Playing in three World Cups and becoming the only two-time winner of the U.S. Soccer’s Chevrolet Male Athlete of the Year award, Marcelo Balboa said playing soccer for Cerritos College was one of the stepping stones that helped him to get to that point.

Balboa, along with two other former Falcons, was inducted for athletics into the 2013 Cerritos College Hall of Fame on Thursday, March 7 at the Doubletree Hotel in Norwalk.

Balboa received Distinguished Male Athlete, Traci Dahl received Distinguished Female Athlete, and Gene Martin received Distinguished Coach/Administrator.

During his time playing for Cerritos College in 1986 and 1987, Balboa was a two-time all-conference selection.

In his video interview he said, “Being a student athlete I wasn’t that great of a student. Great athlete, but not a good student so it was a good place for me to learn too, you know, how to study a little bit more and to prepare myself for a four year school.”

After leaving Cerritos, he transferred to San Diego State University and played for two seasons on their soccer team and later went on to play for 12 years for the US National Team.

During his professional career, he was very well known for his “bicycle kick” which won him “Goal of the Year” by Major League Soccer in 2000.

This is the sixth time that Balboa has been inducted into a Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the MLS Hall of Fame and National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2005.

He is now working in the front office of the Colorado Rapids of the MLS.

Out of everything that Balboa has accomplished, he said his biggest one would have to be his family.

“I mean soccer is a sport you play and sooner or later you have to stop playing because the body doesn’t give, but your kids will always be there.”

It wasn’t until 1992 that Cerritos College was introduced to former Falcons volleyball Traci Dahl. That year, Dahl played a key role leading Cerritos College to its only state championship win.

According to Cerritos College’s athletic records, Dahl holds the school record for single season blocks and career blocks.

She was a two-time conference Player of the Year and, as a sophomore, was named California’s Player of the Year. She graduated from Cerritos College with an Associate of Arts degree in General Education.

After Cerritos, Dahl went to play for Cal State Long Beach where she was an All-American middle blocker for the 1993 National Championship team and was later named an All-American as a senior.

In her video interview she said, “At the junior college level, it was almost like a little family and so when I transferred to Long Beach State, I was very well prepared to go into a high level volleyball program as well as academics.”

Dahl graduated in 1997 with a Bachelor’s degree in Physical Education and then went to the National University in Costa Mesa and graduated with a Master’s degree in Education 2004.

From 1995 to 97, Dahl decided to return to Cerritos College as an assistant coach for the women’s volleyball team.

She later went to coach for Downey High School, Cal State Fullerton, Hofstra University and Indiana State University.

She is still coaching at Indiana State and is currently in her fourth season there as head coach.

Dahl said in her thank you speech, “My time here at Cerritos College was one of the most memorable times I’ve had as a student athlete. I think I learned everything that I needed to learn here at Cerritos and just winning the state title was a huge accomplishment for myself, my team, but most of all for my Coach Jeanine.”

Being a former volleyball coach himself, Martin was in the coaching game when Cerritos College was first built.

When he first started working at Cerritos in 1956.

Martin served as a football, track and volleyball coach and became an athletic counselor as well, up until 1989.

“I had many different hats when I was at Cerritos, I wasn’t just a coach or instructor or administrator. I had many different duties and starting out the first duty I had was in June of 1957. I was hired as a carpenter.”

He had to turn the old dairy barn into what is now the field house where the football players get ready for practice and home games.

As well as about 40 years serving as a coach and counselor, Martin also served as a football official for the school for 20 years.

Not only was he a long time member of the Cerritos College Athletic Department, but he also helped in the design aspects of the gymnasium, football field and baseball field during their construction processes.

In Martin’s thank you speech he said, “Cerritos College has been my life (and) it is still my life even after I’ve retired. I loved everything about it.”