Pete Rivers*

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Pete Rivers came to the Napa Valley in 1950 from Oklahoma, where he was a living legend as a high school and college athlete and a high school coach. The Napa High School Athletic Hall of Fame is the fifth Hall of Fame to recognize the talents of Rivers. He was previously honored by Kingfisher High School, where he was an All-State running back, at Oklahoma State University, where he was an All-Conference performer for three years and honorable mention All-American for two years, The Jim Thorpe Hall of Fame, and the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Indiana. During his time at Napa, Rivers coached football and track. His first assignment was coaching football at Napa Jr. High in 1951. He also coached track at Napa Jr. High from 1951 to 1953. In 1954, he coached track at Napa High. In 1952, he served as assistant coach to Paul Lathrop at Napa J.C. From 1954 to 1959, he was head coach at Ridgeview Jr. High. He became head football coach at Napa High in 1960 and continued that role until 1969. In 1960 and 1961, Napa was undefeated against teams in the NBL. After rejoining the North Bay League in 1962, the 1963 and 1964 teams won the NBL titles, only the third and fourth Napa teams to win outright titles in the old NBL. His overall 58% winning record at the school is among the best of former coaches. Rivers graduated from Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University) and holds a Masters Degree in Education from the same school. He served in the Navy for over four years during World War II. Among his earlier honors was his selection as a halfback on the 1930s Oklahoma Team of the Decades.