ISSUE NO. 8
AUGUST 25,
2000
OUR 79th YEAR
http://rotaryclubofsantamonica.org
David Johnson was
in Federal Court on August 7th.
This Friday Mike O’Hara may tell us about him.
Johnson said there was nothing wrong with handing out a million dollars
in cash and gifts to win votes on the International Olympic Committee.
In fact, certain committee members demanded such kindnesses, according to
Johnson.
He was deputy chief of a committee that charmed the IOC
into choosing Salt Lake City as host of the 2002 Winter Games.
His friendly schmoozing has gotten him indicted on 15 counts of
conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud, and aid to racketeering.
He can go to prison for as long as 75 years.
Johnson is one of numerous dignitaries in deep trouble over Olympic
dealings. Some have resigned or
been ousted. Others are being
grilled by a Congressional subcommittee, or by other bodies.
Mike knows about these cases. He can tell us why payoffs were made, how scandals came to
light, and what the results may be.
Big sports are Mike’s business. He
came to them via volleyball. He was
an All-American on UCLA’s national championship teams of 1953 and 1954.
While earning a B.A. from UCLA and M.B.A. from USC, he took up beach
volleyball. He and partner Mike
Bright won five national championships in the grueling two-man sport.
Then in 1964 he starred on the first U.S. volleyball team in the Olympic
Games.
All this opened doors to him in intercollegiate and international sport.
So in 1965 he incorporated O’Hara Enterprises as consultants in sports
business. He became organizer,
committeeman, or commissioner for an assortment of enterprises.
He helped build professional leagues in basketball, hockey, volleyball,
and track. He advised budding
sports groups in Bangladesh and Ireland. He
broadcast for the three national networks, ESPN, and Turner Broadcasting.
Peter Ueberroth, wondrous planner of the 1984 Olympics, hired Mike to
help him. Mike became executive
director of 23 Olympic Sports. He
negotiated agreements with 153 television organizations.
Afterward Los Angeles banked a $250 million surplus.
Since then Mike has helped Games organizers in Seoul, Calgary, and Barcelona. He thinks that, overall, the Games have been a force for international good will despite assassinations, boycotts, and wars. He’ll tell us why. And he’ll give an insider’s view of arrangements for the Games at Sydney next month.
GEORGE’S
GENEROUS COMMITTEES
What happens to those whopping fines we pay?
Who chooses the young people who receive the scholarships we award?
“Ask George Collins,” might be the response of those few who
happen to know that George oversees the outflow of more than forty thousand
dollars a year through one committee, and seven thousand a year through another.
Those two groups are our “youth service” committees.
They disburse the two biggest chunks of our club’s charitable outlays
each year. Keeping tabs on them is
George’s assigned responsibility, which he now holds for the second year as a
member of our board of directors.
One body is the “committee on community and youth groups.”
Its key word is “groups.” Non-profit
youth organizations and agencies helping various kinds of unfortunates fall with
the purview of this 28-member committee, composed mainly of insiders in some of
the organizations. Whenever one of
the agencies is pinched by a special long-term
need that isn’t covered in its own budget, it may apply for a grant from this
committee. Applications are passed
along to the committee chairman Neil Schmidt (the city’s superintendent of schools). He discusses them with the committee, which may investigate
further. Its findings determine
where the grants go.
The other body is the “committee on scholarship and youth awards.”
It gives out thousand-dollar scholarships each year.
Five of these individual awards were funded long ago by early-day club
members Nick Holt, John English, Russ Hart (two
scholarships) and Tom Fox. Who
gets the scholarships? A
representative from each of four schools nominates someone.
The 13-member committee (a mixture of younger Rotarians, school people,
and a few veterans of youth-work organizations) virtually always endorses the
nominations.
At the beginning of the past two Rotary years, George Collins has helped
recruit members for these committees. After
that, he says, he does little but accept their recommendations and present them
to the board (which has never rejected one, as far as insiders recall).
Nevertheless his offhand jovial remarks in conversation with committee
people may sometimes have been subtle nudges to do a bit more.
The number of grants to groups has grown.
And last year Nat Trives, noticing that some local schools were
left out when the annual scholarships
were bestowed, conferred with Con Oyler and Bob Segal, who
thereupon each provided another thousand-dollar scholarship for another school.
Throughout George’s 33 years in Rotary his professional life has been the staid one of a financial lawyer. He was outside counsel to the Santa Monica Bank for 38 years, until it was absorbed by a chain. But in spare time he shows a gift for winning volunteers to causes. This was first notable when he was elected senior class president at UCLA, and strongly evident in 1973 when he became president of the Santa Monica Bar Association and arranged for all members, in turn, to provide legal service to someone who couldn’t pay. This evolved into the Legal Aid Foundation, which now carries on a full-time office operation with an executive secretary.
For
your Rotary calendar:
September
1 – no meeting, in
intimation of the impending Labor Day holiday
September
8 – Captain Ron Greene:
Teenage Drunk Driving
September
15 – Craft talks by two new members
And don’t look for a Rota-Monica during the week of August 28 – September 1.
At our August 11 meeting,
President John congratulated Schiller and
Medora Colberg on their sixtieth wedding anniversary.
In an act of praiseworthy generosity, our president volunteered their son
Kent to pay the $50 fine. Having
a fine son handy at club meetings is advantageous in various ways.
Our new member Dan Graham must be thrilled at producing the
magazine for the Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center that won Mercury and Joey
awards. Such distinction cost him
only a $25 fine – but the bronze plaque he won, our president decreed, was
worth another $100. We’re all
pleased to learn of the honors our new member has achieved.
Our two special Richards (Dr. Rice and Mr. Robbins) must have looked
memorable in their tuxedos at the recent Santa Monica Hospital festivity.
In consequence they each contributed $75 to our treasury.
The sums will be distributed with equal distinction.
n Lionel Ruhman
Jack Kemp, Jerry West, and Steve Allen may be speakers at our meetings in
the next few months. Members of our
club, who happen to be friends of theirs, have been in contact and have elicited
tentative assurances that they will come if the right Fridays can be arranged.
Watch this space for announcements of firm dates.