But as great as he was for the San Francisco 49ers, there is one honor that's going to Meckenstock that Montana can never even hope to achieve—induction into the Los Gatos High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

Suzy Meckenstock will be among the first 14 athletes recognized with induction into the newly created Athletic Hall of Fame at the high school during ceremonies to be held May 1 at the LaRinconada Country Club.

"I think it's great," she said of her induction into the Los Gatos Hall. "I'm very honored to be part of it."

The induction, interestingly enough, will be held only about a driver and a 5-iron from where she was raised in the LaRinconada Drive home of her parents, Pam Meckenstock and the late Peter Meckenstock.

Suzy grew up roaming the fairways of LaRinconada where she developed as an accomplished golfer. As a youngster, she played in the town's age group soccer programs and she swam for the West Valley Aquatic Team.

But when she enrolled as a freshman at Los Gatos High in the fall of 1978, she decided to give another sport a try. Her father, Peter, had been a good enough basketball player to play a season of college ball at Kansas, so Suzy decided that it might be the right sport for her, too. She was right.

By the end of her freshman season in the winter of 1979, she was up on the varsity as a member of the famed Orange Crush. And the rest, as they say, is Los Gatos High School sports history.

She would go on to accomplish a feat not matched in any boys or girls sport at the high school before or since—she was named the Most Valuable Player in the West Valley Athletic League for three straight seasons.

Meckenstock was the league MVP and an all-Central Coast Section second-team pick as both a sophomore and a junior, but those honors paled in comparison to what she accomplished as a senior.

The high-scoring guard/forward led the Orange Crush to league, CCS and Northern California championships as a senior. She was not only the MVP of the WVAL, but also the CCS and Northern California. She was named to the all-tournament team at the NorCal finals, earned a place on the All-State first team, was named to the south team in the Santa Clara Valley all-star game and won All-American honorable mention recognition.

Still, even 20 years later, the consummate team player downplays her role on that squad and stresses the importance of team play as the key to the Orange Crush success.

"That was really neat to play for that team," she said. "We were undefeated and really worked as a team."

"I remember a lot of people came in to talk to us about things like leadership," she added. "That's helped me a lot even today in my career and in my parenting, too."

Suzy, the vice president of finance for an area software company, is married to Santa Clara University assistant men's basketball coach, Steve Seandel, and the couple has three children, 8-year-old Jessica and 5-year-old twins Jake and Korie. The family has settled in Los Gatos.

Meckenstock, who still plays basketball in a competitive adult league in Campbell, earned a scholarship to Santa Clara University and played well enough in her four seasons as a starter there to earn a place in the Bronco Athletic Hall of Fame.

In addition to starring on the basketball court for the Orange Crush, Meckenstock was a pioneer of sorts in the sport of golf at the high school. There was no girls program at the time, but she was good enough to earn a place in the state golf tournament for girls as a high school senior. Her performance and the efforts of others to follow led to the formation of the team that exists at the high school for girls today.

Still, it's as a basketball player that Suzy Meckenstock will be forever remembered as she takes a step the great Joe Montana will never take—into the Los Gatos High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

Tickets for the Hall of Fame dinner are priced at $75. For ticket information, call the Los Gatos Athletic Association at 408.395.2002, or Mark Magagna at 408.354.2730, ext. 320.