Star studded athletes get inducted into the Hall of Champions

Camaraderie filled the air during the 21st induction ceremony for LBCC’s Hall of Champions on March 26, which recognized LBCC’s accomplished alumni of the school’s athletics program, such as posthumously recognizing the 2018 Super Bowl champ Bryan Braman.

“It’s a special night that highlights how great our school is, how great our community is and the history of the college,” Dean of Athletics Randy Totorp said. 

The night’s celebrations consisted of alumni throughout many decades in LBCC’s history, from the 1970s to the late 2000s. 

When the inductees walked up to the stage, they were escorted by current or soon-to-be LBCC student-athletes who are excelling in their sport and in classes.  

A selection committee consisting of the current Deans of Athletics, sports coordinators, past coaches, and present directors of all sports on campus had a part in selecting each inductee to be recognized. 

Past athletes from many sports offered at LBCC, notably football and track and field, who had two inductees each, were recognized for accomplishing an outstanding achievement in sports at a collegiate level or higher. 

One inductee was former Olympic athlete Dominique DeGrammont, who represented Haiti in the 2004 Summer Olympics in hurdling.

The committee for the Hall aims to recognize achievements from LBCC alums who have excelled in “developing valuable skills such as teamwork, self-discipline, problem-solving and leadership that can be useful in everyday life situations,” according to the official webpage for the Hall.  

“I was all in, we worked really, really hard with the future in mind, we just grinded it out and focused on what we needed to focus on,” said inductee for men’s volleyball Naseri Tumanuvao on his motivation as a student athlete. 

Tumanuvao is known for helping LBCC make it to the finals of the state championships back in the 2006-2007 season and becoming the state MVP.

Former Viking defensive end and later Philadelphia Eagles star linebacker Bryan Braman was recognized with a posthumous induction after his death in July 2025. 

Braman was both a star in football and track and field, winning all team honors in football, winning state champion for the javelin throw in track and field and later in his professional career by helping the Eagles defeat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII. 

Associate Dean of Athletics, Kaladon Stewart, said that while helping the Eagles win Braman, was,“staying at the top of the football world and representing Long Beach City College while doing it.”

Former Vikings football coach and 2016 inductee to the Hall, Mike Maloney, spoke in remembrance of Braman while Braman’s mother accepted the induction on his behalf.

“Bryan was a fantastic athlete, he bounced around colleges and then came to us. He was what we would call freaky athletic…he had raw abilities that were just incredible. His drive to accomplish things was surpassed by none,” Maloney said.

Though the current Hall of Champions’ inductees were the main stars of the show that evening, talks about next year’s induction ceremony have already started, especially in sports that are underrepresented in the ceremony as of now.

“It’s a really high pedigree of resume to get in and not all sports have had the chance to spend time building up that kind of athlete, but what we’re gonna see in the future is that shifting. For example, men’s soccer doesn’t have much representation but we’ll likely see that shift because of what’s gone on in our program lately,” Totorp said. 

Stewart added on, saying, “As the committee format has changed, we’ve been really intentional on looking at our history of who has been nominated…history isn’t recorded the same as it was then and we’re hoping some people still have memories of our amazing champions in the past.”

The other athletes that were inducted were football player ​​Demetrious Maxie, Angela Wells and Brooke Mabe, who did track and field, men’s water polo Pavle Filipovic and women’s basketball Gail Hale. 

The night’s inductees each received plaques detailing their accomplishments and will be on display in the namesake Hall of Champions room in Building R at the LAC in the future.