Reception honors our two new athletic directors

Last month the Sports Authority was pleased to join with Hopkins and Carley law offices – represented on the Authority’s board by Julie Frambach – in hosting a welcome reception for the new athletic directors at Santa Clara and San Jose State universities. More than 100 community leaders greeted the Broncos’ Dan Coonan and Tom Bowen of the Spartans. They are both off to terrific starts, and we look forward to working with them over the next several years to support sports in the city and at their universities.

In this edition of SportsLines, Bob Singleton of the San José Grand Prix talks about the new track layout downtown. The consensus on the new track is overwhelmingly positive because it does a great job highlighting the appeal of the city’s core. The Grand Prix, in conjunction with the Sports Authority, has formed an Executive Advisory Board (EAB) composed of business leaders and race aficionados to support the event. In addition to serving as a community sounding board, the EAB will sell executive suites and sponsorships to local businesses, and it will sell tickets to Cabana, the July 29 gala for the Canary Fund at which race drivers will be the featured guests. The Canary Fund supports research into early cancer detection and is the race’s official social cause.

Last weekend a delegation of about 25 from the city, Canary Fund, Silicon Valley Sports and Entertainment and the Sports Authority attended the Long Beach Grand Prix, the model of the kind of community motor sports festival we aspire to in San Jose. The experience we gained will be invaluable in achieving that goal.

I would like to welcome Linda Carrier of the Bank of The West to our board. Linda is a vice president with the bank and has been active in greater San Jose as a successful businesswoman and as a supporter of numerous nonprofit organizations over the years. Welcome, Linda.

Please enjoy this issue of SportLines and visit us at www.sjsa.org for the latest at the Sports Authority.

Dean Munro
Executive Director

USA Wrestling’s California Championships are coming back to San Jose bigger and better than ever.

More than 2,500 wrestlers – boys and girls – from 7 to 15 years old will compete Saturday and Sunday, May 7-8, at the McEnery Convention Center. At stake are qualifying berths for the regional championships in Winnemucca, Nev., that could lead to the July national finals in Des Moines, Iowa.

This year’s projected turnout represents nearly a 20 percent increase over the 2,100 athletes in the 2004 state championships – San Jose’s first as host.

“The facility really made last year an outstanding event,” said Duane Morgan of San Benito, USA Wrestling’s state chairman. “Dean Munro was outstanding in helping us with this, and we hope to keep this relationship strong for the future.”

The new partnership between the San Jose Sports Authority’s Eagles at Rancho del Pueblo youth golf program and The First Tee, a national program of the World Golf Foundation, PGA, LPGA and U.S. Golf Association, began to pay dividends last week when the spring session opened.

Participation in the expanded program, which now includes Level I (beginner) and Level II (intermediate) players, is 76 youngsters, almost double the 41 who were in the program in spring 2004. This year’s spring session runs through May.

In addition, with assistance from CordeValle Golf Club, the program’s junior team of 12 players soon will begin a competitive season that will run until August.

One of the Sports Authority’s most important contributions to youth sports in our community – the REACH Youth Scholarship Program – will honor 32 high school seniors from 17 Santa Clara County schools at an awards breakfast Thursday, May 12 at the San Jose Marriott.

A total of $9,000 in scholarships will be awarded to the five seniors whose essays best explain how sports participation helped them overcome adversity to excel in academics and athletics. NFL Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott, honorary chair of the event, will speak, and Alexi Lalas, president and general manager of the San Jose Earthquakes, will attend.

The new race course for the San José Grand Prix, approved earlier this week by the City Council, represents two significant improvements over the original track. You can see the new “Cityscape Course” here.

First of all, the July 29-31 event has outgrown the limited pit capacity at HP Pavilion before the green flag for the inaugural race. We had squeezed in space for 18 cars on the original pit lane in the HP Pavilion parking lot, but indications are there will be more than 18 cars entered this summer. In addition, the new course provides room to lengthen the pit lane to accommodate additional cars as the Champ Car World Series grows each year. Unfortunately, the earlier track did not allow for such expansion.

Second, the proposed new course highlights San Jose's beautiful downtown, which is why we call it the Cityscape Course. With the San José Grand Prix being televised both nationally and world-wide, the more picturesque track incorporating palm-studded Almaden Boulevard and downtown’s most modern buildings really puts the city’s best foot forward. At 1.6 miles, it’s a longer track than the first course with longer straight-aways and passing areas, a fantastic hairpin turn and better fan viewing.

That said, there’s a lot of work to be done between now and Grand Prix Week, but our staff is up to the task and ready to make this the most memorable event in San Jose history.

Wayne Doiguchi, a veteran member of the Sports Authority board, is president and CEO of Park Plaza Investment Co., which provides direct investment, strategic partnerships, consulting services and business planning to startup and emerging companies.

He has extensive experience in financial management and marketing new businesses, and he has provided an essential role in the formulation of corporate strategy, business plan evaluations and structuring of acquisitions, and joint ventures. Doiguchi also serves on the Board for G2Video, a start up company, specializing in streaming video technology.

Prior to forming Park Plaza Investment, he served in senior management with Union Bank of California (formerly Bank of Tokyo), for 20 years and was responsible for the implementation of loan systems and credit approval for consumer, corporate, and real estate loans.

Doiguchi graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science and received a Masters of Business Administration from Santa Clara University. He continued to the University of Washington Pacific Coast Banking School to receive his banking degree.