Wells and Perry join the crowd

The accolades keep rolling in for recent Maxwell High graduates Tyler Wells and Steven Perry, this time the recognition coming from Sports Illustrated.

The duo will appear in the "Faces in the Crowd" section on page 26 of the June 20 issue of the magazine, which will arrive to subscribers Wednesday and will be in newsstands Thursday. The article will be available online Wednesday at www.si.com/faces.

"Faces in the Crowd" is a regular series in Sports Illustrated which highlights several amateur athletes from around the world who did something noteworthy.

Bob Martinez was the last Colusa County athlete to make an appearance in "Faces in the Crowd," he was mentioned in the November 24, 1969 issue. Martinez was a running back for Pierce High where he rushed for 1,696 yards and scored 27 touchdowns in just eight games.

Sports Illustrated reporter Alexandra Fenwick said in an email to Tri-County Newspapers that the pair received at least three nominations during the season.

Perry said he got an email from Sports Illustrated last week asking for a picture and explaining what "Faces in the Crowd" was about.

Though he's familiar with the magazine's feature, Perry said he doesn't have a subscription to the magazine.

"It's something I'm going to have to go get," Perry said.

Wells is a subscriber and is looking forward to the magazine arriving.

"It's cool seeing that we're finally going to be in it, it's a huge accomplishment," he said.

Wells won the section MVP award last week and Perry was the subject of several articles on the Yahoo! Sports national high school blog Prep Rally during the season.

Both are playing summer baseball with the Chico Nuts legion team along with fellow Panthers James Bowen and Dylan deWit.

The trio of Perry, Wells and Bowen are batting 2, 3 and 4 for the Nuts. DeWit is out with an ankle injury and could be done for the summer.

Contact Kirk Barron at 458-2121 or kbarron@tcnpress.com.