Taft Union High School adds 5 to Hall of Fame

A painter, oilman, pitcher, signer and a driller will join a cast of distinguished Taft High School alums in the school’s Hall of Fame.
The new class of honorees, who will be inducted next March during a campus ceremony, were announced by Hall of Fame Committee chairman Dick Snyder.

Curt Barnes (Class of  1960)

Curt Barnes was born in Taft and completed his B.A. in painting from the University of California at Berkeley in 1964.  He then finished an M.F.A. at Pratt Institute in 1966 and settled in Manhattan.  He has exhibited at OK Harris in New York and in other galleries and museums in the United States, Europe, South America and Asia.  He has been awarded major grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, 1993-94, the Sam and Adele Golden Foundation in 2003 and has taught at several American campuses, including Fordham University at Lincoln Center.  Barnes’s work focuses on curved, constructed abstract ar, which intensify the physicality of painting and its inherent illusionism.  He has pieces permanently presented in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Charles Beard (Class of 1957)

Shortly after high school Charles entered the Navy where he served for a number of years. After Charlie's Navy days were over he began working in the oil well service business for a local contractor. He started General Production Service Inc., in 1967. Bought a vacuum truck Service company in 1974 and he started many other companies (Midway Completion&Drilling Fluids in 1976, partner in Herko Pump in 1980, Taft National Bank in 1983, Virco Ready Mix in 1987, Southwest Ready Mix in 1991 and three corporations in Branson, Missouri 1992.
In the 90's he had grown to over 400 employees however in 1998 he began downsizing. After 44 years in business he's now semi retired. He turned the running of General Production Service, Inc. day to day operations over to Rusty Risi, a long time employee that came to GPS  from New York in 1979 and has learned the business very well.
In 2011 Charlie made Rusty his partner and the company now employs over 250 people.
More remarkable than all the jobs he has provided over the year is Charles Beard's ability to quietly “make things happen.” One doesn't need to ask: he sees a public need and he responds to it. He has been a core figure in this community sustaining the Taft Oildorado Day's celebrations, the Oilworkers Monument, Little League baseball, Camp Condor and the annual Bike Giveaway. Beard has been a quite partner in supporting many other projects that he recognized as needing help.
He is an accomplished businessman, community leader and a proud investor in the future of Taft's youth.

Les Haney (Class of 1942)

For more than 65 years, when one speaks of fast-pitch softball in Taft, the first name that surfaces is Les (The Arm) Haney.  At age 12, Les drew a circle on his garage door and began practicing pitches. Three years later he pitched with the Belridge Oilers in the National Championships in Detroit.  He earned a citation in Ripley’s “Believe it or Not” by striking out all 27 batters he faced (two foul tips) in 1945.  In the summer of 1948, he led the Taft Merchants to the World Softball Championship.  Haney’s rising fastball was clocked at 115 mph, and he used it along with a drop which curved in two directions to overwhelm batters. In one year, pitching for Hanford, he averaged 21 strikeouts for 43 consecutive games.  He was selected for All-World honors multiple times, is a member of the Bob Elias Sports’ Hall of Fame and the International Softball Congress Hall of Fame.

DeAnn Sampley (Class of 1972)

Following her graduation from Cal State Northridge, DeAnn Sampley earned her M.A degree in curriculum development and began her professional work of bringing American Sign Language into the lives of both instructors and students.  While teaching at Bakersfield College she developed curriculum recognition for ASL as a foreign language and developed an ASL lab, which served more than 300 students. In 1993, she co-founded Children to Love International (CLI), a Romanian Foundation, which addresses the needs of abandoned and abused children in seven different orphanages in Romania. This work addresses in particular those children who are deaf or hard of hearing, and annually brings American graduates in ASL to spend time in Romania assisting these youngsters in need.  Sampley is currently seeking to have the CLI partner with the Romanian government in efforts to join the European Union and protect its orphans more fully.


William H. Silcox (Class of 1940)

William Silcox blended military service during WW II, with pursuit of his engineering degree, which he received from UC-Berkeley in 1947.  He spent his career with Standard Oil developing high volume lifting technology designed to permit oil production by drilling from offshore platforms.  In 1967, he was placed in charge of all Standard Oil offshore drilling technology development.  When he began his career, deep water drilling could reach as deep as a human diver could be safely kept below the surface: 250 feet.  Silcox’s 12 patents, along with his professional leadership in developing tools and technology led directly to undersea drilling being able to reach depths of 2,400 feet.  His techniques became essential elements of deep water drilling wherever it might occur.   After retirement, Silcox continued to consult with companies, eventually being hired as vice president for technology at Wellstream Corporation. For that company he developed a successful high pressure, deep water, flexible pipe essential to underwater oil flows.  His design is now used around the world.   In 1986, Silcox was elected to the United States National Academy of Engineering.