Pair of Sports Authority board members recognized

Special thanks to Rick Sanchez and Wayne Doiguchi whose terms on the San Jose Sports Authority Board of Directors just expired. Wayne served as secretary and executive committee member for a number of years, and Rick was the original chairman of the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame. Thanks, gentlemen, for helping the Sports Authority put San Jose on the national sports map. 

October’s sports calendar includes the city’s two premier running events of the year, the Rock ’n’ Roll ½ Marathon and Metro Silicon Valley Marathon, the U.S. National Rugby Team will compete in a free event, and the Sharks will open their season Thursday night, Oct. 5. Also, this organization in conjunction with the San Jose Convention and Visitors Bureau, has received commitments to bring three youth events to San Jose in 2007 which will bring more than 5,000 competitors and a large number of traveling companions.

Hope you enjoy this edition of SportsLines.

Dean Munro
Executive Director

Three large youth sports events have been announced for San Jose in 2007. The bids were a collaborative effort between the Sports Authority and the San Jose Convention and Visitors Bureau.

In March, California Wrestling’s Frosh-Soph Folkstyle State Championships will be held in the McEnery Convention Center’s South Hall. This event, which runs March 10-11, will draw approximately 1,000 high school-age participants.

One month later USA Gymnastics’ Junior Olympics Level 8 Regional Championships will be held in a venue to be determined April 13-15 in San Jose. More than 350 youth participants from California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah are involved.

In July, USA Taekwondo will bring two national competitions to San Jose for a back-to-back six-day run. The Senior National Championships, staged last year in Cleveland, will be held July 10-11. Then the Junior Olympic Championships, held last year in Atlanta, will run July 12-15. A total of 3,750 athletes are expected.

Stanford and professional basketball star Jennifer Azzi, five-time Super Bowl assistant coach Bill McPherson and multi-sport coach-administrator Walt McPherson of San Jose State will be inducted into the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame on Nov. 14 at HP Pavilion.

Visit our Hall of Fame web page for a preview of what you can expect when you attend this year’s 12th annual event, presented by Hewlett-Packard, including links to table and sponsorship reservation forms and silent auction donation forms.

Dinner tickets begin at $200 each; sponsorship packages range from $2,000 to $15,000.

The annual dinner is an event of the San Jose Sports Authority, San Jose Arena Authority, HP Pavilion Management/San Jose Sharks and the City of San José. The event benefits Special Olympics Silicon Valley Region and high school sports programs.

The Sports Authority co-hosted a reception last month honoring Don Listwin, owner of the San Jose Grand Prix and founder of the Canary Foundation, along with the Convention & Visitors Bureau and Team San Jose.

The evening event was held at the recently restored California Theatre Courtyard downtown. Listwin is a former high tech executive who brought to San Jose what instantly became the city’s largest sports event, which has now had two successful runnings. The open-wheeled auto race benefits his Canary Foundation, the nation’s only non-profit organization devoted solely to the early detection of cancer, will be run for a third time July 27-29, 2007.

Two important races – the Rock ’n’ Roll ½ Marathon and the Metro Silicon Valley Marathon – take to city streets this month.

The Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 Marathon, which starts and finishes downtown on Sunday, will be preceded by a two-day Health & Fitness Expo at the McEnery Convention Center and concludes with an HP Pavilion concert featuring the Bay Area-based rock band Train.

The Metro Silicon Valley Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 29, includes a marathon, half-marathon, 5K Run/Walk, kids races and Sports Tech Expo. All races begin downtown. The marathon and half-marathon run along the Los Gatos Creek Trail to Los Gatos with the longer race returning the same route. Bus transportation for half-marathoners will be provided back to the start at Park and Almaden.

The U.S. Men’s National Rugby Team will play the second match of its World Cup qualifying series against Uruguay at Stanford’s Steuber Rugby Stadium at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7.

There’s no admission fee for the match, which will determine whether the United States advances to the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France. The first match of the home-and-home series was won by the United States, 42-13, on Sept. 30 in Montevideo.

Tom was named San Jose State University's director of intercollegiate athletics in 2004. He had been director of community affairs for the San Francisco 49ers and executive director of the 49ers Foundation for the three previous years.

He’s a native of Denver, but he’s been involved with Bay Area sports on the amateur and professional levels since his student days at Moreau High in Hayward. After graduating from Notre Dame University he spent six years studying for the priesthood, but eventually chose athletic administration as athletic director at Concord’s De La Salle High in 1987.

Since then he’s served in administrative capacities at St. Mary's College, UC Berkeley as well as serving as an adjunct professor in sports management at the University of San Francisco. He is married and has three children.