Invocation, Pledge & Introductions

Attendees were welcomed by Roger Allington and Bill Prater, who were the designated greeters for the day. Early attendees were also greeted by Jim Owens, who was also greeting for fun, we guess.

The meeting officially got underway with President-Elect John Martinka ringing the bell around 7:30. The pledge and a fine rendition of St. Francis of Assissi's Prayer for Peace were delivered by Roger. He concluded with, "Shalom."

Visiting Rotarians introduced by Bill included Frank Young of the Bellevue Tuesday noon club and visitors from the south. We are glad that Frank is in much better spirits after the Huskies' win. Also visiting were Bob Parker and Sandra Brink from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Apparently, the weather is warmer here than in Santa Fe! Andrew Baker, also from the Bellevue noon club, attended with our Chilean exchange student, Claudia Rodriguez.

Announcements

District 5030 Networking Group
First Thursday of the month. Next time on the eastside. There has been great conversation about how to improve clubs as well as some business referrals.

Retreat
LaConner Country Inn 3/18-19; 4-5 rooms left; they will be released to the general public soon. If you intend to go, call for your room now. The bulk of the time will be spent on the club's mission, vision and values. The emphasis will be on vision.

10K/5K
Date is 4/17. Get your sponsorships and teams in. There was a meeting after the meeting on Friday to discuss the start/finish line.

District Conference
The dates are 4/29- 5/1 in Portland. We have five members going so far; we would like to have 10 or more. More information is at rotary5030.org or rtary5030conference.com.

First Harvest
Work party on Saturday, 2/12, in Kent.

Save Planet Earth
Work party near the Bellevue blueberry farm 9:00 to noon on 3/26. More information on calendar.

KITH
The Kirkland Interfaith Housing Alliance will have a fundraiser on 3/11. Rotarians are encouraged to attend and contribute.

Treehouse
Madeline Gauthier drew the club's attention to JCPenney coupons being mailed. Please use them to shop for Treehouse or bring them to Madeline.

Dick Brown Sunshine

Dick reported that Alan Bohling is doing well after his hip surgery. Allan has appreciated all the flowers and well wishes as he recovers from this surgery.

Student of the Month: Aysha Rafiq

Aysha Rafiq, Sammamish High School, was honored as our student of the month on Friday. She was joined by counselor Erica Mallin and her father Mohammed.

Aysha sports a 3.67 grade point average, several advanced placement classes, and a term as the student body president at Sammamish.

Aysha has worked as a volunteer for the Youth Health Service Corps, Amnesty International, and has worked to send books to kids in Uganda. She has logged over 200 hours and helped raise over $100,000 for the Walk for Aiden, a local fundraiser to cure Duchenes Muscular Distrophy. She also has more than 100 hours of community service to her credit at Children's Hospital.

Aysha plans to pursue a medical career where she intends to work with the American Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. She hopes to begin her undergraduate studies in the fall at either Columbia University or the University of Washington.

Sergeant at Arms

Elena had a busy week and couldn't come up with anything creative to raise money for the club, so she deferred to her understudy, Wendi Fischer.

Wendi explained that as the Sergeant At Arms-Elect, she preferred the title, "Minister of Fun."

After an exercise encouraging guests to take a brochure for the 10K and encouraging members to pass out brochures, several dollars were put on the table, then taken off the table. The moral of the story is that the club will benefit most by having members recruit runners and sponsors rather than being fined a dollar or two every week until the event. So get out there and recruit!

Wendi also reminded the club that we will need lots of volunteers and that members can create teams of runners they have recruited to run.

PROGRAM

"UW Athletics, Husky Stadium, and Beyond!" OD Vincent III, Senior Associate Athletic Director, University of Washington

O.D. Vincent

University of Washington Senior Associate Athletic Director O.D. Vincent was introduced by Bob Holert, who was wearing purple (Would you expect anything else?).

O.D. was first associated with the University of Washington as a golfer and coach. His first golf tournament was right here at Glendale for the State Amateur some number of years ago.

After college, he coached golf at Washington, Duke, and UCLA, and was associated with a golf course design firm that built Washington National and Trophy Lake golf courses.

O.D. became the coach at Washington at age 26, when he took over a program that was not good and an office with records flung about in no particular order. After sweeping the office clean and concentrating on recruiting players better than himself, he headed a nationally ranked program when he retired at age 31.

After a brief stint as a contestant to qualify for his pro tour card, O.D. went on to coach for Duke and UCLA, then found his way back to the UW and his current position. He is directly responsible for the tennis and rowing programs, as well as being the public face of the programs in the local press and devoting a good deal of time on fundraising.

The most significant event within sports at the UW for the near future will be a $250 million rehab project of Husky Stadium. On November 6, the Huskies will play the Oregon Ducks; then the renovation will be underway. Specifically, the upper north portion of the stadium will stand and everything else will go. The field will drop four feet and the track will go to give fans a more intimate experience, according to Vincent. The new stadium will feature a 2500-person club, as well as 25 luxury suites. The student section will move to the end zone, and the University looks forward to giving the students a better experience. The stadium will be ready for the game against Boise State in September 2012 — and could be louder than Qwest Field, the loudest in the NFL.

It has not been easy helping run the athletic department at the UW. The University has cut $2.5 million in expenses and two sports, including swimming, where O.D.'s father-in-law coached and his wife swam during her undergraduate days. He explained that college athletics is just on the brink of surviving and that the University of California had to cut five sports to bring its program into the black.

Because the UW does not provide any outside funding for athletics, and because the school has only two revenue sports, men's football and men's basketball, the stadium project is extremely important, especially in an era when the football program is gaining ground from a recent nadir in the program. Vincent explained that a football program that is nationally ranked and finds itself featured on ABC rather than FOX or ESPN can reap $600,000 per game. That windfall is in addition to around $2.5 in revenue for each home game.

After the football stadium project, O.D. expects the athletic department's efforts to turn to new baseball and basketball facilities. The University will also raise the soccer fields that have been sinking over the last few years and relocate the track from the football field, at an expected cost of $9 million.

Vincent wrapped up his remarks expressing optimism about the Washington athletic program's future. He said the cuts are probably over, and the department should be well funded going forward.

Web Fun

Worth Repeating
Courtesy of Wally Mahoney

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