The Almaden Valley Rotary club approached Jim Guido of the San Jose Police Activities League with an idea for a summer all-star football game for recently graduated high school seniors.

The two organizations got together to make it happen, and on Aug. 8, 1974, the finest high school football players from the '74 graduating class got together for the first game of its kind, played that summer at San Jose State University's Spartan Stadium.

Well, it was a good idea then, and it's still a good idea today. The Rotary Club will present the 30th annual Silicon Valley Youth Classic Charlie Wedemeyer High School All-Star Football Game.

The all-star game with the long name will return to the popular San José City College field on July 21, 7:30 p.m.

The game, called the "Best Game in Town," has featured such National Football League stars as Jeff Garcia of the Cleveland Browns, Doug Cosbie of the Dallas Cowboys, Jeff Toews of the Miami Dolphins, John Tuggle and Erik Howard of the New York Giants, the late Pat Tillman of the Arizona Cardinals and more.

Local stars set to play in this year's edition of the all-star classic include running back Danny Bates, linebacker Ivan Batinich and offensive linemen Chris Danser and Ryan Lecznar of Los Gatos, and wide receiver Tom Bingham and lineman Erik Schlief of Leigh.

Former local stars who have participated in the summer classic include:

Los Gatos

1974—Gary Lynn; 1975—Steve Hosmer, Pat Geary; 1976—John Breidenthal; 1978—Kirk Fraley; 1979—Jeff Petulla; 1980—Kent Cooper; 1981—Tom Havens; 1982—Dave Bearden, Al Schwimmer, A.J. Mathhews; 1983—Joshua Hatch, Orrin Childs; 1984—Dan Leonis, Stu Bailey; 1985—Brock Bowman, Todd Mayo, David Palaniuk, Pat Smith, Jeff Blaisdell; 1986—Jeff Borgese, Steve Priest, John Cundy, Leigh Haring; 1987—Marc Bresniker, Gary Norquist, Spencer Boyer; 1988—Mark Magee, Joe Farwell, Barry Teigen; 1989—Steve Lombardi, Matt Lemiere, Jim Copeland; 1990—Bill Berk, Jason Hallady, Max Fancher, Dave Hoffner, Burt Prentice; 1991—Trevor Wilson, Robert MacGregor, Sam Partovi, Ian Stone; 1992—Darren Fisk, Joe O'Hehir, Travis Rodgers; 1993—Brad Sanfilippo, Joe Musser, Cory Maday, Mark Cox, Ryan Marcos; 1994—Jim Lombardi, Dion Mejia, Chad Nelson; 1995—Jeremy Barth, Gus Farwell, Derek Krug, Gavin Hayes, Paul Willmes; 1996—John Giordano, Scott Grover, Manuel Neno; 1997—Josh Rogers, Doug Miller, Carlos Lanuza, Jeremy Malander; 1998—John Stengele, Alan Rosa, Austin Glover, Charlie Cucco, Enzo Iacomini, Mike Manson, Fred Luminozo; 1999—Ryan Sorahan, Chris Cavanagh, Austin Neale; 2000—Jared Allen, Mike Belsheim, Nick Cisowski, Ben Winkleman; 2001—Nick McAlpine, Nick Skrabe; 2002—Scott Cohn, Nick Crafford, Trent Edwards, Jon Espe, Geno Gingery, Chris Willard; 2003—John Allen, Dennis Freeman, Travis Howell, Andrew O'Gorman, Alex Rollin, Derek Tam.

Leigh

1974—Rick Foley, Jeff Beeson, Steve Leonard, Tom Clark; 1976—Steve McGarry; 1978—Bob Leal, Brian Usry; 1979—Mark Mena; 1980—Joseph Valenti; 1981—Ken Caminiti, Nicholas Neri; 1982—David Pruitt; 1984—Dino Sontag; 1986—Derek Rosas; 1987—Keith Usry; 1988—Dan Hall, Don Vigeant, Carl Cardarelli; 1989—David Mackey; 1990—Dave Dyer; 1991—Frank Mazzola; 1992—James Mazzone, Joe Cattolico, John Cerda; 1993—Clint Semon, Tom Stone; 1994—Brian Fong, Ronell Duffie; 1995—Chris Guthrie, Kevin Millering, Bryon Bratcher; 1996—Tim Garner, Patrick Guthrie, Scott Whiteford; 1997—Dan Ljepava; 1998—Kyle Padia, Kiijuan Fuselier, Sean Nagy; 1999—Ben Trap, Iszik Clarke, Jeremy Fowler, Adam Labare; 2000—Brendan Floyd; 2001—Kasey Padia, Derek Marquardt, Byron Taplin; 2002—Michael Crooks, James Murdock; 2003—Thomas DeLash, Bryon Face, Chris Galvez, Chris Orozco, Ruben Rodriguez, Mohammed Zahriya.