Four-sport star Albertazzi to be inducted into Placer Hall of Fame

In the decade after Title IX opened the door for female athletes, Gia Albertazzi took advantage of the opportunities, displaying her athletic ability in four varsity sports at Placer High School. For her accomplishments on the basketball and tennis courts and the softball and soccer fields, she will be inducted into the PHS Athletic Hall of Fame on April 29 in a ceremony in the school's iconic Earl Crabbe Gym. Albertazzi (class of 1985) was a starter as a freshman on the Placer junior varsity basketball team and credits coach Carol Tatnall with teaching her the fundamentals of the game. "She tolerated me," Albertazzi said, "because I think I tested her patience." But occasional scrimmages against the varsity team, coached by Peg Speck, put Albertazzi in her place. "The varsity players pounded me, and I learned from them," she said. As a sophomore, Albertazzi started on the varsity basketball and softball teams and was in the top 10 on the tennis ladder. She made Capital Athletic League honorable mention in basketball. In her junior year, Albertazzi was the team MVP, all-Capital Athletic League and honorable mention All-Metro in basketball. She continued playing tennis and softball. Albertazzi came into her own during her senior season, leading Speck's basketball squad to the playoffs and setting a record at the time for most career points. She piled up even more honors, again making the all-CAL team and being named to the Sacramento Bee All-Metro team. "Senior year was a fun year but filled with pressure at the same time." Albertazzi said. She found herself being recruited by several colleges at the same time. She admitted to sometimes being more concerned about the recruiters in the stands than the game. At the end of the season, she was invited to play for the North team in the Optimist All-Star Game and earned the Most Valuable Trophy award, which she called, "My proudest moment." Albertazzi finished her senior year switching from softball to soccer in the spring, a sport she played as a youth for several years. Upon graduating, Albertazzi had college offers from USF, UOP, Montana, UNR and United States International University. She chose USIU "because it was in San Diego near a beach where I thought I could do a lot of surfing." She admitted to not looking at the education aspect of the school. "It was a tiny, international school that played Division I basketball," Albertazzi said. Playing as the sixth man off the bench, Albertazzi said, "We had a good team and made it to the NIT that year." But she found her scholarship involved total immersion in basketball and that there was no time for surfing, a sport she had taken up recently. She chose to transfer to UC Santa Barbara, sat out a redshirt year in the days before the current NCAA portal system, and then started for well-known coach Mark French the next year. "He was an amazing coach," Albertazzi said. The following summer, she met a young man, Terry Grim, and love conquered basketball. She chose to get married and gave up her UCSB scholarship. The couple took a year off from school, but Albertazzi, desiring to complete her education, enrolled at Chico State, not intending to play basketball anymore. But she found the team needed someone with her skills, and with one year of eligibility remaining, she joined the team. "It was a lot of fun, a lot less pressure playing in Division II," she said. So much so she was named all-league first team. Out of eligibility but still interested in remaining in athletics, Albertazzi became the assistant coach at Chico State. She liked coaching and continued her career at St. Mary's High in Stockton for five years as assistant to Hall-of-Fame coach Jim Grady. She also coached JV basketball at Nevada Union and served as assistant varsity coach for four years. "The weird part about coaching NU was that we played against Placer in the Earl Crabbe Gym," the venue where she starred as a high school player. She laughed at the reversal of roles. "I remember playing in that gym, the raucous rallies, and how NU was our big rival," she said. Albertazzi shares a connection with the Placer Athletic Hall of Fame, as she was coached by Hall of Famers Rad McCord and Bill Miller, played Little League baseball for Randall Fee and coached Mike Edwards in ARD basketball. The latter two will also be inducted with Albertazzi in this year's induction ceremony. At present, Albertazzi works as a private fee appraiser for All Sierra Appraisal Group serving Placer, Nevada and Plumas counties. She and her husband are planning to open a restaurant in Portola. The couple has two adult daughters: Riley, who recently published her first book, a Young Adult sci-fi novel, and Quinlan, a graphic artist. A reception will be held at 6 p.m. before the Hall of Fame ceremony, followed by the induction ceremony at 7. Tickets for the reception cost $25 until April 15 and $35 after, and are available online at https://placerathletics.bpt.me. The ceremony is free of charge to the public.