SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – The San Francisco Italian Athletic Club (SFIAC) and its Foundation (SFIACF) (a 501-C3) held its Eighth Annual San Francisco High School Awards Banquet fundraiser on Monday night at its historic clubhouse across from Washington Square in the North Beach District of San Francisco, and by all accounts it was a smashing success.
Before we get to the 30 honorees, 28 individual, one special guest, and one team, a bit of background information on the SFIAC, the festivities and San Francisco sports history is in order.
The SFIAC is 106 years old and is one of the oldest Italian Athletic Clubs in the Country. Back in the early 1900’s the North Beach District was the cultural center of San Francisco, somewhat like today, and back then it was also the hub for local sports stars, many of whom went on to national fame.
The fundraiser, in the form of a banquet for the club’s awards program, is modeled after the Downtown Athletic Club's Heisman Trophy and recognizes the top high school student-athletes and coaches in the City of San Francisco. Each of the trophies and awards has been named after an Italian-American or SFIAC club member with ties to San Francisco, and whose makes them a great role model for the recipients.
The entire event, and all the planning that goes into it, including the role of emcee, is the brainchild of SFIAC Foundation Vice-President Randal Bessolo.
Since he came up with the idea, Bessolo, who is also the University-San Francisco boys basketball head coach, President and Co-Founder of the Bay Area Basketball Coaches Association, and an event manager of NCAA certified scholastic boys and girls basketball viewing events, has become a beacon in preserving the rich high school athletic tradition in San Francisco, and in particular North Beach, a community with a tradition of Italian cuisine, cultural and religious roots and athletic stars to boot.
The spaghetti and meatball feast, accompanied by three types of prosciutto, mortadella and other Italian delicacies, including a spumoni dessert, has become an annual event that draws the who’s who of the entire San Francisco prep sports community.
During the awards ceremony Bessolo talked about Joe DiMaggio and Hank Luisetti. Both were raised in North Beach, and both were unquestionably at the pinnacle of their sport. The baseball Trophy is named after DiMaggio and the male and female scholar athletes Trophy is named after Stanford grad Luisetti.
DiMaggio, who was voted the sport's greatest living player in a poll taken during baseball's centennial year of 1969, went from the North Beach sandlots to the New York Yankees and his 56-game hitting streak in 1941 still stands after 83 years. The Yankee Clipper has become a part of American history.
Some of our younger hoopsters may not believe it back in the 1930’s players stood flat-footed and shot the ball mostly from the chest, not Luisetti.
From North Beach magnet Galileo High he went to Stanford and turned the basketball world on its ear. Luisetti changed the game forever by developing the running one-handed shot, an early version of the jump shot. Equipped with such an offensive weapon, Luisetti became one of the most dominant players in American college basketball history. In a much different and slower paced game he was an anomaly and literally unstoppable, and in 1938 became the first player to ever score 50 points in a game.
While the net proceeds of the banquet’s ticket sales and donations, that this year attracted a packed house of 250 high school and youth sports enthusiasts, is meant to benefit organizations that support high school sports in San Francisco, the primary beneficiary from the outset has been the Academic Athletic Association (AAA)/CIF San Francisco. In past years the club has annually raised over $5,000.
Thanks to a generous contribution from Tri-Counties Bank, there will be scholarships funded going to the recipients of the Luisetti Scholar Athletes Trophy winners, and thanks to a generous contribution from BSN Sports there will be a scholarship going to the recipients for the female and male SFIAC Athlete of the Year. The San Francisco Giants are presenting sponsor of the Joe DiMaggio Baseball Trophy.
Something new this year that fulfilled one of several goals of the club for this fundraising event was the establishment of a Scholarship program that according to Bessolo distributed a total of $4,250 to 21 individual trophy and award winners.
“We have been blessed with a loyal base of sponsors who have been with us from the beginning,” Bessolo remarked. “As we have grown our team of sponsors over the last eight years we decided this grow our mission to provide to our student-athlete honorees in addition to raising funds for the AAA.”
“In short all the credit goes to the sponsors,” Bessolo continued. “We cannot thank them enough for supporting high school sports in the City.”
Besides the previously mentioned sponsors the following are sponsors of the Eight Annual SFIAC San Francisco High School Awards:
San Francisco Toast Eatery; Original Joe’s; Jane Poppelreiter Real Estate; Capo Isetta – Isettta Family Wines; Orbis; Pinot & Associates, Inc.; Aldo Congi Real Estate, William M. Black, CPA; Franco Cirelli, CPA, CFP, Bay City San Francisco Basketball; Plumbers-Steamfitters-HVACR Local 38; Mercy High School San Francisco Alumni; Advanced Wellness
If you are interested in being a sponsor please contact randy.bessolo@sfiacfoundation.org
The Trophies and Awards besides those named above include:
The Steve Mariucci Trophy presented to the Coaches of the Year
The Vince Tringali Football Trophy
The Margi Beima Volleyball Trophy
The Kevin Restani Basketball Trophy
The Stephen Negoesco Trophy for soccer
The Athletic Trophy for track and field
The Dante Benedetti Trophy for lifetime coaching achievement
The SFIAC Team of the Year
The Uncle Abe Award presented by Original Joe’s to honor a youth baseball coach
Additional SFIAC Athletes of the Year
Special Guest of Honor
Okay. Now let’s get to the kids and coaches being honored from the City by the Bay in the accompanying feature.
