How to resolve AdBlock issue? This year’s honorees are Rodney “Ronnie” Hannah (Men’s Basketball), Pete Flores (Track & Field), Gerrard Prince (Men’s Basketball) and Katelyn Noreen (Softball) — four alumni and athletes who embody the spirit of Yuba College athletics through their achievements on the field, track and court.
This year marks the 25th class of honorees, selected by a committee of former and present Yuba College athletes and employees and Yuba/Sutter area residents.
Honorees are selected based on outstanding achievement in intercollegiate athletics, unusual distinction in one or more intercollegiate sports and accomplishments achieved in alignment with the Yuba College spirit.
The 25th class of Honorees are:
• Rodney “Ronnie” Hannah (2002–04): Men’s Basketball.
• Pete Flores (1971–73): Track and Field/Cross-Country.
• Gerrard Prince (1987–89): Men’s Basketball.
• Katelyn Noreen (2009–10): Softball.
‘I’m never going to stop pursuing music’
A special recognition will be given to Ronnie Hannah, who passed away in February from a rare but aggressive cancer. Hannah was a talented athlete who excelled in basketball at Yuba College, then went on to play football at the University of Houston and eventually played professionally with the Dallas Cowboys for three seasons.
Despite success in professional sports, Hannah’s true passion and consistent thread throughout his life was music.
“Music was his whole purpose. No matter what else he was doing — whether it was sports or running a business — he always came back to the music,” said his father, Rodney Hannah, Sr. “He wrote over 200 songs in his lifetime. It was how he expressed himself, how he made sense of the world. That’s what truly lit him up.”
Hannah eventually moved on from professional sports into entrepreneurial endeavors, but music remained his passion. He decided to make the move to Nashville, Tennessee, in July 2024 to pursue music full time. Not long after his move to “Music City,” Hannah received his diagnosis.
Despite hospitalization and cancer treatment, Hannah continued to pursue music. With his laptop with him, Ronnie continued to write and record in his hospital bed with his keyboard and his computer.
“Well this year definitely didn’t go as planned,” Hannah said in a video recording. “I moved out to Nashville to do music and wound up getting a diagnosis of cancer.”
“Crazy, isn’t it?” he asks the listener. “You plan your life, and things can unfold that way and you have to go with the twist and the turns in the road. But hey, it’s part of life, right? But my one thing is – I’m never going to stop pursuing music. That’s the one thing that brought me out to Nashville.”
His celebration of life was held in March.
‘You’ve got two choices. You go straight to Vietnam, or you go to Yuba College.’
Pete Flores fell into running at 15 years old, following in the footsteps of his older brother Bobby. He joined the cross country team at Woodland High School and excelled, eventually winning the Delta League Conference Championship and breaking the course record, beating the nearest runner by nearly two minutes. This was enough to get him attention from colleges.
“When I was in my senior year, I went to talk to my school counselor,” he said. “He was named Mr. Brown. I liked him a lot. And he goes, ‘Pete. You’ve got two choices. Either you go straight to Vietnam or college.’ And I told him I didn’t want to go. [I wanted to] continue with college, and with my running."’
With college and collegiate running on the horizon, then-Coach John Orognen from Yuba College came out to some of his practices and worked hard to recruit Pete. When Bobby chose Yuba, so did Flores, despite offers from Oregon State, Washington State, Utah State and American River College.
Between the 1971 and 1972 cross country seasons, Flores earned 12 first-place finishes, six second place finishes and achieved 10 course records. He won the Bidwell Invitational, Sacramento Invitational and Sierra College Invitational, to name just a few of his accomplishments. Then, before he graduated from Yuba College, Flores was named the 1973 Yuba College Athlete of the Year.
Flores later returned to competitive running, joining the Aggie Running Club. With them, he participated in prestigious races, including Bay to Breakers, placing 17th with a 5:12/mile pace, the Pepsi 20-Mile Run, which he won in 1:45:58, ranking him third in the U.S. by Runner’s World magazine.
‘When I couldn’t talk to anybody, I would talk with the basketball’
Gang activity was just a given where Gerrard Prince grew up in Compton and South Central Los Angeles. The opportunities to make money were always there but Prince didn’t want to get into that lifestyle. Basketball provided the necessary distraction that kept Prince out of trouble.
“Basketball kept me away from gangs and selling drugs and just kept me positive. Even when I was struggling, I would just go grab my basketball,” Prince said. “Whenever I was dealing with anything or when I couldn’t talk to anybody, I would talk with the basketball.”
A friend who got out of the inner city and headed up to the Yuba-Sutter region and encouraged him to follow. Eager to get away from the gang violence that plagued his city, Prince took a leap of faith and a bus ride out to start life anew while in high school. It was far from easy: he first had to deal with the tremendous culture shock of moving from life in the inner city to a slower, more rural lifestyle.
“It wasn’t easy being 500 miles away from home. Then I had financial struggles from living in dorms and from not having any family up here,” he said. “But the great thing about it was, the high school I went to helped me with the transition of coming up here.”
He went on to Yuba College and joined the Men’s Basketball team, quickly gaining attention as a standout point guard, even scoring a triple-double in a home game against Sacramento City College. In 1989, he was ranked fifth in the state for assists in 1989.
Although he had dreams of playing professionally, his career was cut short by a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis in his early 20s. He credits his wife for giving him the strength to move forward during that difficult time.
Today, Prince gives back through PTP (Prince Training Players) Youth Basketball, a program he founded to mentor and train young athletes, especially those from underprivileged backgrounds.
The program emphasizes character development, academic accountability and community leadership, recently awarding local student-athletes “Player of the Month” and “Player of the Year” honors with $250 scholarships, Bluetooth speakers and public recognition.
Prince said he is deeply grateful for the selection into the Yuba College Hall of Fame, calling it a “full-circle moment,” one that is especially meaningful since his son also played for Yuba.
Despite his health setbacks, Prince remains active in youth mentorship and coaching, driven by his enduring love for basketball and his commitment to uplifting others.
“Although I can’t play anymore, it’s my purpose. I feel like I’m so blessed because people bring their children to me and they go, ‘Look at Coach Prince! Despite all the odds, he still shows up every day and doesn’t complain about what his health is. He still gives his all,’” said Prince. “So I’m very thankful to have basketball just in so many ways because it’s really taken care of me.”
‘I finally just decided to swing out of spite’
A Yuba City native, Katelyn Noreen had chosen Yuba College because she wanted to stay local and near family while in college. She had consistently played softball since kindergarten, so it was a no-brainer that she would join the team when she enrolled at Yuba College. Once a 49er, she switched over from being a catcher and moved to first base.
Known throughout the Bay Valley Conference for her slugging capabilities, Noreen would sometimes get walked on purpose. One game in particular stands out in her mind.
“I remember one game against Solano Community College. Each pitch was right outside my zone, I finally just decided to swing out of spite (knowing I was going to get in trouble) and I ended up hitting it over the right-center fence,” she said.
In 2009 alone, Noreen helped lead her team to the playoffs, was named the Bay Valley Conference Player of the Year and was tapped for the All-State team.
Celebrating the legacy
Each honoree has charted a powerful journey: from Flores choosing running and education over war, to Hannah's pursuit of music even during his courageous battle with cancer; from Prince finding hope through basketball and mentoring youth, to Noreen’s fierce competitiveness lighting up the softball field.
Together, their legacies celebrate not just athletic achievement, but the character, heart and determination that continue to inspire the Yuba College community.
