Wallace recalls his legacy made in sports at SHS

A sea of students holding neon-colored signs filled the stands of the gym, cheering for the 2005 boys’ varsity basketball team as they battled Cupertino High School. The crowd roared as then-senior center Danny Wallace rebounded and put the ball in the hoop late in the game, helping the Falcons stretch their lead. Led by Wallace’s 15 points and 18 rebounds, the team finished with a 75-67 victory, placing first in the El Camino Division.

Ten years later, Wallace is now a special education instructor and coach at the school.

Unlike many students who play one or two sports a school year, Wallace was a star member of four teams during his senior year: football, volleyball, basketball and track. He received many awards in all of the sports, winning MVP and honorable mention for volleyball and MVP for field events in track. In addition, he took fifth place in CCS for the high jump and 12th in shot put.

“At first, coaches didn’t let me do all four of these sports until senior year, when they realized [I was capable] and willing to help out on the teams,” Wallace said.

Of the sports he played, football and basketball were his favorites because of the close bonds players formed, Wallace said.

Although Wallace played football for only his senior year due to opposition from his parents, he was warmly welcomed by the team. Wallace had the most sacks and tackles and was named defensive MVP and most improved player..

“In football, you develop a bond with your team that is hard to explain,” Wallace said. “You have 38 guys and are all one big family with different roles to do on the team. If you don’t do it right, your family crumbles.”

As for basketball, Wallace started playing in third grade and always loved the game. Under the instruction of coach Mike Davey, Wallace and the team went 22-5 in league in 2005, and he was awarded MVP for team and honorable mention for CCS.

“Davey made me realize that I could always do more, and he also made the team go extremely hard during practice,” said Wallace. “If I got 28 rebounds and scored 25 points in one game, there was always something I could have done better. It helped to motivate me to be my best, and I took it personally because I knew that if I wanted to be better, I had to try harder.”

Wallace recalled that during his senior year, he was constantly working out and dedicated all his time to sports. Despite having three hours of daily practice in addition to weightlifting, he was easily able to complete his homework; the weekends were also an important time for him to finish or catch up on projects.

“The big thing was that academically, there were no requirements or pressures to take honors and AP classes,” said Wallace. “I just took regular classes and did my work. The whole college pressure was gone, and it was to just to enjoy high school.”

Wallace was unsure whether to pursue athletics in college or a career as a firefighter after high school.

“This was where my parents and Coach Davey were [unhappy] with me,” Wallace said. “There were opportunities for me to play basketball, volleyball and run track, but I felt like I was done. I wanted to focus on my career, which was firefighting, and I did it after getting accepted when I was 19.”

However, after spending two years pursuing that dream, Wallace decided to return to college, attending at San Jose State University for four years and earning his teaching credential there. This year is his sixth year teaching here.

In 2006, Wallace began coaching shot put and high jump at SHS. But it was coaching the 2009 Redwood Middle School sixth grade girls’ basketball team that got Wallace interested in coaching basketball.

“After coaching them, I became really motivated to coach these kids as they really listened and respected me,” said Wallace.

As a result, he helped Davey coach the girls’ varsity basketball team for eight years and, now, has been coaching the girls JV team for five years. Besides basketball, Wallace has also coached varsity lacrosse for a year and is coaching varsity football this year as the defensive line coach.

As a teacher, he chose to be a part of the special education program.

“I was in special education all my life and knew what helped and didn’t help me, what annoyed me and what made me feel more inadequate as a person,” Wallace said. “I wanted to help those kids and show them that I get it. I’ve been made fun of myself and it’s not fun.”

Having returned to his alma mater to coach and teach, Wallace feels that there has been only one major change: school spirit.

“Every Friday, we had about 300 people come for our basketball game. In football, there would often be thousands of fans at our games,” Wallace said. “Our team had the support of the school and it made us want to win every game, knowing we were representing Saratoga.”

He also recalls how the members of the boys’ and girls’ basketball team would always show up for each other's games, screaming and shouting while holding signs with the players’ names and pictures.

“I want to bring back the school spirit as much as I can, but I also know how much all the students have on their plates,” Wallace said.

As a passionate coach and teacher, Wallace hopes to be an inspiration and model for younger athletes and students.

“I’ll only ever stop coaching if I ever get married,” Wallace joked. “But coaching will always be something I will love and will want to do.”