Known as “Obie,” Dave Obenour received numerous awards during his 30 years serving De Anza as athletic trainer, 1970-2000. He also served as head athletic trainer for the San Jose Earthquakes Soccer Club (1974-1980) and on the medical staff of Olympic, World Cup Soccer and other high-profile events. "Obie", called by some “the best PR person De Anza College has ever had,” also is a member of the St. Francis High School Athletic Hall of Fame. "Obie" has served as the president and vice president of the Santa Clara Valley Baseball Hot Stove committee with a total 27 years of continued service for this event.

Sandy Wihtol assumed the role as President & CEO of the Hot Stove of Santa Clara Valley at the end of 2018. Sandy had played baseball at Homestead High for Jim Hemphill who was the co-founder of this event and also played at De Anza College before signing with the Cleveland Indians. His long journey in baseball included 9 seasons professionally and parts of 3 seasons at the major league level with the Indians. For 16 seasons he was the off campus head coach at Los Altos High School winning one CCS championship and two runner-ups during his tenure there.  In addition, Sandy was named the SJ Mercury Coach of the Year in 2007 and also named California Coach of the Year for medium sized schools in the same year. He has been a licensed and full time Realtor since 1986 working with Intero Real Estate Services along the SF Peninsula including the greater south bay.

For 35 years Bill Hutton coached Archbishop Mitty Baseball. Bill finished his career at Mitty with a record of 648-319-4, which places him in the #3 spot all time in the CCS and #13 all time in the state of California. He continues to teach in the Mathematics Department at Mitty H.S. Over 200 of Bill’s players advanced to college or professional baseball.  Bill’s teams won or shared 7 WCAL baseball titles and were runner-ups 5 times.  His teams won 4 CCS titles and advanced to the CCS finals 3 other times.  The Monarchs won a state championship (2010 voted by Cal Hi Sports) and one National Title (2010 voted by Rivals Sports and Perfect Game Baseball.) Bill was selected the Mercury News Coach of the year 4 times, was the Western Region Coach of the year 4 times, and was the National Coach of the year runner up in 2010.  Bill is a member of the Archbishop Mitty Athletic Hall of Fame, the California Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame, and the California Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Jason Pintar graduated from the University of Utah in 1996, earning a B.S. in Business Marketing and a B.A. in Political Science.  Jason then moved to the Santa Clara Valley and graduated from the Santa Clara University School of Law in 1999, receiving his Juris Doctorate. Shortly thereafter he began his career in family law and estate planning in our area. Jason has volunteered his time to the Hot Stove committee with overseeing our legal needs as well as raising his two children with his wife here in San Jose.

Roberto Maragoni has served on the Hot Stove committee since 2015.  Roberto graduated from Pioneer High School in San Jose and earned his accounting degree from San Jose State University.  He has worked as a CPA in downtown San Jose since 1981, currently a partner with Armanino LLP.  Roberto assists the committee in nonprofit organization compliance matters.

Jim Seimas, a graduate of Westmont High School and San Jose State, is in his 24th year as a professional sports writer in the Bay Area. The assistant sports editor and baseball beat writer for the Santa Cruz Sentinel, he has won more than 20 APSE national writing awards and brings a wealth of knowledge and connections to the Hot Stove committee. Seimas, a former Hot Stove award winner and Great Sausage Race entrant, lives in San Jose.  

Night of the event Photographer & Videographer