A major fundraiser for the sports teams at Escalon High School, the annual Sports Boosters Dinner Dance was hosted Saturday night, March 18 at the Escalon Community Center.
Several student athletes were on hand to help serve the dinner, representing nearly every sport available on campus.
It was a huge crowd that turned out and with cocktails to kick off the evening followed by dinner, there was also a silent auction, raffle drawings and a live auction. Serving as auctioneer – stepping in to the role at the last minute – was Steve Reisenbeck. Although it was his first time, he kept up a steady stream of entertaining patter and had several spotters in the crowd to make sure he kept up on the bidding wars.
Over $32,000 was raised on the live auction items alone, including the ‘Golden Cougar Table’ for next year’s event. High bid was $8,100 and that includes personal service at the dinner for next year as well as many extra touches from special appetizers to free drinks.
A taco party by Tacos de Nieve went for $3,000 as did a specially designed Engel Field blanket.
The blanket, with an overhead view of Engel Field at Memorial Stadium, was a sentimental favorite, as the stadium will be getting a makeover.
Athletic Director and head varsity football coach Andrew Beam stepped up to the microphone and first offered thanks to Sports Boosters board members Ilda Medina, Ryann Smith, Christina Silveira and Jessica Gutierrez for coordinating the event and for their efforts on behalf of student athletes throughout the year. Smith, who has spent more than seven years working with the group, received special recognition at the dinner as she prepares to step down from the board.
Beam also detailed the plans for the improvements coming soon to the Memorial Stadium complex.
“We are getting a new track and field, football field, scoreboard, and sound system here at EHS and it is going to be state of the art,” he told the crowd, adding that the area is being fenced off and groundbreaking for the project is anticipated soon.
With that, he admitted, come a lot of emotions.
“The people that are in this room and have grown up in this town and played in this town, you’ve seen your kids play here, your grandkids play here; there’s tradition, you know, there’s tradition like nowhere else,” said Beam.
Memorial Stadium, he explained, is dedicated to all Escalon veterans who have served; Lloyd C. Engel Field is dedicated to Engel and his family for all they did for the community.
And, he said, the imminent tearing down of a longtime Escalon tradition also reminded the community of a loss suffered last fall, when longtime teacher, coach and football stadium announcer Greg Largent passed away in September.
“There’s this void up in the press box that we’ve all experienced, that we’ve had to deal with this year,” Beam said. “We headed up to the press box this last week and we just felt like there was something we needed to take out of there.”
What was taken out was the original Engel Field microphone, spoken into for so many years, so many games, so many touchdown calls by Greg Largent. It was encased and presented, along with a special photo taken in the press box, to Largent’s sons, Steve and Nick, during a ceremony at the Saturday night dinner.
“If you were his student, his player, his friend … you know what he means to this town and still means and is going to continue to mean for a long, long time,” Beam said. “There was nothing like that velvet voice in the press box and in the classroom; being drawn in to every word he said.”
Beam said he felt it was important to get that microphone and make sure it remained safe, securing its place in history.
Once the dinner, live auction and presentation were complete, the 50/50 drawing featured a lengthy game; ultimately the two finalists – Preston Conde and auctioneer Reisenbeck – agreeing to split the $1,230 prize. Each then donated their $615 share back to sports teams, Conde donating his to volleyball, Reisenbeck splitting his between baseball and football.
Then, silent auction bidders learned if they were the high bidder on their items and the DJ started up the music, as the crowd enjoyed dancing to round out the evening.
