw him play for three teams. Romar then embarked on his coaching career after a stint playing and coaching for Athletes in Action. While still playing, and early on in his coaching career, Romar was regularly the keynote speaker at the Cerritos men's basketball banquets and was readily available to the program and provided insight and guidance for the student-athletes. He then served as an assistant coach on the 1995 NCAA National Championship team at UCLA and has since gone on to serve as the head coach at Pepperdine University, Saint Louis University and is currently in his 15th season as the head coach at the University of Washington and has a 289-174 record. Spanning 20 seasons, Romar has a career head coaching record of 382-189 and has guided his Huskies teams to three Sweet 16 appearances and nine post-season appearances in his coaching career. He was also named the PAC-10 Coach of the Year twice, as well as the PAC-12 Coach of the Year in 2012. After starting the 2017-18 season as the Associate Head Coach at the University of Arizona, Romar was named the head coach at Pepperdine University.



Distinguished Female Athlete - April Brown (Track & Field) - As a sprinter on Cerritos College track and field team from 2002-03, April Brown set and broke her own records in the 100 meters and 200 meters numerous times. She went on to win the state championship in the 100 meters both years, while she won the state title in the 200 meters as a sophomore, as well as running a leg of the 400-meter relay team. Brown is the only sprinter in Falcon history to win the state championship in both events. Her times of 11.41 in the 100 meters and 23.91 in the 200 meters were school records until 2013, and she ran a leg of the top three times in school history in the 400-meter relay and is part of the third-fastest 1600-meter relay time in Cerritos history. She transferred to Cal State Los Angeles and won the 2006 NCAA Division II 60-meter Indoor National Championship with an NCAA Championship record time of 7.43.