Fort Lewis College Athletics

Local product Mike Giordano became one of the first basketball heroes of Fort Lewis College's four-year college era. After playing basketball for two years at Regis College, the Pagosa Springs High School graduate started for the Raiders from 1964 through 1966.

In 1967, Giordano earned a master's degree in education from Western Michigan University while serving as a graduate assistant on their basketball team.

He spent the next five years as a coach and teacher at Mount Morris (Mich.) and St. Joseph's (South Bend, Ind.) high schools. Giordano coached basketball at both schools, as well as the cross country and golf teams at St. Joseph's.

Giordano has earned praise as founder and coach of the Ventura Stars girls' youth basketball program in Ventura County, Calif. This program teaches sixth, seventh, and eighth-grade girls fundamentals, discipline and teamwork, and has produced numerous top high school and collegiate players in Southern California. Giordano paid for it all out of his own pocket.

His three daughters benefited from the Ventura Stars program en route to collegiate basketball careers. Tina played at Fort Lewis College as a freshman during the 1986-87 season before transferring to the University of Arizona, where she made the travel roster two seasons; Gia played at California State University at Chico; and Michelle was a starter as a freshman at Arizona.

Giordano and his wife, Kathy, are retired in Pagosa Springs, Colo.