The Board of Directors of the Chaffey High School Alumni Association announced that Niki Brown Rapattoni, Class of 1958, has been selected as the 2020 Tiger of the Year. Niki was nominated by her classmates Carolyn Barnard Pryor ’58 and 2016 Tiger of the Year and Robert Williams, Ph.D., ’58 and 2014 Tiger of the Year.
During her years at Chaffey, Niki was a member of the Scholarship Society for all four years; was ASB Treasurer and served on the Fasti yearbook staff her senior year, and was basketball homecoming queen in 1958. During this time, she worked for Frank Stiffler Photography in Ontario – the official photographer for CHS senior pictures. Niki continued her education at Chaffey College and the University of Southern California where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in dental hygiene at USC’s School of Dentistry.
Niki’s early 13-year career as a dental hygienist was in the Wilshire Central district in Los Angeles. She and her husband Andy ’57 and 2010 Tiger of the Year started Rapattoni Corporation in 1970. Located in Westlake Village, California, and celebrating 50 years in 2020, the company provides integrated products and services for real estate associations and Multiple Listing Service (MLS) organizations. Niki was named to the Top 25 Most Influential Women in Real Estate Leadership by the Active Rain Real Estate Network. Following Andy’s passing in 2015, Niki assumed the position of CEO and Chairman of the Board of Rapattoni Corporation and continues running the company.
Niki and Andy were high school sweethearts, meeting in the GWS Auditorium at a school play because of their mutual interest in theater arts. This added another shared dimension to their lives. Beginning in 1980 they donated time, teaching, equipment, and supplies to local theater groups, schools and churches. In 1990 they created and funded the perpetual Ralph Rapattoni Watercolor Scholarship at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz, California, in memory of Andy’s brother. In 2012, they created the Rapattoni Drama Scholarship, awarded annually to an outstanding senior drama student at CHS, and they also provide funding for a memorial scholarship at Pasadena Art Institute.
Niki found a love for ice skating in 1975. From 1976 to 1986, she and her skating partner Tony Tovar competed in adult ice dance. A video of their ice dance routine was viewed by the US Figure Skating Association and influenced their decision to move forward with the first-ever national event for adult skaters as well as adding the category for future events. Niki and Tony did much of their own choreography, and Niki made most of their costumes. Niki was one of the founders of an adult precision ice skating team called The Fabulous Forties that competed and skated nationally and were three times national champions. She served on the board of directors for the Santa Monica Figure Skating Club for ten years, during which time she organized a show to send Olympic skaters Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner to the 1982 Lake Placid Winter Olympic Games.
Niki was slated to deliver a message to the CHS Class of 2020 at its Baccalaureate Service on May 17, 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 mandates, all school functions were cancelled so the speech was video recorded and can be viewed by clicking here. The Chaffey High School Alumni Association will honor her at a coming event.
Niki joins these other distinguished alumni in the Tiger Hall of Fame: Howard Tipton ’54; Robert Shaw ’33; Betty Davenport Ford ’42; Joseph Wambaugh ’54; Howard P. Allen ’44; H. Jack Meany ’41; John S. Graettinger, M.D. ’39; Ernest Payne ’25; Harold “Tony” Zenz ’28; Robert Lyn Nelson ’73; Kobe Shoji, Ph.D. ’38; Samuel P. Crowe ’53; Hobart “Hobie” Alter ’51; John Svenson ’42; Anthony Munoz ’76; Alan Paul Haskvitz ’60; Margaret Sanders Stewart ’39; Henry Bumstead ’33; John Dean, Ph.D. ’44; Glenn Goldsmith ’46; Jim Brulte ’74; Philo Biane ’28; Robert Graber ’31; Gary Ovitt ’65; James McVicker, Jr. ’70; Clyde Francisco ’45; Rear Admiral James Davidson ’56; Bruce Grube, Ph.D.’60; Richard Jones, Ph.D. ’51; Ed Berryman ’38; Leonard Mather, Ed.D ’35; Don Morris, Ed.D. ’48; Patricia Sawyer Benner, Ph.D. ’60; Andy Rapattoni ’57; Col. David Forden ’66; Gary Byrne, Ph.D. ’60; Sue Olinger Ovitt ’65; Robert Williams, Ph.D ’58; Thomas Moore, M.D. ’65; Carolyn Barnard Pryor, Ph.D. ’58; Nancy DeDiemar Jones ’63; Phyllis White Bogard ’57; and Michael D. Moneta, M.D. ’74.