~Celebration~

MORAGA ROTARY Queen Debbie called on

Tony Schoemehl to present the Field Day
NEWSLETTER awards to Ryan and Amarise. Both were
multiple gold medal winners. Each
received a personal trophy to keep and
each school received a plaque with their
June 5, 2018 names to display for the coming year. The
High Point school - Rheem Elementary,
Next Celebration: June 12th, 2018 had no representative in attendance today.
Moraga Country Club Erin Thompson, of Los Perales
Dinner Meeting/6:00 pm Elementary was the High Point Teacher.

Program – Dan Devore, Sportscaster

Greeter – Evie Michon

June 19 – Mike Heller, Habitat Building in the Local Area
th

June 21st – Business Group Meeting

June 26th – Diabetes Program
July 3rd – Dark
*July 10th – Demotion Party
July 17th – Don and Becky Jenkins – Teaching in China
* Dinner Meeting @ 6:00 pm – Moraga Country Club – Come
watch the sunset with friends

Debbie Roessler was filling in for

President Dianne Wilson who is
vacationing at South Lake Tahoe. Debbie
Ryan Erickson and Tony
wore her beautiful crown and called the
assemblage to order. Debbie Koo offered
a Rotary themed invocation reflecting on RI
values and commitment to a polio-free
world.

We had a nice number of guests today

celebrating our Moraga student athletes
from this year’s Field Day. Present were
Amarise Gonzalez (High Point Girl), her
Mom/Lis Velasquez and Grandpa/Tom
Norris, Ryan Erickson (High Point Boy),
his Mom/Rachel Erickson, Dad/Josh
Erickson, Grandpa/Bruce Erickson and
Erin Thompson/Teacher from Los Perales
school. Amarise Gonzalez and Tony
Ryan, Rachel, Josh and Grandpa Bruce Erickson Teacher Erin Thompson and Tony

~Happy Bucks~

John Erickson had a High Five to

celebrate the winning nature of the
Erickson clan which is reflected once again
in Ryan Erickson/High Point Moraga
Student Athlete.

Debbie Roessler gave a series of Happy

Bucks:
• $1 for her completion of the
thank-you’s for this year’s Night at the
Races donations.
• $1 for the successful Field Day
• $1 for Bob Fritzky who brought us
Amarise, Lis and Grandpa Tom Norris
such a fine group of speakers this
past year.
• $1 for a quick recovery for Al
Simonsen our club brother and one
of our fearless aviators.
(Frank May notes that Marilyn Simonsen
called Linda to say, “Al is still in the hospital
recovering from his fall in their kitchen. He
suffered the fracture of several vertebrae in
his neck. The good news is that an
operation will not be necessary. Al is also
being treated for a kidney ailment. He is not
able to receive visitors now but may be able
to see folks in a couple of days.”)
Gary Irwin spoofed the group by offering a
Happy Buck for a “…great crab dinner.”
When asked where this was, he replied
Alaska. Gary spun the Wheel of Misfortune
and it landed on $30 which he happily paid.
He tossed in $1 Happy Buck for the great
write-up on this year’s Field Day which
appeared in the Lamorinda Times.
(Gary notes, he and Carol took a small boat
cruise in Alaska. They put out three traps
and, in the morning, they were full of
delicious crabs. “We never had such
wonderful, sweet crab meat.”)
Bring those crabs! Gary & Carol are hungry!
Angelo Costanza had a big celebration –
a birthday and an anniversary. He gave Lad
$87 and when asked how he celebrated he
said:
• Friday, golf and dinner at home.
• Saturday, a steak dinner in Concord
• Sunday – just kicked back at home.
Evie Michon had $1 for the Warrior’s win
on Sunday.
Debbie Koo had $1 for a trip to
Sacramento and the celebration of her
daughter’s birthday.
~Announcements and Events~
A sign-up sheet was passed around for the
club Demotion Dinner here at the Moraga
Country Club at 6:00 pm on July 10th. This
is always a great/fun event. Let’s send
Dianne off in style after an eventful year
and welcome Ron Mucovich. Tickets are
$30 each and if you bring wine there is a
$10 corkage fee.
Debbie Roessler reminded us that the
Rheem Theater is opening again on June
14th. Some members remembered the
heyday of the theater about 1960, and
remarked about the live performances that
used to take place in that venue. People
used to come from as far as Oakland and
Concord to see acts like Burl Ives and many
more. The Rheem Theater was state of the
art in the 50’s and 60’s.
Angelo Costanza spoke about the
Martinez Bocci Bash. He notes that the
Moraga Rotary portion of the donation to
Rotary International Polio Plus will be
identified shortly and the club will be
notified.
~Speaker~
Kevin Reneau introduced today’s speaker,
Henry Weinberger, who is in his fifth year
at Cal and his second year as an assistant
Director for recruiting operations. As a
football recruiting assistant, Hank assists in
the planning and organizing of all on-
campus recruiting events such as official
visits, gamedays, junior days and all other
unofficial visits. Additionally, he coordinates
recruiting travel and mailing campaigns.
Hank has a bachelor’s degree in business
management from Cal State Northridge
and a master’s degree in sports
administration from Valparaiso University.
His parents are both Cal grads.
Hank told us this is the second week of
conditioning, so this is a busy time for the
football athletes on campus. Fall Camp
starts August 2nd. Jim Knowleton, the new
Athletic Director is a firm believer in
speaking and getting behind Cal. Coach
Wilcox wants the staff to “be
genuine.” Hank says, “When we go out
there recruiting we know the candidate’s
names and we know their schools. We are
looking for kids that like being a football
player more than they like being recruited.
We want kids who like being on the field.”
Each year we watch all the football games
of every high school team in California and
some schools outside the state where we
may recruit. Cal purchases game films from
an organization called “Huddle” of
Nebraska. They will set you up on their
website with every game for every team.
they do need to go out of state for a few.
There are ten coaches, and each is
assigned an area (like the Bay Area, etc.)
where they focus on the high school teams
and players, so they get to know them quite
well.
In response to a question about whether it
is good to focus on a specific sport early in
school to increase chances of getting into a
particular college in a specific sport, Hank
responded, “No. I say play all the sports you
want. Have fun. Enjoy it. Be a kid. All the
sports experience a student has in their
background counts. It all helps.”
~ Drawing ~
The raffle was won by Marv Ellenberg,
who was “so close” to winning the jackpot!
Calendar of Future Events
Demotion Dinner – Tuesday evening, July 10th at
6:00 pm – Moraga Country Club

Greeter/Invocators:
Each year Cal recruits 80 kids. These are
6/12 – Evie Michon
high school juniors going into their senior
year. Cal makes their plans years out 6/19/18 - Rich Render
although there is constant change. For a lot 6/26/18 – Frank May
of colleges, the verbal offers don’t mean as 7/10/18 - (Demotion Party week)
much as they used to. For Cal, their verbal
offers are a firm commitment. Cal wants
kids who want to work on the field and
academically. “Four or five years ago
graduation rates were poor” Hank said.
“Now those rates are coming back up.” The
most recent numbers which reflect two
years ago show a 74% graduation rate.
Hank believes that with Coach Wilson’s
guidance the rate is now over 90%.

Each year Cal targets about 85

scholarships with a total number of players
with walk-ons being about 115. They try to
draw from California schools but invariably
MORAGA ROTARY BOARD OF DIRECTORS Director at Large Mary Sue
President Dianne Wilson Erickson
President-elect Ron Mucovich Director at Large Roger Gregory
Past President Kevin Reneau Director at Large Debbie Roessler
Co-Secretary Vickie Devlin Advisor to the Board Jim Campbell
Co-Secretary Evie Michon Advisor to the Board Cliff Dochterman
Treasurer Lad Lynch
Foundation Chair John Erickson District Governor 5160 Gary Vilhauer
Youth Service Chair Rich Render President, Rotary International Ian Riseley
Public Relations Gary Irwin
Newsletter Editor Frank May
Community Service Chair Tony Schoemehl Newsletter Editor for June – Roger Gregory
Co-Chair, International Services Barbara Bruner
Co-Chair, International Services Linda May
Co-Chair, Membership Mike McCluer
Co-Chair, Membership Debbie Koo