The Long Beach Century Club returned to the Walter Pyramid on Monday to honor the All-City champion middle school sports teams from the Long Beach Unified School District. This year’s banquet was the 37th annual celebration for the city’s young athletes, awarding teams and players for their on-field success, as well as naming the best overall sports program.
The evening was opened with welcoming remarks from Rob Wigod and Mike Filipow, the co-chairs of the event. There were then words from Bobby Smitheran, executive director of athletics at Cal State Long Beach; Kaladon Stewart, director of athletics at LBCC; William Salas, program administrator for K-12 Sports & Recreation; and Mack Calvin, Long Beach Poly and LBCC alum as well as former Laker, who led the crowd with “Mack’s Motivational Minute.”
The first award of the night was the Keith Hansen Sportsmanship Award, named after the late Century Club past president who also helped transition the banquet into the Pyramid in recent years. The award is presented to a school that has “distinguished itself by exhibiting a high level of character and sportsmanship,” annually selected by team coaches. Intellectual Virtues Academy was the honoree for the 2024-2025 school year.
Carol Hansen presented the award to IVA, who also received a $1000 check donation to their school’s sports program in honor of Keith.
Teams from three divisions were honored across the eight sports played this year. The banquet ended with the All-Sports Awards, which honor the top boys’ and girls’ sports programs as well as the top overall program. Lindbergh won for the boys’ program and Hughes and Stanford shared the award on the girls’ side.
The overall award went to the Stanford Hawks as well, making it their third All-Sports title in the last four years. Carol Hansen returned to present the Hawks with a $1000 check donation for their sports program on behalf of the Keith Hansen fund.
Each student-athlete was presented a plaque for their championship. The individual sport and division champions are as follows:
Coed Flag Football
Rogers Middle School (D1)
Hoover Middle School (D2)
Lindbergh Stem Academy (D3)
Girls’ Volleyball
Stanford Middle School (D1)
Hoover (D2)
Jackie Robinson K-8 Academy (D3)
Girls’ Track and Field
Stanford (D1)
Cubberley K-8 School (D2)
Lindbergh (D3)
Boys’ Basketball
Hughes Middle School (D1)
Franklin Middle School (D2)
Tincher Preparatory School (D3)
Boys’ Track and Field
Stanford (D1)
Newcomb K-8 Academy (D2)
Lindbergh (D3)
Girls’ Basketball
Hughes (D1)
Lindbergh (D2)
Hamilton Middle School (D3)
Boys’ Soccer
Keller Dual Immersion Middle School (D1)
Stephens Middle School (D2)
Franklin (D3)
Girls’ Soccer
Stanford (D1)
Cubberley (D2)
Tincher (D3)
