Wooden to Receive Award at April Fund-raiser

Celebrities will speak and appear at “On the Court With John Wooden,” a fund-raiser on April 8 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Agoura Hills-Calabasas Community Center that will serve as a tribute to the UCLA coaching legend.

Beau Bridges will be master of ceremonies.

Coach Phil Jackson of the Lakers, Coach Denny Crum of Louisville and Swen Nater, former UCLA and NBA center, will be among the guests.

The program will feature Wooden giving the keynote address and the debut of a new film featuring the words of Wooden’s former players, some of whom will be in attendance.

“This is a special night and Coach Wooden wanted to share it with his family, friends and young people in the community,” said Gail Smith, event coordinator. “He’ll be receiving a lifetime achievement award, but Coach Wooden wants it to be more than a simple ‘thank you and applause’ kind of ceremony.”

There will be an auction of a basketball signed by Wooden, and each person in attendance will receive a journal with words of appreciation from former players, coaches, journalists and educators.

Proceeds will go to Community Center Alliance, a nonprofit group that provides community services for children with special needs.

Cost is $25 and tickets are limited . There is a VIP breakfast meeting with Wooden and celebrities for $250.

Information: (818) 880-2993.

MOTORSPORTS

* Sean Woodside of Saugus led only two laps of the FoodsCo 100-lap NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour race at Mesa Marin Speedway on Friday night, but they were the two most important laps.

Woodside, defending NASCAR Winston West champion, took the lead on the 99th lap and earned his first series victory in the second race of the season by finishing .391 seconds ahead of John Nelson of Hemet.

GYMNASTICS

* World Stars Gymnastics Training Center has qualified 11 boys for the Region 1 championships April 7-9 in Bakersfield.

In the junior elite Class 1, Johnny Cano and Adam Savin qualified for the regional.

In junior elite Class 2, Victor Carreiro and Matt Dwork qualified. Cano and Carreiro qualified for the state team competition.

Other regional qualifiers were Nathan Burdine, Matt Pfeifer and Michael Sobieraj in Class 4, Aaron Gehr in Class 5 and Luke Bender, Jesse Castro and Ben Dwork in Class 6.

Qualifying for the state tournament but not advancing to the regional from World Stars were Justin Soppe and Jeremy Dwork in Class 1, Sean McEntee in Class 4 and Ryan Rosenberg and Marky Wood in Class 6.