Restore the Roar, an athletic booster club at C.K. McClatchy High School, is establishing an Athletic Hall of Fame, and in so doing, is establishing something more: a group of involved alumni who are enjoying making a difference in the community while having fun together.

‘How can I help?’

RESTORE THE ROAR began as a high school alumni booster club to support the C.K. McClatchy High School football team in 2007. Today, the booster group is working to support student athletes in all sports at the school. / Photo iStockphoto

Former Chief Deputy of Social Services Bob Sertich helped start the booster club in 2007 after he retired. He wanted to help out in his community and because he and his three adult children are alumni of McClatchy High School, he went to the school to find out where it needed help. The athletic director needed some assistance with the football team, so Sertich focused on the needs of the football team for two years.

Shift from football to all sports

The focus for the booster club has changed and the club is now working with Athletic Director Rod Feikert to create an umbrella for all sports, involving the alumni, parents and businesses. In 2009, Restore the Roar was licensed as a non-profit business.

“It is an outstanding program,” Feikert said. “It’s always great to have the alumni involved with the school.”

Mentoring…and building

Sertich started the booster club with the idea of having past athletes from the school meet with current student athletes. He wants the students to have positive role models.

“I want the long and heralded athletic tradition at McClatchy High School to continue,” Sertich said. “The goal is to build a booster program similar to that of many large suburban schools.”

Sertich said his father died when he was 10-years-old and he missed out on becoming athletically involved as a young boy. While attending McClatchy in 1964, Sertich remembers one man in particular who made a difference in his life. His name was Bill Morgan and he was the vice principal.

“He was a great educator,” Sertich said. “He talked to the students about the role of public service and making the community stronger. That stuck with me.”

Academic, athletic recognition

This year the club had a recognition event for seniors who played more than one sport and kept a high GPA. They also helped the girls basketball team. They were able to provide an after school study hall and tutors for the athletes and Taylor’s Market generously donated meals to the football team.

Cameraderie

Rod Kunisaki, an alum and member of the Sacramento Sports Commission, is the treasurer for the club

“I became involved in the club mostly because of the camaraderie,” Kunisaki said. “I enjoy the connection between the students and the athletes who attended McClatchy.”

2012 nominees – partial list

Many great athletes attended McClatchy High School. Lenore Modell, Barbara Romack and Judy Ghillarducci are three examples of the type of athletes being nominated for the first Hall of Fame.

Romack played professional golf, winning the U.S. Women’s Amateur golf tournament in 1954. She was on the cover of Sports Illustrated on April 16, 1956. At one time she served as vice-president of the LPGA.

Ghillarducci was golf pro at Haggin Oaks for over 20 years. She is a past winner of the County and City of Sacramento women’s golf tournaments.

Modell swam the English Channel in 1964.

The complete list of nominees thus far is posted on the Restore the Roar website, www.restoretheroar.org.

Sertich said the club is organizing a dinner for the Hall of Fame and they are still accepting nominations.

Four requirements for ‘Restore the Roar’ nominees

The following categories will be considered for induction into the C. K. McClatchy Athletic Hall of Fame:

1. Former student-athletes who compiled an outstanding record of athletic accomplishments while competing for McClatchy High School.

2. Entire athletic teams that represented McClatchy High School at the highest level of competition in its respective sport.

3. Coaches with a demonstrated record of teaching and athletic accomplishment during his/her tenure at McClatchy.

Efforts are underway to establish a McClatchy High School Athletic Hall of Fame honoring the best of the student-athletes since the school was founded in 1937.

RESTORE THE ROAR is a group of C.K. McClatchy High School alumni which seeks to establish an “Athletic Hall of Fame.” The organization seeks to acknowledge alum athletes from the school’s proud 75-year history. / Valley Community Newspapers file photo, Susan Laird

The effort coincides with the school’s 75th anniversary and is being headed up by Restore the Roar, a booster group of alumni, parents and friends of McClatchy sports.

The organization is seeking nominations for the initial hall of fame class from all interested parties. More information is available on the organization’s website at http://www.Restoretheroar.org. The site includes student-athletes and coaches already nominated and information on how to submit additional nominations.

Identifying the best athletes during the school’s seventy-five years of existence is proving to be an immense challenge, according to the Website.

The core committee has researched Sacramento Bee files, California Interscholastic Federation-Sac-Joaquin Section historical data and input from veteran McClatchy observers to come up with a list of nominations. There is a link to view nominations on the site.

“It is envisioned that the first class honored will be comprised of about 40 of the top tier athletes and coaches that have represented McClatchy over the past seventy-five years,” the Website states. “This will mean that many fine student-athletes and coaches will have to wait for induction into the Hall of Fame in subsequent years. Subsequent classes of inductees would be fifteen to twenty inductees annually.”

The core committee that is compiling the list of nominees was Jim Coombs (’57 and faculty member), Mike Nishio (’63 and faculty member), Bob Sertich (’67) and Jan Olmstead (faculty member).

Restore the Roar is asking for alumni help with additional nominees and information, as well as their help in arriving at the final selections and making the Hall of Fame a reality.

• Alumni can provide any information about the nominees that alums think the committee should consider in making its final determinations.
• Alumni can nominate additional student athletes for consideration in the final hall of fame selections.
• Alumni can provide personal information that they have about any of the nominees so that committee may contact them if proposed for induction.

Restore the Roar needs other help to make the Athletic Hall of Fame a reality.

First, help is needed with filling out the selection committee. The committee will meet in March 2012 to make the final decision on the 2012 inductees after it receives the final nominations and information on the nominees. Alumni can volunteer to be on the final selection committee or suggest people they believe would be good additions to the committee.

Help is also needed to coordinate the dinner event that will be held in May or June 2012.

Finally, Restore the Roar can always use sponsorships to help make this effort a super success.

To help with any of these things, e-mail golions@restoretheroar.org.

Restore the Roar hopes to have final selection made from among the nominations by late March 2012. There are still opportunities to serve on the selection committee or to assist with the initial Hall of Fame Banquet and induction ceremony later in the spring.

Restore the Roar was established in 2007 by a group of alumni supporting McClatchy athletics. In 2009, it was incorporated and received official non-profit status from the Federal IRS and the California FTB. Since it began, the organization has helped support recognition activities for student athletes, secured cash and in-kind donations in support of McClatchy’s sports teams and supported the student study hall at the school. The organization is currently working to broaden its participation by including the parents and friends of student athletes. More information about the organization and its activities can be viewed at www.restoretheroar.org.

Questions about the Hall of fame or Restore the Roar by e-mail at: golions@restoretheroar.org or by calling Bob Sertich at (916) 441-0657.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – April is Alumni Month at Sacramento State, and this year’s slate of activities for alumni and friends is so full, it stretches into May.

This year’s Alumni Month activities are designed to celebrate the contributions of Sacramento State alumni by bringing them together for events both on and off campus. Events are at the University unless otherwise noted. They include:

• “The Wiz,” a great opportunity to get back to campus and see a student performance. The play runs April 8-24, Playwrights Theatre, Shasta Hall
• Student-Alumni Career Buzz Event, networking with the Student Alumni Association, 4:30–6:30 p.m. April 11, Alumni Center.

• Distinguished Service Awards, celebrating the accomplishments of Sacramento State’s distinguished alumni, 5:30 p.m. April 14, Alumni Center.

• Green and Gold Scrimmage, spring preview of Hornet football followed by a barbecue, 10 a.m. April 23, Hornet Practice Field

• Behind the Scenes Tour and Alumni Mixer, sponsored by the Business Alumni Chapter, 5:30-7:30 p.m. April 28, Commerce Printing, 322 N. 12th St., Sacramento.

• Alumni Open House – see what’s new with the Alumni Association while enjoying samples from the Alumni Center’s preferred caterers, 5-7 p.m. April 29, Alumni Center.

• Sac State Night at the River Cats, 7:05 p.m. May 5, Raley Field.

• Capitol Networking BBQ, a free lunchtime rally for alumni working in and around the state Capitol, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. May 6, East Lawn at the Capitol.

• Stinger Wine & Food Classic, annual fundraiser for athletic scholarships featuring alumni-owned wineries and restaurants, 6 p.m. May 6, Alumni Center

• Hornet Alumni Mixer, 5-7 p.m. May 24, The Cafeteria, 15th and L streets, Sacramento.

More than 200,000 people can call themselves Sacramento State alumni, and a large number of them continue to make the area their home. In fact, one in 24 residents of the Sacramento region is a Sac State graduate.

For more information about Alumni Month or to RSVP for one of the featured events, visit the Alumni Association website at SacStateAlumni.com or call (916) 278-6295.

Pocket area resident Jan Wilson is in her 10th year of collecting and distributing clothing and blankets to members of the homeless community of Sacramento. / Valley Community Newspapers photo, Lance Armstrong

Known by this title in different parts of the city, “the extra layer of clothing lady” has developed a positive reputation for her assistance to the homeless community of the Sacramento area.

In her everyday life, this person is Pocket area resident Jan Wilson. But during various nights during the winter months, she serves a different role under this earned title.

Decade of collecting

For the past 10 years, Wilson has been aggressively collecting “cast-off,” used clothing and blankets and distributing these articles directly to the less fortunate of society who are in need of additional warmth during cold nights.

Wilson, a fifth generation Sacramentan and a 1983 graduate of John F. Kennedy High School, recently described the events that led to her decision to assist the homeless community in this manner.

“After many accounts of being asked for money from panhandlers, I started carrying around extra layers of clothing during the wintertime, so when somebody asked me for ‘spare change,’ I would be able to offer them something more viable as an alternative,” Wilson said. “As a result, my car became a beacon for the homeless. At times, when I am in the Land Park area, for example, I have come out to my car only to find someone waiting for me in order to ask me if I had any clothing to give away.”

The items of clothing accepted for the project are sweatshirts, flannel shirts, sweaters, jackets, scarves, shoes and matching or mismatching socks that can be repurposed as gloves.

Jan Wilson places a bag filled with donated clothing and blankets in the back of the car that she uses to transport these and other donated items to people in need. / Valley Community Newspapers photo, Lance Armstrong

The majority of the donated clothing, as well as blankets, for her project, Wilson stressed, is distributed for the purpose of providing “upper body warmth.”

Initially, Wilson collected clothing from her own closet, as well as from the closets of her friends and family members.

Wilson said that because she had exhausted her resources amongst her friends and family by her fourth year of collecting extra layers of clothing and blankets, she found it necessary to find other avenues to collect such donations.

Clothing & blanket drop offs

Fortunately for Wilson, she discovered three local businesses that were willing to comply with her request to become a drop-off point for anyone who was interested in assisting with the clothing and blankets donation portion of her project. These businesses are: Pocket Club at 5043 Freeport Blvd., XO Lounge at 1400 Broadway and Brownie’s Lounge at 5858 South Land Park Drive.

Dedicated to assisting Wilson with her project, several local business employees and patrons have provided exceptional support through their donations of clothing and blankets at these drop-off points.

These people include: bartenders Susie Roberts and Janet Galsote of the Pocket Club at 5043 Freeport Blvd., bartenders Deb McGee and Barbara Galvan of the XO Lounge, bartender Patrick McFarlin of Brownie’s, office manager Tammy Smith and real estate agents Violet Reed and Natalie Feirl of Century 21 Real Estate at 354 Florin Road and members of Elks Lodge No. 6 at 6446 Riverside Blvd. and patrons of the Flame Club at 2130 16th St.

Jan Wilson inspects a jacket that was donated to her project to warm the homeless during cold winter nights. / Valley Community Newspapers photo, Lance Armstrong

Providing names of most contributors to her project is not so simple, Wilson notes, considering that about 90 percent of the clothing and blankets for the project are anonymously donated.

Galvan, who resides in midtown Sacramento, said that she is pleased to have the XO Lounge serve as one of the project’s drop-off points.

“(Wilson) came in (to the XO Lounge) and asked if it was okay if we put a box here for the clothes and naturally, we said, ‘Yes,’” Galvan said. “I think it’s a wonderful thing what (Wilson) is doing. A lot of customers have donated to (the project). She’ll be giving (the clothes and blankets) out during the holidays. It’s like a little gift for a lot of people.”

Pocket resident Judy Willis is among the locals who have enjoyed assisting Wilson in her efforts to present homeless in Sacramento with warm clothing and blankets.

“I donated a jacket, because the color wasn’t right,” Willis said. “I admire (Wilson) for her spirit, her effort and I plan to give more (clothing).”

Wilson said that she is extremely grateful to the many people in the community who have assisted her with her project.

“I couldn’t have been able to help out so many people in need without the overwhelming generosity of the community,” Wilson said. “For that, I am truly thankful and blessed.”

With the assistance of the drop-off points, local contributors and word of mouth advertising, the process of Wilson’s distribution operation begins every October.

By November, Wilson’s donation collections for the project are in full swing.

Each year, Wilson hopes to have a sufficient supply of clothing and blankets to make her first round of deliveries by mid-December.

Jan Wilson shows an example of the type of clothing that she is seeking for her project. / Valley Community Newspapers photo, Lance Armstrong

As she has done for the past decade, Wilson, after finding a companion to help her with her deliveries, makes her deliveries using her own transportation and gas money.

Routinely driving a small car to make stops at her drop-off points to pick up donations, Wilson then loads bags and boxes of clothing and prepares them for her deliveries.

Wilson, who makes the majority of her deliveries in downtown Sacramento, said that she delivers warm clothing and blankets to the needy during the coldest nights in the capital city.

“When its 6:30 p.m. at night and I don’t want to go outside because it’s so cold, that’s when I decide that it’s time to bring the clothing out to those on the street who are in need of extra layers of clothing,” Wilson said. “We all have to help each other out in this world. By bringing out the clothing, my hope is that these people (in need) realize that they aren’t just nameless and faceless people and that there are people out there who care about their well-being. I also hope that this effort helps to restore a little bit of faith in human kind.”

lance@valcomnews.com