Passing the gavel at the Sports Authority

Victor M. Arrañaga Jr., chair of the Sports Authority’s board of directors the last three years, passed the gavel to Gary Fazzino at the board’s annual meeting in June. The meeting marked the end of one successful era for the Sports Authority and the beginning of a new one.

Victor played a crucial part in bringing the Taylor Woodrow Grand Prix of San José to our city, which will be held for the first time next weekend. He was also a tireless champion for improving and expanding the organization’s youth golf program and was the key figure in it becoming part of The First Tee, a national program of the World Golf Foundation. Thank you, Victor, for providing great leadership and working so hard to insure our organization’s success.

One of the reasons the Sports Authority has been successful is that extraordinary people have served as its chair. Under Gary Fazzino the tradition will continue. Gary has been on the board since 1995 and has served in a variety of important roles, including serving as vice-chairman for the last three years. Gary is a vice president at Hewlett-Packard, a life-long sports fan and is well known and respected throughout Silicon Valley.

SportsLines’ top story this month is about the2007 Visa Championships, to be held at HP Pavilion. But getting this important national championship event – which will have a sizeable economic impact on downtown as well as generate national coverage by NBC Sports – would not have been possible without the strong backing of Jim Goddard at HP Pavilion and the involvement of Dan Fenton of the Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Dave Peterson and Chere Tamura of the local gymnastics community. Thanks to them for playing such vital roles in bringing this event to San Jose.

Enjoy this combined June-July edition of SportsLines.

Dean Munro
Executive Director

San Jose will host the 2007 Visa Championships, the national championships of gymnastics, USA Gymnastics announced this week. It is the most important national competition in the sport and comes just one year before the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Hosting the event also includes USA Gymnastics’ national congress and trade show.

USA Gymnastics awarded the three-day event – to be held Aug. 16-18, 2007 in HP Pavilion – to San Jose following the city’s successful hosting of the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline. NBC Sports will cover the 2007 championships.

“This event is one of the premier championships in the Olympic family of events, and hosting it is a first for San Jose,” said Dean Munro, executive director of the San Jose Sports Authority. “This is great news for our city and the Sports Authority.”

The inaugural Taylor Woodrow Grand Prix of San José will be here July 29-31, and developments are coming fast and furious. Check out the grandstands constructed on Alamaden Boulevard across from the Hilton and convention center, just the latest in the changes that will make downtown a 1.6-mile, 11-turn circuit for 200-mph racing cars.

The Sports Authority has a comprehensive run-down of all Grand Prix events – on the track as well in the community – online in our Grand Prix Fact Sheet. Among the more interesting events connected to the feature race is a chance for you to drive a former NASCAR stock car around the track in a 10-lap exhibition race. More details on bidding for this opportunity to drive cars once used in competition by such drivers as Jeff Gordon and Richard Petty are available at http://www.sanjosegrandprix.com/historicstockcarauction.html.

The Champ Car World Series has been thrilling so far this season with four different winners in five races. Driver A.J. Allmendinger of Los Gatos, with a pair of runner-up finishes in the last three races, has moved into third place in the season point standings, and Morgan Hill’s Jimmy Vasser has climbed into fifth.

Four grandstands have already sold out, but good tickets are still available at http://sanjosegrandprix.com/tickets_public.html.

The San Jose Sports Hall of Fame will begin its second decade in November with the induction of five South Bay sports personalities who made their marks in golf, the NFL, tennis and high school football.

The 2005 Class of Inductees includes:

• Ken Venturi, a former San Jose State golfer whose professional titles include the 1960 U.S. Open,
• Brent Jones, a football star whose entire career – from Leland High to Santa Clara to the San Francisco 49ers – was spent in the Bay Area,
• Sisters Barbara and Kathy Jordan, national championship tennis players at Stanford before going on to win singles and doubles titles at Wimbledon and in the Australian, French and U.S. Opens,
• Benny Pierce, football coach at Saratoga High for 33 seasons and winner of 17 league championships.

Table sponsorships for the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame Induction Dinner at HP Pavilion in November are now available. A portion of the proceeds benefits Special Olympics Silicon Valley Region and Santa Clara County high schools.

The Rivalry Series Cup between Santa Clara and San Jose State universities, sponsored by the Sports Authority, was won for the third consecutive time by Santa Clara University and presented to Dan Coonan, the Broncos’ new athletic director, at a recent barbecue.

But Tom Bowen, San Jose State’s new AD and a former Notre Dame classmate of Coonan’s, made it clear at the presentation that the Spartans have set their sights on claiming the honor next season in the cross-county rivalry.

Let the games begin.

The fast action of hockey played on roller skates will fill the San Jose State Event Center eight times a day when the Men’s Hardball Roller Hockey World Championship comes to the United States for the first time Aug. 6-13.

Sixteen national teams, including defending champion Portugal and the host United States, will compete for the world title.

"These world championships will be a fantastic event for San Jose, and they continue our city’s tradition – established with events such as the men’s and women’s soccer World Cups – as the focal point for international sports in the Bay Area," said Dean Munro, executive director of the San Jose Sports Authority.

Hardball roller hockey, played in 60 countries worldwide, is usually played on a wood floor. A goaltender and four skaters using traditional roller skates are on the floor at one time. A world championship game consists of two 20-minute halves.

Nearly 2,500 athletes plus coaches and families will soon arrive in San Jose 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.

Sports Authority board member Charlie Faas is in his second year as executive vice president and chief financial officer with Silicon Valley Sports and Entertainment (SVSE). He oversees all accounting and financial operations of the NHL’s San Jose Sharks, the Cleveland Barons of the American Hockey League and HP Pavilion at San Jose. He also oversees the financial matters of SVSE Merchandise & Publishing, the SAP Open tennis tournament and Sharks Ice skating and hockey facilities in San Jose and Fremont.

Before he joined the Sharks, Faas spent 20 years in various financial management positions with IBM, Cadence Design Systems and Pharsight. In addition to the Sports Authority Board, he’s also on the board of the San Jose After-School All-Stars.

He got his undergraduate degree from Siena College, and he has also completed the Executive Education program at UCLA's Anderson School. He teaches the accounting & budgeting course for the sports management masters degree program at the University of San Francisco.