Grand Knights - 1905 to Present

hese men were elected by their peers to lead Council 971 as Grand Knight.

The following is a list was compiled from a variety of sources, such as our council's previous compilations, books, programs, vintage newspapers, and the Supreme Council records. Some of these documents are conflicting, which can be expected when a council is over 100 years old. In some cases, a Grand Knight could not complete his term and a replacement was elected but not reported to the Supreme Council. Some of these sources are included at the bottom of this document. From 1953 on, there is no doubt as to who served as Grand Knight of Council 971.

Thomas J. Leonard 1905

William W. Smith 1906	William W. Smith 1907	William W. Smith 1908	T. J. Reddington 1909	W. A. Horton 1910

W. A. Horton 1911	Robert S. Tait 1912	George S. Tait, Jr. 1913	P. C. Morrissey 1914	George E. Kenney 1915

T. J. Mellott 1915-1916	T. J. Mellott 1916-1917	Hugh J. Leonard 1917-1918	Hugh J. Leonard 1918-19	James E. O'Connor 1919-1920

James E. O'Connor 1920-1921	George S. Tait, Jr. 1921-1922	John M. O'Keefe 1922-1923	W. M. Gardner 1923-24	Aloysius Gardner Finn 1924-1925

Frank H. Leonesio 1925-1926	Frank H. Leonesio 1926-1927	James S. Conrado 1927-1928	Rev. P. J. McGrath 1928-29	Reyes A. Amaya 1929-1930

Eugene McFadden 1930-1931	Hon. John H. Leonard 1931-1932	Robert S. Tait 1932-1933	Neil Crowley 1933-34	James F. Graham (1) 1934-1935

Joseph G. Walsh 1935-1936	John "Jack" L. Chiorini 1936-1937	Charles A. Sutherland 1937-1938	Aloysius Gardner Finn 1938-39	Battista Erba 1939-1940

J. Frank Murphy 1940-1941	Oscar Rogers 1941-1942	Patrick J. Freeman 1942-1943	Hon. James J. Scoppettone 1943-44	Charles M. Coffey 1944-1945

Robert J. McCabe 1945-1946	Dr. Leo J. Hombach 1946-1947	Joseph L. Brechel 1947-1948	John O'Neill 1948-49	Dr. S. V. Quartararo 1949-1950

Hal Burdick 1950-1951	Ed Olivas 1951-1952	B. Curran/ Ed Olivas 1952-1953	Louis Andreotti 1953-1954	J. Frank Gallager (2) 1954-1955

Joseph Limandri 1955-1956	Royce (3) Krilanovich 1956-1957	Gerald J. Zieber 1957-1958	Marlen L. Land 1958-1959	Melvin Boegel 1959-1960

Donald R. Waldemar 1960-1961	Charles F. Wilson 1961-1962	Gary M. Phariss 1962-1963	Robert Ciapponi 1963-1964	David P. Scargill 1964-1965

Leonard D. Adams 1965-1966	Windel H. McGee 1966-1967	Gerald F. Sommers 1967-1968	David P. Scargill 1968-1969	Windel H. McGee 1969-1970

Anthony (4) LeBourveau 1970-1971	Richard E. Ronzano 1971-1972	Gerald Sommers 1972-1973	George A. Delucchi 1973-1974	Mike Vye 1974-1975

C. Tom Alexander 1975-1976	C. Tom Alexander 1976-1977	Glen Bailey 1977-1978	Glen Bailey 1978-1979	Art Palermo 1979-1980

Jack Macri 1980-1981	George Cabral 1981-1982	Earl Collins 1982-1983	Robert Tracy 1983-1984	F. Michael Devitt 1984-1985

David Hengesbach 1985-1986	Ramon N. Belleza 1986-1987	Ramon N. Belleza 1987-1988	Larry Rothfuss 1988-1989	Rudy A. Quijance 1989-1990

Rudy A. Quijance 1990-1991	John Collins 1991-1992	Joseph Juliana 1992-1993	Manuel Lira 1993-1994	Thomas Davis 1994-1995

Thomas Holdridge 1995-1996	Joseph Juliana 1996-1997	Gary Phariss 1997-1998	Andrew T. Lenz, Jr. 1998-1999	Kelly Robertson 1999-2000

Tearlach Sinclair 2000-2001	John Hyman 2001-2002	Ernest McCoy 2002-2003	Karl E. Coffield 2003-2004	Rudy A. Quijance 2004-2005

Michael Seixas 2005-2006	Michael Seixas 2006-2007	Larry Rothfuss 2007-2008	Larry Rothfuss 2008-2009	Jason Nielsen 2009-2010

Jason Nielsen 2011-2012	Douglas Gallagher 2011-2012	Douglas Gallagher 2012-2013	Ken Lazier, Jr. 2013-2014	Ken Lazier, Jr. 2014-2015

Ken Lazier, Sr. 2015-2016	Jeff Knapp 2016-2017	Jeff Knapp 2017-2018	Frank Benko 2018-2019	Frank Benko 2019-2020

(1) James F. Graham was GK according to an article in the Santa Cruz Evening News in September 1933. James Sheridan erroneously appears to be in the chronological location of James Graham in GK listing in the book "Seventy Years of Service - History of The Knights of Columbus in California 1902-1972". (Referred to henceforth as the "1972 book". See listing below.) Sheridan was installed as an Inside Guard in 1933 and almost certainly would not have been in line to replace Graham had he stepped down before completion of his term.
(2) Based on the 1972 book book (see below), J. Frank Gallagher should be GK for 1953-54, but this is wrong. L. Andreotti is correctly listed by Supreme as GK, this is corroborated by a local newspaper story. J. Frank Gallagher was GK the following year.
(3) Royce Krilanovich appears in both in our council records and in the 1972 book but Supreme's GK record is blank for 1956-57. Given the assorted evidence, including a newspaper article, that's his term.
(4) Anthony LeBourveau unquestionably served as Grand Knight in 1970-71. While the Supreme record is blank for 1970-71, Tony appears in the 1971 State Convention program as the sitting GK for 971 and also appears as the immediate PGK in a September 1971 newspaper article. Oddly, Tony is not listed in the 1972 book but Rick Ronzano (1971-72) is.

Grand Knight Historical Records

This immediately-following list is of 20th Century Grand Knights as provided by the Supreme Council by email upon request in 1999. Aside from transcription errors (e.g., "Marlen Land" appears as "Marlen Lanol" in 1958), some men known to the council to have served as Grand Knight are missing, such a J. Frank Gallagher. (Frank Gallagher's son, PGK Doug Gallagher remembers his father serving and Frank's name appears in other documents as a Past Grand Knight.)

This list is copied verbatim (including line breaks/hyphenations) from the book Seventy Years of Service - History of The Knights of Columbus in California 1902-1972. There are a lot of misspellings, but unlike the Supreme list, J. Frank Gallagher does appear as does James J. Sheridan.

The Grand Knights of this council have been:
Thomas J. Leonard, William W. Smith, William A. Horton, Robert S. Tait, George E. Kenney,
James E. O'Connor, George S. Tait, Jr; Al G. Finn, Reverend P.J. Mc Grath, Hon. John H. Leon-
ard, James F. Graham, John M. O'Keefe, F.J. Leonesis, James S. Conrado, Reyes A. Amaya, Eu-
gene Mc Fadden, Neil Crawley [sic], James J. Sheridan, Joseph G. Walsh, John Chiorino [sic], C.A. Suther-
land, A. Gardener [sic] Finn, Battista Erba, J. Frank Murphy, Oscar O. Rodgers, Patrick J. Freeman,
James J. Scoppellone [sic], Charles M. Caffey, Robert J. Mc Cabe, Leo J. Homback [sic], Joseph L. Brechel,
John S. O'Neil, S. Vincent Quatararo, Harold V. Burdick, Edward Alivos, Bernard V. Curran,
Louis Andreotti, J. Frink [sic] Gallagher, Joe Limandro [sic], Royce Krinolovich, Gerald J. Zieber, Mar-
len Land, Melvin Boegel, Donald R. Waldemar, Charles F. Wilson, Gary M. Pharess [sic], Robert Ciap-
poni, David P. Scargill, Leonard D. Adams, Windel H. Mc Gee, Gerald F. Sommers, David Scar-
gill, Windel H. Mc Gee, Donald Waldemar, Richard E. Ronzano.



The following is a scan from the program for the council's 84th Charter Anniversary Dinner Dance, Saturday, February 4, 1989, though it has a couple of errors. The first portion of the list shows the first calendar year of the term, the second portion shows the second year of the term. It changes in 1972 and 1973 where George Delucchi is listed twice. (A similar list appearing in the 80th, 83th, 85th Anniversary programs are identical save the expected absence or addition of later grand knights.)

The following are newspaper references pertaining to Grand Knights that had some question with regard to their terms.

Santa Cruz Evening News
September 28, 1933 (Page 4)
Neil Crowley installed as GK
"J.F. Graham" installed as DGK
James Sheridan installed as Inside Guard (Confused as possible GK elsewhere)

Santa Cruz Sentinel
June 25, 1951 (Page 5)
GK Hal Burdick (1950-51) will be replaced by Ed Olivas (1951-52)

Santa Cruz Sentinel
June 27, 1952 (Page 14)
Bernard V. "Red" Curran elected GK 1952-1953
Louis Andreotti elected as DGK
James Hughes elected as Chancellor
Joe Limandri elected as Warden
PGK Ed Olivas will be Trustee
*** Curran must not have finished his term but was replaced by immediate-PGK Ed Olivas, see next entry ***

Santa Cruz Sentinel
June 14, 1953 (Page 28)
Louis Andreotti replaces Ed Olivas as GK on July 1 for 1 year term.
Frank Gallagher elected too as DGK
Joe Limandri elected Chancellor

Santa Cruz Sentinel
May 9, 1954 (Page 13)
GK Louis Andreotti will be the GK delegate to state convention.

Santa Cruz Sentinel
June 10, 1954 (Page 13)
Frank Gallagher elected GK for 1954-1955
Joe Limandri elected as DGK
Krilanovich elected as Warden
Gerald Zieber elected as Recorder

Santa Cruz Sentinel
June 15, 1956 (Page 18)
Krilanovich succeeds Joe Limandri as GK for 1956-1957
Gerald Zieber DGK
Marlen Land chancellor

Santa Cruz Sentinel
September 8, 1971 (Page 36)
"Grand Knight Gets Gavel
Richard Ronzano, right, newly elected grand knight of Santa Cruz Council Knights of Columbus 971, receives the gavel of office from outgoing Grand Knight Anthony LeBourveau at recent installation ceremonies. In center is J. Frank Gallagher, district deputy for the area, who was installing officer. "

There are additional sources such as the 1971 State Convention program which was hosted in Santa Cruz by Council 971 and included a listing of Past Grand Knights for the council.

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