A United day birdies for Costa Mesa youth

S.J. Cahn

There were plenty of important numbers at Mesa Verde Country Club on

Monday.

There was $10,000, the amount of two separate donations given in

the past weeks to Costa Mesa United, a group that is trying to raise

millions to build an athletic stadium at Estancia High and a 50-meter

pool at Costa Mesa High.

There was $600, the amount in one check given Monday to

Newport-Mesa Unified School District Trustee Dave Brooks, who’s among

Costa Mesa United’s leadership.

And there was 110, the winning score of the 2005 Mesa Verde Golf

Classic, the fundraiser being put on for Costa Mesa United’s benefit.

That score was 32 under par in a two best net balls per four-team

scramble. The winning quartet, who endured a few good-natured

accusations about how on the level their tally was, included John

Crutsinger, Kent Koepsell, Todd Shaw and Kurt Galitski.

But ask around -- whether on the slick, fast greens, the windy

fairways or in the clubhouse after the round was over -- and their

four names wouldn’t have come up as the real winners.

It’s the city’s youth. And the community, too.

“To have a jewel of a first-class stadium on the Westside of Costa

Mesa will be great for the community as well as the students,” Brooks

said. “We’ll see the same type of positive change of attitude with

the stadium and the pool as we have seen with the implementation of

Measure A work.”

Voters approved the $110-million Measure A bonds, which received

$63 million in matching dollars from the state, in 2000. The first

construction on Newport-Mesa schools began in March 2003.

Costa Mesa United kicked off its fundraising efforts 11 months

ago. So far, the group has raised about $2.6 million of an estimated

$7.25 million needed to build the two athletic facilities, which the

schools will share.

Group members all seemed about as worried as Tiger Woods standing

over a two-foot putt that they’d reach their goal by a self-imposed

June deadline.

“We’re feeling very, very positive with that,” Brooks said, adding

that the tournament fundraiser had created a sense of momentum and

excitement about their effort.

Group member John Ursini, an Estancia High graduate, echoed the

“momentum” theme.

“This is a great start to what should be done in this area,” said

Ursini, part of the family that owns the Newport Rib Company, one of

Costa Mesa United’s leading sponsors. “It’s long overdue.”

Paul Salata, founder of Irrelevant Week, which gave one of the

recent $10,000 donations, said he was thrilled to be helping the

“underdog.”

“We’re a celebration of the underdog,” he said, referring to his

annual week-long celebration of the last pick in the NLF draft.

“Those [two schools] are the underdogs here.

“There are some 6-year-olds that are going to benefit from this

today.”

If all goes to Costa Mesa United members’ plans, athletes in Costa

Mesa will be benefiting from the stadium and pool long before today’s

first-graders are playing high school football. Their aim is to have

the stadium ready for the 2006 season.

Others in the tournament stressed the important role athletics

plays in children’s upbringing.

“It helps kids become socially adept and socially interact,” said

Dave Elliott of Vanguard University. “It’s like music and the arts,

it’s part of the whole curriculum.”

Werner Escher, of C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, described how he was a

case-in-point -- earning an athletic scholarship to UCLA enabled him

to go to college.

More than anything, though, Monday’s event seemed a definite

coming-out party for Costa Mesa United, especially during the event’s

live auction, hosted by Costa Mesa United member Gordon Bowley, who

provided the lively and witty auctioneer’s banter.

He managed to get Newport Rib Company patriarch Fran Ursini to bid

on his own beach-front apartment and even sold a vasectomy to what

turned out to be a member of the winning foursome.

There was a sense of action and promise as the live auction alone

raised close to $5,000.

“That’s the kind of community involvement we have here,” Brooks

said of the day.