College of the Canyons In Professional Sports

College of the Canyons athletics is well know across the country as one of the best community colleges for athletes. The college not only helps student-athletes transfer to four-year university programs like Cal, UCLA, Minnesota and San Jose State, but some of our student-athletes make it to the professional ranks and the Olympics! Below is a list of some of our most notable alumni: 

1984 Olympics: Women’s volleyball player Linda Chisholm played for the silver-medal USA squad and baseball player Flavio Alfaro was the starting second baseman for the Olympic team.  

Major League Baseball: Bob Walk was the starting pitcher for the Phillies in 1980 World Series. He is now a broadcaster for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Super Bowl (NFL): Canyons has had three former players make appearances in the the Super Bowl, including one who a championships. In 2009 COC saw its first former player, running back JJ Arrington, play in the 2009 Super Bowl and Isaac Sopoaga played in 2013 with the San Francisco 49ers. In 2011 we had our first player to win a Super Bowl Championship, defensive lineman Jason Pierre-Paul. Justin Tryon was also on the Giants at the time, but was listed as injured reserve. 

National Football League (NFL): COC currently has five players on active rosters as of the start of the 2013 season: Caylin Hauptmann (Seattle Seahawks, COC 2009) Mychal Rivera (Oakland Raiders, COC 2009), Jason Pierre-Paul (New York Giants, COC 2007), Domata Peko (Cincinnati Bengals, COC 2002-2003) Isaac Sopoaga (New England Patriots, COC 2000-2001).