A BUSY TIME - May 17th at WVRC

ANN SAMSON got us started with the Pledge, followed by JACK HARRIS on the ivories and LENNY FRIEDMAN as conductor. It should probably be noted that the piano keyboard didn't seem any the worse for wear after Jack did his duty…PP BOB WESSLING provided a nice poem, and the bonus was that we got to sit down enroute.

Lo and Behold, we had a Visiting Rotarian - he was Ingo Werk from Inglewood, introduced by BILL MICHAEL.. BILL had his own guest, Jim Griffin, and MARK BLOCK brought along Michael Rowse, who is with Toyota. JACK HARRIS was with Bill Maddox, a neighbor and a dedicated Bruin fan. KEVIN KOMATSU introduced Gary Karasik, a football fan (but from Florida State), and PP RALPH WOODWORTH brought along Guy Panno, another tried and true Bruin fan. PETER MORE had two guests. First noted was Anita Fey Kemmerling, and SHIRLEY MORE was with us - PETER reminded us that Shirley is President of our Rotary Auxiliary - and Prexy STEVE chimed in to announce that she would be holding the reins again this coming year - we are indeed fortunate to have such an active and supportive Auxiliary, and her leadership certainly shows! In that regard, the newly elected Auxiliary officers, besides Shirley, are Jessie Robinson/Sally Phillips as co-VPs, Peggy Bloomfield and Sally Newman as Secretaries, Petie Henkes as Treasurer, and Roz Nelson as Advisor.

Birthdays were next. Of the six who came along in May, four are from California - SALLY BRANT - LA, BILL BLOOMFIELD - LA, PP DAVE MORE - Santa Barbara (and did you know he was a PK?), and GEORGE COX - Westmoreland. The two nonconformists were PP HOWIE HENKES from Vincennes, Indiana, and JOE FISCHER, from faraway Biberteich, Germany (and YOE is suggesting JOE should give us a Senior Craft Talk about his wartime experiences as a young boy in Germany).

PDG ANDY ANDERSON was pleased to present a check from Sally Phillips for $12,000! $5K for PLLUS, $5K for Polio Surgery, and $2K for general expenses - and our only present regret is that we cannot coax SALLY into moving from the Auxiliary to WVRC itself. But we'll keep trying - Thank You, SALLY, very much. And on the subject of money, the dreaded Bell Tolls, in this case for PP DAVE WHITEHEAD.

Seems that DAVE and Karen skipped off to Tahiti, and so it only seems fair that he should contribute to the Missing Persons Fund. However, YOE has to confess that he couldn't quite understand the amount of the fine - perhaps the EURO was the currency, but anyway, we're glad that such dereliction of duty (missing a meeting, that is) had been properly noted and penalized.- FLASH - as I literally was writing about the above weighty matter, Prexy STEVE called to explain that the fine was Mille Francs, 1000 clams, translated to $200 U.S. Bucks! Since he was already at the podium, PP DAVE reminded us that the Demotion for You Know Who is on June 16th, and all and sundry (that means all those attending) should be forewarned that this date coincides with our final payment on the well-remembered Santa Maria BBQ! There is indeed hope for all of us…

It was good to have PP HOWARD SISKEL back with us. And another health note - Beverly LEVER was most appreciative of the flowers WVRC sent after her recent operation. Our Visiting Rotarian from Wilmington is District Chair of the Rotary World Peace Scholarship program, which he outlined. This is a two-year Masters Program, available at eight Universities worldwide, and one interesting condition is that you must speak more than one language! If selected from the U.S., you cannot attend the two U.S. centers, at Berkeley and Raleigh, N.C. and of course no Rotary connection is permitted. Seventy scholars will be selected worldwide, and deadline for applications is August 1st. This is a really exciting, high-level opportunity, and all of us should be on the lookout for possible candidates.

ANN ELKIN next presented our sabre for the outstanding member of the Air Force ROTC unit. She is Cadet Kareen Plisker, who will graduate next month, and she was accompanied by Capt. Timothy Reynolds of the Air Force ROTC. LENNY FRIEDMAN gave us an update on the Macy's Building - the new tenants will be Ralphs Fresh Fare,, a Design Center, and a smaller Longs Drug Store - all are welcome, and will be functioning this fall. PP STEVE SCHERER announced that the Rotary Golf Tournament will be held on June 25th, chaired by PP JIM SUMNER - save the date, please. YOE then stepped forward to offer assistance to Coach Bob Toledo in the person of our own PP BOB WESSLING, justly famed as the savior of the DePauw Tigers football program in recent years. I also had some free tickets to the Universal Amphitheater for this Saturday night, but alas, a senior moment kept me from recalling the name of the show to be presented!

Anyway, with this sendoff, PP JIM COLLINS introduced our speaker, Coach Bob Toledo. He reminded us that this is Bob's sixth season at UCLA, after several stops at other California colleges, and he is 35-23 during this period. Coach Toledo began by pointing out that UCLA had 40,500 applications for the freshman class - the most of any University in the country - and the GPA AVERAGE is 4.2, with 1360 SAT scores.

Thus his staff emphasizes the quality of education recruits will receive if they choose UCLA. Art Schell, a long time NFL player and coach, spoke to the team earlier this year, pointing out that about 15,000 players have been taken into the NFL, and only 4% last as long as three years. So you NEED to get that degree.

Last year the Bruins were 6-6, after starting out 3-0, but injuries caught up with them. There are 24 seniors on this squad - the most Toledo has ever had - including 15 returning starters. Prominent on the defensive side will be Marques Anderson, SS, Kenyon Coleman, DE, Ken Kocher (a mere 306 lbs) at DT, Robert Thomas, LB, and Ryan Nece, also a LB, plus Ricky Manning (a two-year starter and punt returner, still only a Junior). Both kickers return, Nate Fiske and Chris Kluwe. Offensive standouts will be DeShaun Foster (with over 1000 yards in an injury-shortened season), Brian Poli-Dixon, at 6'5' and 216 lbs, and QB Cory Paus, who would have led the Conference in passing efficiency but was out with injuries and thus did not qualify to be considered.

New players to watch include Yosef Isef, a 300 lb. Russian (probably a lineman, YOE suspects), Manual White, 6'3" and 240, as a tailback, Tab Perry, Ryan Smith, and Craig Bragg, all at WR, and a youngster, Tyler Ebell, who had SEVERAL 80 YARD TD's while still in high school. As Bob pointed out, this kind of player makes Toledo a great coach!

There are a number of new coaches, Phil Snow as Defensive Coordinator (from Arizona State), Kelly Skipper who moves to Offensive Coordinator (but Toledo calls the plays), and John Pierce, QB coach. This year's recruits total 18 - 1 from JC, 17 from high school - this out of only 30 who visited the campus. Among them are John Sciarra Jr at QB, the above-mentioned Ebell (known as Mighty Mouse, since he is only 5'9 and 170 lbs), and Matt Ware (6'3" 195 lbs), a DB from Loyola - an excellent class, apparently.

The Bruins play Alabama there and Kansas, there, back for Ariz State, then Ohio State here and into the Conference schedule. The BCS Game will be played at the Rose Bowl, and thus we are hoping to be there, or at the Fiesta in Phoenix, where the Pac 10 Champion will play. Looks like a fun season ahead, and we thank Coach Bob (and our own Coach BOB) for an excellent program.

Thought for the Day - "If you can't get people to listen to you any other way, tell them it's confidential" Russell Lynes.