PROMISE YOURSELF Jim Alley, President

Optimist Club of Coronado Pres.Designate Leslie Crawford

Post Office Box 180251 President Elect John Bowen
VPs-Irish Flynn & John Bowen
Coronado, CA 92178-0251 Stu Powell, Secretary
Don’t believe everything you think. John Freeman, Treas.
July 31, 2008 USNA ’45 Publishers
Meetings at 7AM on Thurs at Coronado Yacht Club A group that’s too noble for fear
www.sportsfiesta.net

Executive Summary
The President announced that we are over the hump. The Sports Fiesta was declared a success. His
daughter got up out a warm bed to place in the 10 K run. And Leslie Crawford picked her 1500th
cherry tomato off the magic vine.
End of Executive Summary
This date in history—July 31, 1972—Jake Sloan retired from the USMC; Thomas Eagleton was
tossed under the proverbial bus after word got out that he had undergone electroshock therapy, and
Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer were on the cover of Time Magazine.

Meanwhile, back at the Coronado Yacht Club, Larison and Sloan took our money. Irish gave out
snapshots. Clint Conway started the prayer. Bowen found the flag and started the pledge. Leftover
golf balls and drinking water were sold at rock bottom prices. Stu Powell told how he bought a
Sunday NY Times for visitors. Marilyn Schaefer related that one doesn’t need 20-20 eyesight to watch
golf. Wayne Crawford related that golfers have good hearts. (Rotarian Golfers are an exception.)

Supplement to Executive Summary

A Sports Fiesta moment went unrecognized last Sunday at the One-Mile Rough Water Swim. The overall female winner
with a time of 20:49 was none other that Michellie Jones of Ironman and Olympics fame. Jones was the Women's first
place finisher at the 2006 World Ironman Triathlon Championship in Kona, Hawaii. She was the silver medalist in the
triathlon at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sidney. Michellie is from Australia, but now lives in Carlsbad. What a great
thing to have this world class athlete in our event.
Back to the meeting
John Bowen confessed that he missed the Sports Fiesta in order to participate in his oldest son’s
wedding and count McCain bumper stickers in Berkeley. And John is our president elect. What about
those pre election pledges to go any distance, pay any price?

Record keeper Roy Mantz credited Joe Ochoa for a big boost in participation in our Sports Fiesta.
Overall we were up 37% in the Big 3 events. There was an 89% increase in the Triathlon. And it was
wonderful to see all the young faces. Everybody seemed to have a great time.

Rich McCampbell told us that growth in numbers was the same at Springboard Diving. They had 43
youngsters, which was one-third more than last year. This year the event was AAU sanctioned with
teams from out of the area. Rich even had a team from Baja. He thanked his faithful crew of counters.

Today was the 25th anniversary in Optimism of Ed Chapman who joined us for “breakfast” and the
tenth for Frank Osgood who stayed in bed. We tried to sing Happy Birthday to Dennis Woods, but it
seemed flat without the birthday boy.

Lance Massey took the air out of the room with the announcement that the Silver Strand needs our
immediate attention. So Saturday, August 2, we will muster a working party to pick up trash. Come to
the south gate at the Amphib Base or the entrance to Navy Housing to get your orange vest and bag.

Sam Cici was introduced by John Bowen as a fellow who has made something of the baseball
program at Coronado High School. Sam is a man who certainly knows how to win. He played on
THREE national championship teams at USC before embarking on a triple-A career as a shortstop
and later catcher in the Twins organization. When he was recruited to work in the Coronado program
Sam said that he hadn’t picked up a baseball in thirty years.

That has changed. The CHS team became too strong to compete in the Harbor Division and moved
on to compete with the best caliber teams in San Diego. Sam’s teams have become champions
playing against powerhouses at Mission Bay and Uni high schools. He told us how the combination of
volunteer coaching and involvement and working the kids hard to play up to potential has paid off.

They have a neat ballpark down behind the Strand School and work had to grow grass on a beach.
The park is sought out by organizers “travel baseball” and brings in money to supplement the tiny
$1200 that the school district budgets for this sport. The money raised is plowed back into the park.

Next week our own Charlie Ahern will introduce Susan Ahern who will tell us all about growing up in
Communist China. It should be fascinating.