Getting an event is only half the job

The Sports Authority staff is spending a considerable amount of time preparing for the major events the city will be hosting during the remainder of the year. Included on the calendar are the San José Grand Prix, the Dew Action Sports Tour, the USA Water Polo Junior Olympics and the Hardball Roller Hockey World Championships.

Convincing a sports governing body that we will do an exceptional job of hosting one of its premier events represents only part of the work that we do. The rest of the effort is working to insure the event is a tremendous success. The Sports Authority’s role in supporting an event can assume many forms. Sometimes it requires a huge effort creating and leading the local organization responsible for hosting the event. Other times, as with the Grand Prix or the Dew Action Tour, our role isn’t as large and is more oriented to supporting the event’s professional staff in coordinating or marketing the championship. Either way, every event we host needs to be done in a stellar fashion to insure that San Jose and the Sports Authority maintain a reputation for hosting great events.

One of our most important event partners over the years has been the United States Olympic Committee and the governing bodies of its various sports. We visited with several leaders of the Olympic movement at the first meeting of the USOC Alliance in Phoenix, Ariz. In addition to meeting Peter Ueberroth, the new USOC chair and a San Jose State graduate, Patricia Ernstrom and I had dinner with Jim Scherr who is the new CEO of the USOC. Jim is an old friend of San Jose. In his previous role as director of USA Wrestling, he worked with us on hosting several of his organization’s championships.

Please take a few minutes to read the rest of this month’s SportsLines. Thanks.

Dean Munro
Executive Director

Six Santa Clara County high school seniors – Jackie Cimino of Presentation High School, Brad Kompelien of Willow Glen High, Mallory Stein of Willow Glen High, Mikaela Gillette of Presentation High, Katie Peek of Santa Clara High and Katie Dee of Santa Teresa High – were named winners of the Sports Authority’s 2005 REACH Youth Scholarships at the annual awards breakfast Thursday at the San Jose Marriott.

The breakfast honored 31 students nominated by their schools for the REACH program, which stands for Recognizing Excellence, Adversity, Courage and Hard Work. The scholarship winners were determined by an essay competition, in which the nominees explained how their participation in high school sports helped them overcome adversity to excel in sports and academics. The difficulties faced by these young people included poverty, abuse, social and language problems faced by immigrants, physical disabilities and disease.

They were awarded a total of $10,000 in scholarships at the ceremony, chaired by former San Francisco 49er Ronnie Lott on behalf of presenting sponsor Bridge Bank, with support from Hewlett-Packard, Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area, Southwest Airlines and the San Jose Marriott. You can read the personal stories of each of the scholarship recipients here.

The Monday, July 18 play date for the 2005 SBC San José Golf Classic at CordeValle Golf Club in San Martin will be here before you know it. Now is the time to put your foursome together, and Tracie Morris is the person to call to get in on all the fun. Call her at (408) 288-2937 for entry and sponsorship information.

The tournament is the annual fund-raiser for the Sports Authority’s The First Tee® of San Jose youth golf program, formerly known as the Eagles at Rancho del Pueblo, which teaches youngsters life skills of respect and hard work in addition to golf at little or no charge. Contributions are tax deductible for the amount of the contribution less the value of the benefits received.

Register on our Web site at www.sjsa.org to win a pair of free tickets to see the defending Arena Football League champion San Jose SaberCats wrap up their regular season at HP Pavilion.

The SaberCats overcame a slow start this season by putting together a five-game winning streak and now are poised to enter the playoffs again. Quarterback Mark Grieb is the league’s No.2 passer with 4,279 yards and 75 touchdown passes to date. Wide receiver Rashied Davis has 38 TD receptions to rank second in the AFL with two games to go.

Two tickets to the SaberCats’ final game of the regular season at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 21 in HP Pavilion against the Georgia Force could be yours if you win the Sports Authority’s SaberCats contest. Just visit our Web site here, fill in the email form, and if your entry is drawn, an evening of exciting SaberCats’ football will be yours. The entry deadline is midnight, Thursday, May 19. The winner will be notified by email and telephone on Friday, May 20 and the tickets will be available for pick-up at HP Pavilion’s Will Call window under their name.

Registration forms for The First Tee® of San Jose’s summer programs of youth golf instruction are now available for downloading and printing from the Sports Authority’s Web site.

Formerly known as the Eagles at Rancho del Pueblo, The First Tee® of San Jose offers minimal-cost course access, equipment and lessons. Affiliation with the national First Tee program has helped double the participation rate this year in San Jose.

The programs – all held at Rancho del Pueblo Golf Course in San Jose – include the TARGET class for boys and girls 7-9 years old, which teaches life skills of respect and hard work in addition to basic golf instruction; Level I and Level II instruction for beginner and intermediate boys and girls 10-14; and Summer Golf Camp for golfers 9 and older who want to pursue competitive golf or try out for their school’s golf team.

Amy Love, chair of the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame, this week presented a $5,000 check to Special Olympics, proceeds from the 10th Anniversary Hall of Fame Induction Dinner last November in HP Pavilion. Accepting the check were Aubrey Merriman, vice president of the West Region, Special Olympics of Northern California and Nevada, and Stacey Stevenson, named 2004 Special Olympian of the Year at the Hall of Fame dinner.

Complete coverage of last year’s event is in The Champion, newsletter of the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame, a project of the Sports Authority, on our Web site.

Nearly 2,500 athletes plus coaches and families are preparing to travel to San Jose this summer for the USA Water Polo National Junior Olympics, which will be held over two weekends. This is the third time San Jose has hosted this championship.

Boys competition runs July 30-Aug. 2, and the girls teams come to town Aug. 4-7. The age-group competition begins at 12-and-under and runs to 18 year-olds. The competition will take place at many pools throughout the San Jose area.

Recently, staff members of the San José Grand Prix, along with our counterparts from the city’s police and fire departments had the opportunity to attend the Long Beach Grand Prix, Champ Car’s first race of the 2005 season.

While the race was won by defending series champion Sebastian Bourdais, some of the real excitement took place outside the track – on the streets, restaurants and clubs of downtown Long Beach. It was really exciting to see a community get so behind its own race. Yes, while the fans turned out in large numbers each day for the race action, there was just as much action taking place on the streets and in the businesses of Long Beach. Restaurants and bars were all decorated for the race, and the lines extended outside the doors each night.

This is the same excitement I see growing for the San José Grand Prix on July 29-31. There is a buzz that just seems to be getting stronger and stronger each week. We’re just over two months away, and you can really feel it coming.

Please visit www.sanjosegrandprix.com for more information on San Jose’s biggest sporting event.

Darrin Nelson comes to the Sports Authority board from the world of football and college athletics. He is a former Stanford football All-American and 11-year National Football League veteran who is now Stanford’s senior associate athletics director for external relations.

In that position, Nelson oversees the development, marketing, tickets, media relations, and strength and conditioning departments. He is also the sport administrator for football, track and field, and cross country.

Nelson was a four-time All-Pac-10 selection at running back and still holds several Cardinal records, including career touchdowns (40) and career rushing yards (4,033). He became the first player in NCAA history to rush for over 1,000 yards and catch 50 passes in a season, which he did three times. He also ran track and was an academic All-American. He played in the NFL for the Minnesota Vikings (1982-89, 1991-92) and the San Diego Chargers (1989-90). Before returning to Stanford, Nelson worked for Piper Capital Management, a mutual fund and private equity management firm in Minneapolis.

He also has worked in television as a college football analyst for ESPN, on the Vikings’ pre- and post-game shows on Fox Sports Net, and was a member of the Vikings’ radio broadcast team for three seasons.