New Jewish Sports Complex Dedicated

As a teenager growing up in Nazi Germany, George Gregory was prohibited from participating in sports with other kids his age because he was Jewish.

Two generations and a continent removed from that dark time, Gregory and his wife, Gerry, their children and grandchildren looked on Sunday as a $4.5-million sports complex--with the gym bearing his name as its centerpiece--was dedicated in front of more than a thousand people in West Hills.

The new gym was financed by Gregory’s $268,000 donation to the Jewish Federation. The 82-year-old received the sum in a recent settlement with a conglomerate that now owns the company that seized control of his father’s flourishing German metal business when the Nazis came to power in the 1930s.

“I felt a number of things,” Gregory said after the ceremony. “Closure, as far as my dad is concerned. And for my grandchildren, a legacy: to understand the trials and tribulations we endured during the period of Hitler.”

The 12,000-square-foot gymnasium is part of the Ferne Milken Youth & Sports Complex, which includes a new teen center, multipurpose fitness room and a permanent exhibit housing the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

The complex is part of the Bernard Milken Jewish Community Campus, which was built in 1987, and has been funded by the Jewish Federation and donors such as the Santa Monica-based Milken Family Foundation.

“[The complex] is something very special. This is where our roots are,” said Lowell Milken, chairman and co-founder of the Milken foundation, whose family settled in the San Fernando Valley in 1954.

Like other speakers at the sports complex dedication, Milken told the crowd of the importance of community and the need for a children’s haven in an era when supervision has become a parental mantra.

Milken said he and his brother, Michael, grew up in the Valley in an era when an empty parking lot near orange groves was all the facilities kids needed for basketball, baseball and touch football.

Those themes were echoed by other community and political leaders in attendance, including California first lady Sharon Davis, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) and Los Angeles Councilwoman Laura Chick.

Also at the event were sports luminaries, such as legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, Dodger executive Tommy Lasorda, National Football League Hall of Fame member Ron Mix, world-class swimmer Lanny Krayzelburg, U.S. World Cup team member Alexi Lalas and Shawn Green, the Dodger’s star outfielder.

“We are constantly talking about cliches about community,” said H. Jack Mayer, executive director of the Jewish Federation Valley Alliance. “But this allows people to really generate a real sense of participation by coming together in a regular and consistent way.”

After the formal dedication, hundreds of people poured into the gym and other areas of the Milken campus, some for the first time. Others were excited about the chance to use additional facilities.

“It was pretty cool,” said Kari Kagan, 13, of Calabasas, who was with her mother and brother.

“It’s great,” added Samantha Hyman, 11, of Hidden Hills, who was with her sister, mother, father and grandmother. “You can come here to hang out or exercise.”

This is exactly the kind of family atmosphere Jewish leaders say they are hoping to create with the facility.

“It’s really important to create these kinds of spaces where the public can gather and enjoy being together,” Mayer said. “This gym is the missing ingredient in this complex, which already houses social services, education and cultural facilities.”

The gym’s other benefactor said she couldn’t be more pleased.

“They’ve done a wonderful job. It’s a lovely building and children will benefit from it,” said Gerry Gregory, whose name also adorns the facility. “What more can you ask for money to do?”