Non-Profit Groups and Sports
This week, we had our monthly board meeting at the Orange County Youth Sports Foundation (OCYSF). I have been apart of this 501c-3, non-profit group since my time with the (then) Mighty Ducks and I am proud to say the group has had a positive impact on on the lives of many.
First, some brief history…..OCYSF is a non-profit organization based in Southern California. The board is comprised of businessmen who are devoted to athletics and our county’s youth. The Foundation distributes scholarships and grants to young athletes in Orange County and provides assistance to tax-exempt, sports related organizations. The Foundation also assists individuals who have medical needs related to or associated with athletics.
It is a great group of folks that have fun and make an impact in the local community. Some of the members include former USC star and NFLer Mike Salmon, gold medal Olympic Swimmers Janet Evans and Brian Goodell, basketball coach Danny Rogers, former Major Leaguer and Angel Tom Murphy and of course one of the organization’s founders Paul Salata (USC , San Francisco 49ers but also well known for Irrelevant Week)
There are three areas where the group concentrates its time.
1) Youth Scholarships — Each year, we hand out scholarships to worthy high school student athletes that have excelled on and off the field. The awards include a scholarship dinner with parents and a check that helps, in a small way, to pay the growing expenses of college education.
2) Grants — OCYSF also provides dollars to local youth sports related organizations. For example, a Santa Ana Little League had no funds to replace threadbare uniforms and was seeing its dispirited participants prepare to disband. The struggling league was left out of the Southern California-wide disbursement of the surplus funds of the 1984 Olympic Games, funds earmarked to aid youth sports. Consequently, the league was losing its battle to remain self-sufficient. OCYSF stepped in to help bridge the gap.
3) Annual Banquet – This is where it all started. The history of the group began with an annual banquet in 1971 by honoring race car driver Dan Gurney. In those days no one was raising money, just having lots of fun. Today, it is all about making an impact for children. The list of past honorees is impressive: Peter Ueberroth, Tommy Lasorda, Jim Nance, Pete Carroll, Carson Palmer…. It goes on and on. The event is a smash hit which roasts the honoree. The banquet draws 500 during a tough economy and as many as 800 when times are good.
I got involved with this group because I always believed that senior sports management professionals needed to be attached to their community. With the Anaheim (then Mighty) Ducks, I always encouraged each leader to adopt one organization and sit on its board, serve as an honorary chairman or some sort of involvement that matched with our overall business and community goals.
