President Patrick O’Neil hit the bell to open the meeting at 12:02 p.m.  He then welcomed everyone to the “Best Damn Rotary Club in all of Arden Arcade.”  He asked Tom Collopy to lead the pledge, which he did. President O’Neil shared the sad news that Sheila Romero, Past Club President and the club’s first woman president, passed away.  A moment of silence was held in her honor. Shelia was a lovely person and a great Rotarian.  She will be missed.

 

Guests and Visiting Rotarians – None

 

Bell Ringers - None

 

Tom Collopy - $20 for his youngest child off to college at Loyola, New Orleans, just in time to be evacuated prior to the hurricane hitting, and is now heading home.

Jenny Davini – $20 for her son coming home and staying with his sister.  He has mapped out his college classes and she is thrilled to see him taking adult responsibility for his life.

 

 

Tom Goode announced that Sheila’s daughter reached out to him and let him know that Sheila’s service will be held on September 11^th at 3:00 pm at St. Stephen’s Lutheran’s Church in El Dorado Hills.  The reception will be at Blackstone Clubhouse at 4:00 pm. In lieu of flowers please donate to the Arden Arcade Rotary Foundation. The daughter requested a club member who new her well to come and say a few words.

 

Tim Cahill announced that we have received a letter of thanks from the family that benefited from a recent stay at the house.  He read the kind letter.  The letter included pictures of the baby that was being helped at the hospital.  The letter and pictures were passed around. 

 

John Gabriel reminded the club we have less than 3 weeks before the tournament.  We are doing OK on sponsors though we could use a couple more.  What we really need are golfers.  We also need raffle and silent auction prizes.  Gift cards, wine, vacation rentals, etc.  Raffle prizes are in the $40-$60 range.  Silent auction prizes in the $100 range.  We really need both.  We also need foursomes, to sign up. 

Jed Van Wagner joined the meeting at this time.

 

Bill Hambrick reminded the club about the Great American River Cleanup on Saturday, September 18^th from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm on the American River at the Northgate and Highway 160, mile marker 2.  There is a lot of debris due to the homeless camps so we need as much help as we can get.  This is an adult event due to the conditions.  Wear closed shoes and long pants.  The campers have been alerted to the fact that the sites will be cleaned up.  A BBQ and social gathering will be held after the cleanup.

 

Bill then reported on the Running Shoe Project (RSP) that he has been working on several years.  Bill delivered close to 75 pairs of running shoes and track spike shoes.  They started practice last week so the timing worked out well. He thanked Hoka and Rocket shoe companies for their donations of the running shoes and Fleet Feet Folsom for donating the track spikes and for their ongoing support for the RSP. 

 

President O’Neil asked if anyone knew the secret word.  Linda Biggler read the bulletin and knew the secret word was Volunteer. 

 

 

Matt Ross introduced Kevin Burdick, Manager, Community Investment, Sacramento Republic Football Club and star soccer player, Tucker Bone.  Tucker was the leading scorer for the team prior to his injury.  Because he is injured, he is available to speak with us. Tucker is a Jesuit graduate and a hometown boy.  He is also an Airforce graduate.  The Airforce has a program that allows him to play sports.  The secret word is Rehab.

 

Tucker hobbled up to the front of the room.  He is recovering from an injury to his left leg thigh muscle during practice. He grew up in Granite Bay.  He moved down from Seattle when he was very young.  His dad was stationed at McCord AFB and was a pilot and now flies for United Air Lines.  He played soccer all his life and played for Jesuit High School and graduated in 2014.  He got recruited by the Airforce Academy and graduated in 2019.  He has played in Reno and Colorado Springs and is happy to be back home playing for the Republic FC.    He enjoys playing for him home town and enjoys the home town feel.   He was drafted in the first round of the draft by the Seattle Sounders.  He thanked his Airforce team that did well enough to allow him to get the attention from the scouts to get him into the draft.  He feels fortunate to be able to serve his country and play soccer at the same time. 

 

John Gabriel asked how it works being active-duty reserve and playing soccer? 

Tucker Bone – I am presently serving in WCAP, World Class Athlete Program.  This program is designed for athletes of Olympic caliber to allow them to train three years prior to the Olympics. Now that the Olympics are over, he is looking to get into the reserves but that is another application and process.  He plans on serving his commitment.  Either way his first commitment is to heal and get healthy.

       

Mike Grace asked how he was injured?

Tucker Bone – I was practicing, taking extra reps and my left leg got caught in a hole/divot and heard a pop and his quad muscle separated from his hip.  They had to surgically reattach the muscle.  He got several recommendations from the air force doctors and U.C. Davis doctors and was well taken care of.  It took some coordination between the Airforce, Sac Republic and U.C. Davis to finalize his care.

 

Kevin Burdick fielded a question about the future of the team as an MLS team.  They have been trying to move up to major league soccer for the last six years and build the downtown stadium to revitalize the downtown portion of the City of Sacramento.  We had the one investor come up and we celebrated that in 2019.  Cost for the stadium quadrupled and the investor backed out.  They have had good conversations with local investors, especially because of the real-estate opportunities there at the railyards.  Major league soccer really wants them as part of their league because of all the local talent and support for soccer in Sacramento.  There is not a timeline to join.  MLS is willing to expand to 32 teams and they are now at 30.

 

Tom Goode - How is our fan base compared to other leagues and teams?

Tucker Bone – MLS Seattle has the best fans.  We have the largest metropolitan area and one of the best fan bases in the USL.  The interest is here and the fan base is here.

 

Kevin Burdick fielded a question about where we stand with the MLS league right now?  He said the MLS league loves us and wants us to be part of the league and is willing to work with us.  They are giving us some time to work through the process of putting together the investment group.  It is close to a billion-dollar transaction to have the rights to the MLS team and a major league stadium.

 

The development plans are behind schedule.  The delay of building the stadium has had ripple effects with other developments.  Developing the railyard and the addition of housing units will help the success of all businesses in the downtown area and is critical to the success of the stadium businesses.  Being able to see the stadium off of I5 is important.  No one can see the stadium at Cal Expo, a temporary stadium built to last 5 years and we are now in year 7.   We are still moving forward with this and talks continue with the mayor.  The city wants this very much.   

 

Keven announced that the Sac Republic is donating $10,000 as a match to help victims of the Caldor fire.  Donation will be matched up to a total of $10,000.  You can go to SacRepublic.com and find information on how to donate. 

 

President Patrick O’Neil bemoaned the fact that the raffle pot is only $100 because Duane Oliveira pulled the Ace of Spades and won $606.   Patrick pulled George Prather's ticket and he picked the 3 of spades, close but no cigar.

 

President Patrick O’Neil rang the bell at 1:02 P.M. closing the meeting.

 

Respectfully (more or less) submitted by,

 

Mike Grace