President CHUCK opened the meeting and KEN LIGHT gave the inspiration on the theme of being in the arena striving, instead of outside as a bystander. DAVID PASHKOW led us in the Pledge and Song (“America the Beautiful”) accompanied as always by GARY HIRSCH. President CHUCK gave one giant welcome to all our Guests and Visiting Rotarians.
We then proceeded immediately to our program, introduced by Past President JON WANG: U of A Head Football Coach Kevin Sumlin. Coach Sumlin is a graduate of Purdue University with a Bachelor in Criminology. His time as a player was 
primarily at linebacker, but his coaching mark has been on offense. He spoke about recruiting goals for the coming year (add size on both sides of the line “so I’m not the tallest guy in the huddle”) as well as attract junior college transfers who can help the program immediately. Two key players for the upcoming year will be running back J.J. Taylor who has emerged as a leader on and off the field, and quarterback Khalil Tate who is now healthy after last year’s injuries. Coach Sumlin hopes these improvements will put the U of A on the other side of one and two point losses in contrast to last year. During the question and answer period, the coach spoke about the importance of player character, of connecting to tradition through former players and coaches like Dick Tomey, and helping young players deal with the pressure of instant and often negative feedback from online sources. After complimenting the Club on all the good it does in the community, Coach Sumlin signed a book for our lending library: “Dino-Football”.We had three Birthday Rotarians this week:
- JOE PENNINGTON is a past Car Show Chairperson and current Commissioner of the Pima County Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts Association. JOE is happy to have had 60 days skiing during his latest birthday year.
- Past President DON ROLLINGS was Mansfield Middle School Class President and starting quarterback where he rang up a record of 0 – 7 – 1. Unfortunately, Coach Sumlin had already left our meeting.
- KATHY KITAGAWA is a leader of the Arizona Town Hall and an accomplished photographer. KATHY is happy to have completed a trip to the Galapagos Islands this past Birthday year.
We had two quick announcements from President CHUCK reminding us all to invite a prospective member for lunch and to save the date for Replacement/Social Mixer May 29th.
President CHUCK closed our meeting with a quote from legendary quarterback Roger Staubach: “Football teaches you hard work. It takes a lot of unspectacular preparation to have spectacular results in both business and football.”
