Let’s start with the obvious: Any worthwhile undertaking is a major pain in the backside. No pain, no gain, right?
Our annual sports banquet is no exception. Justin Couchot, our extraordinary Army-of-One sportswriter, and I start making plans months in advance, and the final few days are a whirlwind. We’re managing the headcount, getting in our food order, picking up trophies, printing the program and — especially — dealing with frantic last-minute requests from people who absolutely, positively needed tickets, even though we’d sold out the previous week.
That’s on top of our regular jobs, of course. But any hint of complaining on our part vanishes the moment the banquet starts, and we remember why we keep doing this.
In short, it’s all about the kids, and honoring our rich sports heritage while also spotlighting those who are going to lead the way in the future.
The 49th Annual Chico Enterprise-Record Sports Hall of Fame and Senior Athletes Banquet was Tuesday night at the Chico Elks Lodge. As always, I entered the banquet an exhausted man, and walked out four hours later with one big ‘ol renewed sense of optimism about the world.
Why? Again, it’s all about the kids.
Make no mistake — on its most basic level, this is a sports banquet. But by the end of the night, we’re all reminded that the experience of playing sports in high school and college is so much more than who wins or loses a game. It’s also about the role sports play in helping to develop the character of young people.
From Willows to Hamilton City and Orland to Gridley, a representative from every high school and college in our newspaper’s distribution area proudly marched to the podium and took their turn introducing the best of their young athletes for the past school year. Without exception, these young men and women were polite, respectful and usually the best-dressed people in the house.
Athletic directors and administrators from the schools introduced every student — we had around 85 athletes at the banquet and 410 people overall — and rattled off a few of their accomplishments. In a majority of the cases, this meant including their grade point average along with their future plans. I defy anyone with some ignorant image of a “dumb jock” in their head to attend this banquet and not walk away a changed person; in many cases, I didn’t know grade point averages even went that high.
We met aspiring doctors and engineers and architects and scientists at our banquet. We also got a glimpse at our future community leaders as well as a good number of future coaches. After all, one look around the room showed not only dozens of coaches; it showed a great number of people who, at one point in their younger lives, had stood at that very podium receiving accolades from their old coach.
“Coach.” What a great word. In my brief and highly forgettable remarks early in the banquet, I thanked coaches for all they do, and reminded them, “Never forget how much of an impact you make on young people’s lives. It’ll last for years to come in ways you could never see coming. There are so many examples of that in this room.”
We saw Oroville athletic director Tom Frazier tear up while talking about one of our Hall of Fame inductees, Tom Aldridge. We saw two-and-a-half tables filled with players from Gary Burton’s record-setting 30-year run run as a football and track coach at Corning High. We saw the twin inductees, Alexa Benson-Valavanis and Alisha Valavanis, paying homage to the late Mary Ann Lazzarini, their college basketball coach at Chico State.
(By the way, what a night for the Wildcats. All four of those Hall of Fame inductees are also in Chico State’s Hall of Fame, and all four cited previous Chico State coaches and Hall of Famers as being among their biggest influences. For north valley sports, it’s the gift that keeps on giving.)
There were hundreds, if not thousands, of moving stories shared in the banquet hall that night. We had people as young as 16 and as old as their mid-80s who, at some point in their life, got better because they were pushed by a coach. Decades later, they all still want to make the old coach proud.
I think of the countless hours those people — young and old alike — put into their respective sports to get to where they are today. And how certain coaches made a difference in their lives, and how so many of the kids ended up paying it forward on down the line.
It’s not easy. Nothing worthwhile ever is.
That’s the point, and that’s we keep hosting this banquet. Bring on number 50.
Mike Wolcott is the editor of the Enterprise-Record. He can be reached at mwolcott@chicoer.com.