By Doug Curlee | Editor at Large

Golf tournament to pay for school’s Hall of Fame

It all started in 2011, when Kevin Carlson and several other alumni of one of San Diego’s biggest high schools decided to throw a luncheon event to honor some of their old coaches from the ’70s and ’80s.

They didn’t really realize what it might morph into.

Someone suggested they ought to see if there was more they could do, and the first thing you know, the Alumni Association is a 501/c-3 nonprofit planning a golf tournament and a dinner to raise funds for the school. It worked.

“As we looked around, we saw that there were things the school needed that the public funds would not, or legally could not, pay for.” Carlson said.

“So we made it our mission to see to it that a lot of those things got paid for. In the past four years, we’ve raised and donated about $170,000 for things that needed to be bought and couldn’t fit into the school budget,” he said. “We’ve bought instruments for the band, uniforms for sports teams, new practice backboards for the basketball program. We’ve created a small scholarship fund for kids who might need help with school expenses and fees.”

What’s striking about all this is that public schools, as a general rule, don’t really have active alumni associations doing this kind of thing. Some do, but you’re more likely to find such organizations at parochial and private schools.

The goal for this annual tournament and dinner is to create a Hall of Fame in the new Performing Arts center on campus.

“When you have some 40,000 alumni, there are bound to be some noteworthy names somewhere on that list.” Carlson said. He’s right.

How many other schools have a multiple Academy Award-nominated actress? Annette Bening, who incidentally donated $40,000 to that Performing Arts Academy, is on the alumni list.

How many schools have a Heisman Trophy-winning running back? Ricky Williams is an ex-Patrick Henry Patriot.

How many schools have more major league ballplayers than you can shake a stick at? Eric Karros and Aaron Harang are only a couple of them.

There’s Paul Vaden, the former world welterweight boxing champ.

Toss in an NFL quarterback, Matt Kofler, and you can begin to see where the idea of a Hall of Fame gains traction.

That’s not even counting people who have made significant contributions in areas other than sports or movies.

This year’s Tournament and Banquet are on Friday, May 13, at Admiral Baker Golf Course. There will be a shotgun start at 11:30 a.m. on both north and south courses, with the reception and dinner to follow.

There’ll be a silent auction for a whole lot of very good quality stuff, and there will even be a new car for a hole-in-one, donated by one of the several car dealers who are now in on the effort.

I saw it last year, and it’s quite a day to be a part of.

—Doug Curlee is Editor at Large. Write to him at [email protected].