ADVANCE PARTY : Dedicated Band Focuses on Funding for Programs

It is fashionable to support UCLA and USC athletics in this area, where season tickets are status symbols. Season tickets for Cal State Northridge events, on the other hand, are a sacrifice. While Bruin fans bask in the glory of the Rose Bowl and Pauley Pavilion, Northridge boosters scheme and dream of ways to afford a new football stadium and multipurpose arena.

The active members of the Matadors’ volunteer fund-raising organization, the CSUN Athletic Assn., already have been stretched to the limit. The move to Division I this season is an added strain.

But these people love their school and are willing to help it meet the rising costs of its new status.

These “movers and shakers” don’t work for the university in an official capacity, with the exception of Sam Lagana and Paul Bubb, but their concerns, opinions and ideas will help shape policy as CSUN moves into the Division I era.

What follows is a look at Lagana and Bubb as well as eight CSUN Athletic Assn. leaders--Kerry Mayer, Lee Alpert, Mel Wilson, Diana and Mark Cooley, Dorothea (Granny) Heitz, and Bob and Gail Allen.

KERRY MAYER Canoga Park insurance broker

The fast-talking executive president of the CSUN Athletic Assn. means business. After 20 years as a CSUN booster, he sees the 1990-91 season as a time to act fast.

“We’re not going to do it (be competitive) without some serious dollars,” Mayer said. “And we’re not talking nickels and dimes anymore. We need to involve people with some serious money. I’m talking Blue Cross, 20th Century (Insurance Co.) and Rockwell.”

Mayer already has gone on record with his views. Recently, he sent a letter to all athletic association members that says, in effect, “Put up or shut up.”

“If you want great teams it’s going to cost you something,” said Mayer, a 1966 graduate of San Fernando Valley State College, now Cal State Northridge. “It’s not going to be a lot of laughs, it’s going to be a lot of hard work.

“The school has been derelict in public relations in the community. Part of our business plan is to get our butts in gear and get out of the ivory tower. I used to go knocking on doors raising money with candy start-ups. This is the start of something really huge; it’s really exciting.”

And Mayer doesn’t think it will take too long to become competitive in basketball.

“All you need is two super people, you can fill in from there,” he said. “Look at Loyola Marymount. They clip off a couple (of) guys (basketball players Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble) from SC and bingo, they’re in the big time.”

LEE ALPERT Encino attorney

As executive president of the CSUN Athletic Assn. until this year, Alpert was closely involved in the move to Division I. He remains in the athletic association, is a member of the advisory board to CSUN President James Cleary and is chairman of the North Campus Development Citizens Advisory Task Force, which acts as a community watchdog and liaison between the city of Los Angeles and the university.

The Alpert family has close ties to the university. Alpert’s wife attended the school and his children attend sports camps on campus. A USC graduate, Alpert has taught business law classes at CSUN, and his home is in Northridge.

Alpert understands the Catch-22 nature of the athletic department’s financial limitations. Without fully funded programs, CSUN cannot attract top athletes or bring in marquee opponents to draw crowds big enough to add revenue.

“And even if we were able to fill the gym it wouldn’t be sufficient,” Alpert said. “So which comes first--the chicken or the egg? The arena or the quality program?

“I don’t think people in the community realize what we are seeking the money for. We need to be able to send an assistant coach to the East Coast more than once. We need to be able to send the head coach back there to meet a recruit’s family. Do we drive to San Francisco Bay to scout a game or fly and then go somewhere else? If we drive, we lose time--and the chance to make a contact.

“The other problem is, we’re not in Washington state or Arizona, we’re in Southern California. In a matter of a 45-minute drive, without traffic, we are competing with three universities that are pretty well established. You’re not going to find better athletic programs than USC and UCLA. And Pepperdine is no slouch, and Loyola Marymount has developed strong basketball and baseball programs.

“At least we are not coming in with no tradition. At the Division II level Cal State Northridge has a successful history (34 national titles since 1968--30 in Division II and the College Division, four in the Assn. for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women) and a kid can make a name for himself here right away, so there are some positives. But the bottom line is, are the bucks and the athletes going to be there?

“I don’t think the programs have the dollars yet. That’s my concern for the coaches and the student-athletes. When you come in as a student-athlete it’s not good for you, psychologically and emotionally, to get your head punched in every game.”

SAM LAGANA CSUN director of marketing

and promotions

The tall redhead from Loyola Marymount is bottled enthusiasm. A former USA Volleyball Tour promoter and the public-relations director of pro beach volleyball, Lagana is also a public-address announcer for the L. A. Strings tennis team and many volleyball events. He will announce CSUN games (football, basketball and volleyball) in addition to his marketing and promotional duties.

Lagana has big plans. In less than one month on the job, this is what he has done for the athletic department:

* Designed computerized four-color tickets, replacing raffle stubs. (“That’s a big part of the image, the ticket as a souvenir,” said Lagana, who still has the ticket stub from the first Dodger game he attended, in 1963.)

* Designed four-color promotional material.

* Established a new, larger entrance to the football stadium, with a “grander” feel to it.

* Explored a radio contract with KGIL for broadcast of several key men’s basketball road games.

* Attempted to sell more football advertising on KGIL to make the broadcasting of games a profit-making operation.

* Obtained game program advertising, radio advertising, and sponsorship from local, regional and national corporations.

* Planned new promotions such as “Tailgrate Night,” cheer-offs between sororities and fraternities at the football stadium, spectator field-goal kicking contests at halftime, pizza and trip giveaways.

“We are working on giving CSUN the feel of big-time sports,” Lagana said. “We have over two million people in the greater Valleys (San Fernando, Santa Clarita, Conejo and Simi) area that we can focus (on) and (have) become loyal to this institution. I can’t think of an area with more families. They can afford to take their kid to a volleyball or football game because our prices ($4 general admission for volleyball, $6 general admission for football) are reasonable and the quality is high.”

PAUL BUBB CSUN director of development

Bubb came to CSUN from Drake University in mid-August. He replaced Ran Railey, who also served as director of marketing and promotion and who since has accepted a position as athletic fund-raiser at Eastern Washington.

In his short stay on the job, Bubb has met several athletic association members and attended one of their meetings.

Bubb, who also has development, alumni relations and athletic administration experience at Southern Illinois and Monmouth College in Illinois, believes that there is a strong base of support and voluntarism at CSUN.

“If I didn’t think so I wouldn’t have taken the job,” he said.

MEL WILSON Northridge realtor and land consultant

The 1975 All-American defensive back from CSUN was a member of the student branch of the athletic association when it was founded. After his professional career, in the National Football League and the Canadian Football League, was cut short by a severe knee injury, Wilson returned to the Valley and continued his involvement in CSUN Athletic Association projects.

But only for a few years. Disenchanted by the way the programs were operated and busy with other community-oriented projects, Wilson left the association.

“I felt we had an abundance of talent (athletes) in the San Fernando area and Los Angeles and I looked around and saw the talent out of this Valley gone to other universities like Oklahoma, USC, UCLA, and Long Beach State,” Wilson said.

“Cal State Northridge couldn’t afford the package for the top blue-chippers but they could have gotten a few. But they were thinking too small-time and they did things in small ways. Often, they felt they couldn’t approach these star athletes. Their attitude was, ‘They’ll go elsewhere so why talk to them?’

“I also felt that they should have been more involved in Little League, Pop Warner and the (local) chambers of commerce. They should let the parents of these kids know about the biggest secret in the Valley, which is Cal State Northridge.”

After a 10-year absence, Wilson renewed his involvement. Not only is he a member of the association, he recently was named to Cleary’s advisory board.

“I felt with the possibility of the programs going to Division I, they’d have to look at it more like a business,” Wilson said. “I saw some very positive things but very few people committed. I tried to influence the friends I have in business to become involved.”

Wilson is also using his influence to maintain momentum for the University Park Project, which would benefit athletics in the form of a new football stadium.

The 100-acre project (earlier known as the North Campus Development Project), a joint venture between CSUN and developer Watt Industries, also includes a hotel and conference center, and office buildings.

Alpert’s citizens task force, along with university officials, Watt Industries and the Los Angeles City Council, has worked to scale down the original project and ensure that it will not have an adverse environmental impact on the community, but Wilson believes the university still needs to educate the public.

“If the university does a good job of explaining the negative and the positive impact to residents, they will see the personal benefits,” he said. “The bottom line for most people is, what’s in it for them?”

DOROTHEA (GRANNY) HEITZ Woodland Hills humanitarian

The heart and soul of CSUN athletics, Heitz wears a bonnet to games and drums up support with a tireless spirit. Heitz, 75, was a University of Montana dropout who went back to school in 1966 and became a San Fernando Valley State graduate three years later.

Heitz believes that the university needs to make more contacts with corporations in the Valley.

“My gosh, we have a lot of graduates working in the Valley,” she said. “If only those people (corporations) knew it. Since they have our good people, they can pay us back with some funds. We need their support.”

DIANA COOLEY Glendora junior high teacher

MARK COOLEY Bilingual education specialist

(Hacienda-La Puente school district)

Diana Cooley is president-elect of the athletic association board and her husband, Mark, is a CSUN Athletic Assn. member. Diana was a cheerleader when the school was known as San Fernando Valley State, and Mark played basketball for the Matadors.

“When you have a history with a school and a lot of good memories you want to give something back,” said Diana, who is aware of just how far the athletic program has come.

“My last year there the football and basketball teams were pretty successful, but, you know, we were playing in a high school (gym),” she said.

From those humble beginnings, it is no wonder that the school is still perceived as small-time.

“A lot of people think it’s a JC,” Diana Cooley said. “Part of that is our problem. The school has not felt a great need for a public-relations department. There are so many (other) people out there asking for money, you have to sell yourself.”

But not too often.

“We have one major fund-raiser a year,” Mark Cooley said. “You don’t want to alienate the community by keeping your hand out.”

Cooley, who played in the late 1960s on a team of walk-ons, believes that CSUN is on the verge of creating an athletic tradition.

“I don’t know if we’ll ever be compared to UCLA or USC,” he said, “but eventually we can be compared to Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Long Beach and somewhere off in the distance, USC and UCLA.”

To get there, he believes, the association needs to attract more active members.

“We have a large group on paper, but a small number of people attending the meetings,” he said.

The Cooleys were among the group of association members who brainstormed on a June weekend in an effort to rank the athletic department’s needs. At the top of the wish list is increasing the number of scholarships to the maximum the NCAA allows in each sport.

Another need is a multipurpose arena, which Diana Cooley believes is more critical to the athletic program than a new football stadium, which is part of the University Park Project.

“It’s going to help more sports--volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball and community events, like concerts,” she said. “The Valley doesn’t have anything for that.”

BOB ALLEN Audit supervisor

GAIL ALLEN Private-school fund-raiser

Bob Allen played basketball at CSUN in the early 1960s and Gail is a current student, as is their son, Garrett Noel, who competes for CSUN as a javelin thrower.

A year ago, they became active members of the athletic association at the suggestion of the Cooleys.

The Allens, of Agoura, are concerned about raising enough funds for CSUN to be competitive in Division I, but they are also optimistic. He envisions the football team moving up to Division I within five years and being so well-supported that no stadium in the Valley (unless the planned one is built by then) could meet the demand.

She believes the move to Division I has created excitement among the student body, including adults like herself who attend night classes.

“A lot more people will want to attend because it’s Division I,” Gail Allen said. “They want to see the better competition.”