Local News in Brief : Santa Ana : Angels’ Joyner Honored for Work With Charity

California Angels first baseman Wally Joyner received an award from the Board of Supervisors Tuesday for his work as chairman of the 65 Roses Club, a nationwide organization of professional athletes who raise money to combat cystic fibrosis.

“We’re getting real close to curing this disease,” Joyner told the supervisors at their Tuesday morning meeting. “It’s amazing that you have kids in the hospital fighting to stay alive and you have kids in the high schools fighting to kill themselves by drug abuse.”

Joyner said the 65 Roses Club was started in Orange County 10 years ago by slugger Don Baylor, then of the Angels. Since then, he said, it has raised more than $7 million to fight the disease, more than $2 million of it coming from Orange County.

He said the organization now includes professional athletes from baseball, basketball, football and hockey.