I’ll never forget the first year I went into the Legion Post in La Crescenta in late 1989 and asked them for money to sponsor our team. At the time there was a “La Crescenta” Legion team, but it didn’t have anything to do with Post 288. In fact, when I made the initial contact with a guy named Dave Haskell…I was told they had NOT sponsored a team in almost 30 years. That was really not so encouraging to find out. However, I had a good feeling about Haskell from our first phone call. He, at the time, was The Commander of Post 288 and had a lot of pull there and said he would at least give me a chance to make my pitch to the rest of the members of The Post. However, he made it VERY CLEAR to me that this was not going to be HIS decision and that if I wanted any help putting this thing together that I was going to have to convince ALL of the members of Post 288.
I went to the meeting and was introduced to about 30 people and just started walking towards the podium. They all said “STOP!” I learned that it was a Legion tradition that when you were to speak at one of these events you had to be officially “escorted” to the podium by two members. So I walked up to the podium with one old veteran holding my right arm and another veteran holding my left arm. On top of that, they all clapped in unison to the beat of our footsteps as we approached the podium. Needless to say, by the time I made it up there, I was crapping my pants.
I nervously made it through my speech. These were SERIOUS guys. And they listened to every single word I said. You could see the painful expressions on their face as they began to realize that I wasn’t coming in here asking for 50 bucks. Most of them objected to getting involved. They felt that they would help us out and not get any recognition or appreciation. It was NOT looking good. After about 10 minutes of going through rebuttals with Dave Haskell moderating, a really cool thing happened that kind of swung things in our favor. Haskell, a former football player from USC back in the 1940’s said to the men in the room “Since you wimps in attendance tonight are being so protective of The Post’s money…I got 100 bucks here out of my own pocket to somehow help these kids…. now, will any of you ladies be willing to match it?” He then slammed down a $100.00 bill on the podium.
There was this one big chubby guy who hadn’t said a word the whole night. He looked PISSED. And I was thinking I was the guy he was pissed at. I was wondering what this guy was gonna say when he finally spoke. He had a beard and he was a pretty mean-looking dude. After Haskell’s challenge, his face turned beet red. He walked straight for the podium (nobody escorted THIS DUDE up there). He reaches into his pocket…and slams down $200.00!!!!!!!!!! I found out later that his name was Ken Zuetell. Zuetell’s move kind of swung things in our favor. To this day there is only one word I can use to describe Zuetell’s move……..CLUTCH. Then a guy named Jess Rogers verbally committed to $100.00.
At this point the room was filled with about 30 old guys that were arguing with each other and it was getting LOUD and some of the comments they were making to one another were getting PERSONAL. Ever the diplomat, Dave Haskell decided to excuse me from the war I had started and to leave them alone while they slugged it out. He winked at me when I left and I realized that he had kind of taken a liking to me and my idea of having a team. And I could sense that he wanted to be a part of it behind the scenes. He said he would call me later that night and let me know how things had turned out. As I was leaving, I could hear Haskell saying to the group “Gentlemen, I think it’s time for us to put our money where our mouth is.”
Sure enough about 9:30 PM the phone rang. Haskell had pulled it off ! And he congratulated me as the new coach of Verdugo Hills Post 288. He said they could commit to “about 1000 dollars”………………I was elated.
Dave Haskell worked behind the scenes with me and taught me how to go in and visit The Post every once in a while…even during the off-season, and (as he said) “work the crowd.” He said “I can teach you how to get even more money out of these guys next year”………..and I listened to and followed through with all of his instruction. And you know what? He was right. Everything he told me to do WORKED.
The next season, they gave us $1500.00 . The next season…..$2000.00. The final season (1993) they basically gave us a blank check. I never abused it. I think the last season we spent about $3000.00 of the Post’s money. They basically told me before the last season…”get the kids whatever they need.” And the way I see it, none of it ever would have happened without Haskell, Zuetell, and Rogers slamming down their hard-earned money on that podium that night. They understood that you guys really wanted to play at that level, and I wanted to prove I could coach at that level, and win at that level. It was beautiful.
After the 1993 season, I was already planning for 1994. And I had every intention of making ’94 another great season for us. I think I stopped by in October of ’93 or something and pitched them on the idea that it might be a pretty cool thing for Verdugo Hills Post 288 to have a TEAM BUS. General had volunteered to do the repairs if needed, and I told the Legionnaires that they might be able to put it to use year-round just kind of making sure the Members of The Post had rides to meetings, etc. General figured we could pick up a used bus for 12-15k and being the brilliant mechanic General was (and still is) he would have fixed it up with all the bells and whistles. The guys at The Post loved the winning and the tradition we had created, and they LOVED the idea of having a BUS!!! I will never forget laughing to myself when I left that meeting….thinking to myself….”these wonderful old guys are gonna buy us a frickin’ BUS!!!!!!!!!!” And you know what? They WOULD have done it………..
The problem was………..1994 never happened. I gave up The Team.
Can you imagine the uproar we would have caused around the league pulling up to games in a frickin’ TEAM BUS???????????
Yes-sir-ree…………from $1000.00 to a TEAM BUS………not bad, huh?
verdugo288 