Retirement Hasn’t Slowed Him

Here’s a question for you, and, just to add a little sport, let’s say there’s $1,000 on the line with your answer: Who was the Baby Ruth candy bar named after?

That was the main question at a fund-raiser on the Cal State Fullerton campus last weekend. When a man with thin gray hair and a slight paunch popped out of his chair with the $1,000 answer, I strained from across the room to see who it was. It was Jack Lindquist, former Disneyland president and an icon in Disney history.

“Babe Ruth, the baseball player,” Lindquist answered confidently.

BUZZ!

The evening’s moderator happened to be TV’s “Jeopardy!” game show host, Alex Trebek. A great answer, but wrong, Trebek said.

Someone else answered that the “Ruth” was Charles Lindberg’s baby (uh, no). And then, whoa, up jumped Jack Lindquist again. Except this time there was $1,500 on the line.

BUZZ! TV’s debonair Trebek shook his head no, it was not the candy maker’s daughter, Lindquist’s second guess.

Now, here’s the thing to understand about this friendly little contest: You don’t get $1,000, or $1,500, for the right answer. That’s how much you get to give Cal State Fullerton for the fun of playing.

No one ever did get that one right. Trebek tried another one: An Academy Award-winning actor born in Iowa who was active in motion picture charity causes, once won a presidential medal and attended USC.

No holding back Lindquist on this one. After all, he’s been honored himself as a distinguished USC alumnus.

“John Wayne.” Lindquist didn’t even wait for Trebek’s OK before grinning to the rest of his table. You don’t trip up Lindquist on a USC question. For the privilege of this correct answer, Lindquist forked out another $2,000. He spent $4,500 for the night and had a blast.

Retirement was supposed to mean slowing down. Lindquist, after all, was 66 when he retired as Disneyland president in 1993. He’s 70 now.

“Unfortunately, I’m busier than I ever was,” he said when I caught up with him later. “But I’m loving it.

“Retirement is a lot like it was for me when I went to work 40 years ago,” Lindquist said. “When you start out, you have no idea how it’s going to go. No idea at all. Then you get into it, and you find out it’s great.”

There’s a good reason Lindquist has become active with a variety of Cal State Fullerton committees and causes--all three of his sons graduated from there.

Since retirement, Lindquist has also been involved with a USC advisory committee, joined the Board of Trustees of Chapman University in Orange, and is deeply committed to a county business committee to turn the new millennium into a grand occasion here.

Other Lindquist civic duties: the Orangewood Home for abused and neglected children, the Orange County Sports Assn. and the county’s new Tourism Council. Not all his post-retirement efforts have been a success. Lindquist was co-chair of Save the Rams, remember, and three years ago unsuccessfully tried to save the old college Freedom Bowl.

Busy as he is with his civic efforts, Lindquist also now has a hand in running four different commercial ventures, mainly in partnership with his son Troy. The biggest Lindquist project: Selling the Anaheim City Council on a $15-million local dinner theater called Tinseltown, to be located at the proposed Sportstown Complex next to Anaheim Stadium.

The Lindquists and a partner sold the concept to Ogden Entertainment, which also runs the Pond. If the City Council approves the plan, Lindquist’s group would essentially run it for Ogden. The council vote on the project is scheduled for tonight.

Working at Disneyland 38 years--Lindquist was one of the elite who went to work there the year the park opened in 1955--has left him wealthy. Giving to charity is one of his joys. Lindquist is often first with his hand up at these auctions. Twice he’s won top bids at tennis charity auctions for trips to Wimbledon. Lindquist explains his active life:

“The first six months of retirement, I played golf. But my golf game kept getting worse. So I went back to work.”

Jack and Belle Lindquist live in Newport Beach and have been here most of their adult lives. But Disneyland kept him too busy for the kind of community involvement he enjoys now. Says Lindquist chuckling: “After 40 years, I’m finally becoming a real Orange Countian.”

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Wrap-Up: All the questions for the evening were composed by Larry Zucker, an associate vice president at the university who put the fund-raiser together. Zucker points out that Lindquist is a pretty good businessman. The prizes for his donations were $1,000 in gift certificates to Marie Callenders and a resort hotel trip to Maui worth $4,000. “When you look at it that way, Jack came out ahead $500,” Zucker said.

Oh, about Baby Ruth: The candy bar was named after President Grover Cleveland’s daughter, Ruth.

And if you figured that out before I told you, Cal State Fullerton is still taking $1,000 contributions.

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling the Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or by fax to (714) 966-7711, or e-mail to jerry.hicks@latimes.com