Everett Gives Up Fight for Hollywood Park : Horse racing: Proxy competition ends as she resigns, and Hubbard is elected chairman of the board.

The $8-million proxy battle for control of Hollywood Park ended Sunday when Marje Everett, a fixture at the track since 1972, resigned from the board and her opponent, R.D. Hubbard, was elected chairman, president and chief executive officer.

Hubbard, who races and breeds horses besides owning Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico and the Woodlands, a horse-greyhound complex in Kansas, hammered out a deal last week with Merv Griffin and John Forsythe, two of Everett’s supporters, which led to Sunday’s developments during a telephone meeting of the Hollywood Park directors.

Griffin and Forsythe resigned as vice presidents of Hollywood Park but will remain on the board along with Allen Paulson, another Everett ally. Aaron Spelling and Stan Seiden, who also supported Everett, have resigned from the board.

Hubbard, 55, a glass manufacturer from Texas, said that he welcomed the Everett supporters remaining on the board, but their roles could be limited. The 17-member board, which is expected to be voted in at the annual shareholders’ meeting two weeks from today, will be dominated by Hubbard and 12 of his supporters, who include Harry Ornest, Tom Gamel, Kjell Qvale, Bob Manfuso, Howard Koch, F. Van Kasper, Dick Boushka, Herman Sarkowsky, Warren Williamson, John Newman, J.R. Johnson and Robert Sangster. Ornest, Williamson and Newman already were board members. Bruce McNall, who avoided taking sides in the Hubbard-Everett struggle, will continue as a board member.

The estimated expenses for the proxy fight, which started last year, are $5 million for Hollywood Park and $3 million for Hubbard. Because Hubbard prevailed, Hollywood Park will be required to reimburse him for his expenses.

“I’m relieved that it’s over,” said Hubbard, who with close to 10% of the stock is Hollywood Park’s largest individual investor. “But by settling this before the proxy fight came to an end, we have saved the shareholders a bunch of money. It’s too bad that it was this expensive. The expenses exceeded everybody’s expectations.”

Hubbard’s negotiations with Griffin and Forsythe have resulted in Everett, 69, reportedly receiving a lifetime stipend of $150,000 per year, plus health benefits and access to the track.

Hubbard would not comment on the amount Everett is to be paid, but a source close to the negotiations said that Everett’s supporters first asked for $350,000 a year. At a board meeting last October, Everett was offered a $300,000 annual salary if she accepted the title of chairman emeritus, but her answer was: “Let the shareholders decide.”

Everett never took a salary when she worked at Hollywood. She had survived an overthrow attempt by dissatisfied shareholders in 1977. Her last effort to save her job this time apparently came last month when she brought in Steve Wynn, a Nevada casino operator, to become board chairman and CEO. Although Wynn was approved by the board, he later was said to have lost interest in the opportunity, and last week reportedly told Griffin that Hubbard was better qualified to run the track.

Members of Hubbard’s slate were saying privately last week that he had gone well over the 50% of proxies he needed to unseat Everett. About a month ago, Hubbard missed ousting Everett in a consent solicitation by less than 1%.

Sunday, an Everett spokesman in New York responded to her resignation by saying: “The decision was made in the best interests of the stockholders.”

Louis Wolfson, owner of 1978 Triple Crown champion Affirmed and a longtime supporter of Everett, withdrew that support last year when he sold most of his holdings to Gamel.

“I feel sorry for Marje,” Wolfson said. “Racing has been her whole life. She has no husband and no kids. Her extremely dedicated style was just not the right way to run a publicly owned company.”

Under Everett in the 1980s, Hollywood Park went more than $100 million in debt. That amount was reduced by more than half when Hollywood sold Los Alamitos, the track it owned in Orange County.

Hubbard said Sunday that he has plans to sell some of the 300 acres that Hollywood Park doesn’t need for racing. The Forum, across the street from the track, reportedly is prepared to pay $20 million for 20 acres that could be used for parking at its events. Also possible is a sale of about 25 acres to United Parcel for $15 million.

“We’re going to sell some of the land almost immediately,” Hubbard said.

Hubbard plans to retain Don Robbins, who has been Hollywood Park’s general manager under Everett. With Hollywood Park’s season scheduled to open on April 24, it is unlikely that there will be many staff changes.

“Now we’ve got to go to work,” Hubbard said. “I can’t make as many changes as I’d like to because of the time factor. I would like Hollywood to be known as the horseplayers’ track. On slow days, we’ll move people in general admission closer to the finish line.”

Eventually, Hubbard plans to make Hollywood’s main track a one-mile oval again. Everett lengthened the track to 1 1/8 miles several years ago.

Hubbard would like to implement inter-track wagering, with Hollywood Park, Santa Anita and Los Alamitos taking bets from whichever of those tracks is running live races. Santa Anita recently changed its position and now favors inter-track betting.

“I’m 100% committed to inter-track,” Hubbard said. “I think the prospects are good that by the time of our meet in the fall, Santa Anita and Los Alamitos will be offering betting.”