Not only is July the month for independence and slow news cycles, it’s also a chance to induct legends, bestow honors, and change the proverbial guard. The Long Beach Century Club used Tuesday night to transform the Grand Hotel’s banquet hall into a meeting hall as President Bill Baca handed over the gavel to President-Elect, Bob Hoyt. The 53rd Installation Ceremony was a little different, however, because of one very special guest.
I got to the door a minute after 6pm, and immediately bought a few raffle tickets like it was any other Tuesday meeting. Bill Baca saw me walk in, and waved me over. Now, if you read this site, or listen to SportsNight, you know our friend Bill Baca.
When I was introduced to Bill, he was already President of the Century Club, after just four years of membership. Since then, Bill and the club have been involved in almost everything we cover here on LBPostSports.com.
There are few organizations like the Century Club, and none more dedicated to Long Beach sports. That’s something we here at PostSports can get behind. Seeing Bill step aside on Tuesday was to be a celebration of a year well done, and lofty talk about the year to come. But for me, it was another chance to touch the L.B. sports pulse.
Bill was quick to remind me that Misty May-Treanor was the guest of honor. Looking at all the non-members milling around and the table full of May memorabilia, I realized Bill had outdone himself, literally.
In his speech, he joked how silly it was to be nervous about a speech that everyone would soon forget. With May in the room, that was almost a guarantee. Bill had brought another great guest to talk to the club, and I immediately thought, how very Century Club all this was.
The Century Club exists to provide support for all local athletics, not to slap each other on the back, and on the one night a year the club gathers to do exactly that, they invite the most famous Long Beach Olympian headed to Beijing to steal their spotlight. Like it was any other Tuesday meeting.
And let me tell you, May wasted no time in stealing the spotlight.
Bill called her to the mic, and she immediately thanked everyone, “I love the Century Club… I’m not where I am today without you guys.” Then she relaxed her shoulders and leaned up on the podium. Like it was 1998 and she had been invited to talk about the upcoming season and Long Beach State’s chances of winning it all. “So, you guys got any questions for me? I’ve got some White House stories. Want to here those?”
May and her partner Kerri Walsh were two of twelve Olympians invited to the White House last week to glad hand with President Bush.
When it came time to meet the President, May joked that she would have brought him a jersey, but she wasn’t sure how he would look in a two-piece. Then to remind him how she looks on the beach, May turned around and bent over in front of “Jorge” as she calls him. “And then he said, ‘oh yea, the tattoos.’ I think I’m the only one to actually have a Forrest Gump moment like that. He laughed and said I had great spirit, and I was like, yea so, how bout these gas prices?”
Needless to say, the club ate it all up. She is less than a month away from representing her hometown and country on the largest stage, and she takes time to come say hello to the guys who were there at the beginning. And it looked like she really enjoyed being herself in front of a familiar crowd. As much as she loves these guys, they really love seeing her. Who wouldn’t? She’s famous, from Long Beach, light-hearted, genuinely nice and pretty funny.
May talked more about her White House visit, which included borrowing a volleyball toy belonging to the Bush family dog for “a little peppern’ on the south lawn.” And when she had made them laugh enough, and it was time to go rest before her August 3rd departure and the AVP event this weekend in Long Beach, the Century Club stood and applauded a local hero. Just like it was any other Tuesday meeting.