Charity Ball Tradition Flying High

It’s one thing to tell Old San Diego to go fly a kite, and quite another to ask it along on a kite-flying expedition.

Children’s Hospital and Health Center--whose stylized logo happens to include a kite and who could accurately be called the institution that Old San Diego built--issued the invitation to Saturday’s “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” to the 800 patrons of the annual Charity Ball, given as always in the Grand Ballroom at the Hotel del Coronado.

As it happened, a party often noted for its gravity lifted off quite speedily and stayed aloft through the night, propelled partly by the sultry gusts of cool swing blown by Red and the Red Hots, an orchestra imported from Fort Worth.

Since every kite needs a tail, chairman Nell Waltz plucked threads from the 69 Charity Balls given between 1909 and 1991 and wove them into a rudder for “Let’s Go Fly a Kite.” Tradition, never more than an instant recollection away from the collective consciousness at this most Establishment of San Diego parties, contributed much--as it always does--and was reinforced by the attendance of more than a dozen previous Charity Ball chairmen.

But even given the mid-evening performance of the “Blue Danube,” the waltz always designated as the chairman’s dance, little changes in mood and tone crept up the aisles among the “boxes” held by long-term supporters of the event. It was a fun Charity Ball.

Waltz, the first chairman chosen from La Jolla and among a spare handful not to reside in Point Loma, put her own spin on the theme by remarking, “The real tail of the kite is the tale of the wonderful health care professionals at Children’s Hospital, who do so much for the youth of San Diego.”

The imaginary string that linked patrons to “Kite” brought to mind the umbilical cord of funding through which the Charity Ball has nourished Children’s over the years; Waltz anticipated earnings in excess of $175,000.

That sum, according to Children’s President and CEO Blair Sadler, will, to a degree, be put at the direct disposal of the hospital’s youthful patients.

“We’re going to spend the proceeds to ensure that kids who couldn’t afford any health care at all will be taken care of,” he said. “These funds help us to help all children, whether or not they can pay.”

Although it may be the last true ball to be given in San Diego County (the distinguishing technicality is the exclusion of activities other than dancing), the Charity Ball does offer its guests an optional dinner in the Crown Room as a separate amenity.

The Gulf War depressed ticket sales to the 1991 Charity Ball, but attendance returned to normal at “Let’s Go Fly a Kite.” Many were heirs to family traditions of ball attendance that date back to or near 1909, and an impressive number among this group were previous chairs, including Elinor Oatman, Alice Miller, Ruth Robinson, Emily Black, Anne Evans, Alison Gildred, Pat Carter, Betty Hubbard, Marilen Sedlock, Pat Fink, Carol Alessio, Sandra Pay, Pat Fink and Barbara Brown.

Change comes slowly to the Charity Ball, but every few years some radical innovation or another is introduced. This happened to be one of those years, and the drastic break with tradition took the form of the reconfiguration of the “boxes,” the pie-shaped seating areas on the perimeter of the dance floor that in many cases have been held by the same families for two or more generations. In a decidedly daring and widely noticed move, the number of seats per row was increased.

The committee and guest rosters included Phyllis and David Snyder, Marianne and Sam Alhadeff, Carol and Ned Baumer, Susan and Craig McClellan, Joanne and Frank Stevenson, Nancy and Tom James, Marvia and Clair Burgener, Nancie and Marc Geller, Donna and Tom Sefton, Linda and Mel Katz, Evelyn and Ernest Rady, Patsy and Render Crayton, Anne and Bill Dick, Penny and Harold Dokmo, Ruth Carpenter and Tom Fleming, Jeanne and Gordon Frost, Jan and Mike Madigan, Dori and Craig Starkey, Nora and Will Newbern, Merle and Phil Wahl, Mac and Tim Canty, Jean and Judge Gordon Thompson, and Cheryl and Ron Kendrick.

SAN DIEGO--If the crack of bat against ball sends shivers up the spines of baseball fanatics, about 560 of them found themselves in Hall of Fame Nirvana on Tuesday at “Play by Play II,” the second of San Diego Padres announcer Jerry Coleman’s annual “baseball dinners.”

Given in the Marina Ballroom at the San Diego Marriott and jointly sponsored by the Padres and KFMB Radio, the fund-raiser for the local chapter of the Assn. for Retarded Citizens offered a double header of dinner and entertainment by leading baseball announcers. The batting order for the after-dinner blitz around the diamond opened with Coleman and followed with radio wise guys Hudson and Bauer; Baltimore Orioles announcer (and “Cheers” scriptwriter) Ken Levine; KFMB-TV sports guy Ted Leitner; singer Terry Cashman, variations of whose “Talkin’ Baseball” song are known wherever the game is played; Philadelphia Phillies announcer Harry Kalas, and Hall of Famer and New York Mets announcer Ralph Kiner.

“Play by Play” is yet another new annual event that exists without a set charitable affiliation and has the announced intention to benefit a different organization each year.

Guests entered the ballroom through turnstiles and sat at tables appointed with squares of genuine turf that had been piled high with baseball cards, balls, gloves and batting helmets. Sections of the portable outfield wall were trucked over from San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium and arranged on each side of the head table, and servers were outfitted in stadium vendor gear, but best of all was the 1984 National League Pennant that hung from ceiling to floor as a reminder of the Padres’ glory days.

Padres present and past turned out heavily: Terry Kennedy, Tony Gwynn, Larry Anderson, Gary Lucas, Bruce Bochy, Andy Benes, Mark Parent and Craig Lefferts.