After a two-year hiatus because of COVID, the Land O’ Lakes High School Athletic Hall of Fame inducted five new members. The honor has now been bestowed to 50 members.
The newest honorees were celebrated in a ceremony on Oct. 18 because of their former and continuing contributions to the Gators athletics history.
The hall of fame was started in 2013 by the Land O’ Lakes Gators Athletics Foundation Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which was founded to enhance the athletic programs at Land O’ Lakes High School (LOLHS) by providing additional funds for facilities, uniforms, transportation and other athletic program needs not covered by traditional school funding. The Foundation wished to honor alumni athletes for their contribution to the athletic program.
The 2022 Hall of Fame Induction Class
Calvin Baisley, baseball coach/administrator
Calvin Baisley has coached for 38 years at the school and is the county’s winningest baseball coach (619). He has amassed nine district championships, 10 Sunshine Athletic Conference (SAC) championships, been named the SAC Coach of the Year seven times, twice named the Tampa Tribune Coach of the Year and has seen 103 former players go on to play at the college level. He’s also had 16 former players sign Major League Baseball contracts, including his three sons.
Danielle Jones, class of 1985
Danielle Jones, a former four-sport athlete — basketball, softball, volleyball and tennis — was a four-year letter winner in basketball and a Captain’s Pen recipient. She lettered in every sport she played, was a two-time All-Gulf Coast Conference basketball player and the first female LOLHS athlete to be awarded a full Division 1 scholarship, as she went on to play at Tulane University.
Logan Payne, class of 2003
Logan Payne was a three-sport letterman athlete and featured on the football, basketball and baseball teams. As a senior, he was named the Tampa Bay area and Pasco County Player of the Year after leading the state with 74 receptions for 1,250 and 23 touchdowns. He finished his Gators’ career with 109 receptions for 1,650 yards and 30 touchdowns before playing collegiately at the University of Minnesota. There, he had 97 catches for 1,344 and 11 touchdowns. Payne then spent six seasons in the NFL, playing for the Seattle Seahawks, New York Jets, Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions, Kansas City Chiefs and Minnesota Vikings.
Godfrey Pestana, class of 2001
Godfrey Pestana was a three-sport athlete, playing football, basketball, and track and field, but shined on the gridiron and was named the SAC Player of the Year twice and the St. Petersburg Times All-County Player of the Year as a senior. During that season, Pestana rushed for 1,641 yards and 16 touchdowns on 243 carries. Pestana finished his football career with 4,057 rushing yards and 51 touchdowns before attending the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, where he had 1,280 yards over two seasons. Pestana enlisted in the Army Reserves in 2003 and was deployed the next year to Tallil Air Base in Iraq and served as a commander-captain to the 368th Military Intelligence Battalion Alpha Company.
Charlene Rogers, Lifetime Achievement Award
Charlene Rogers, a Class of 1992 graduate, played three years of softball and a season of soccer for the Gators. In 2003, she would become the co-founder of IERNA’s Heating, Cooling & Plumbing in Lutz, which started out of a makeshift office in the back of her house. She previously served as president of the Central Pasco Chamber of Commerce and was a founding member of the Women-n-Charge networking organization. She also has been nominated for the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s Woman of the Year Award. In 2016, IRENA’s was honored as the National Bryant “Dealer of the Year” and is the first and only HVAC company in Florida to earn the Bryant Pinnacle Award.
