UNION & COACHES GIVE US REASON FOR OPTIMISM

by Steve Marconi

Hardly anyone reads the newspaper anymore, and considering the quality of journalism today, who can blame them? So, you’re excused if you didn’t see the full-page ILWU Walk the Coast ad in the April 16 Daily Breeze, but you’re not excused for not knowing about the union’s nonprofit fundraising wing.

It all began in 2012, largely due to the efforts of San Pedro native Dan Imbagliazzo (Fermin Lasuen `64), Walk the Coast chairman. Retired from Local 13 since 2014, Imbagliazzo was conscious that as longshore workers, “We were very fortunate, very lucky workers, we had good jobs. I wanted to do something for people less fortunate and in need.” He also proposed his resolution for a fundraising organization at the longshore coastwise meeting, hoping it would unite the union and “let the community know the goodness of organized labor.”

At the start, there were benefit walks and runs, even a poker tournament, but when COVID put the kibosh on in-person events, Imbagliazzo’s fundraising efforts went virtual. The results were extraordinary. Walk the Coast averaged about $80,000 a year in contributions through 2021, but its latest campaign, amid protracted labor negotiations that have affected work all along the West Coast, raised a record $143,000. With that, Walk the Coast broke the $1 million mark for total contributions, all of which goes to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.

Little Alexandra “Alex” Scott raised $1 million all on her own in four years at the lemonade stand in front of her Connecticut home. Alex, suffering from neuroblastoma, started the original stand in 2000 at the age of four because she wanted to help other children afflicted with cancer; she raised $2,000 that first day. She died in 2004 at age eight, but not before raising more than $1 million for research into childhood cancer. Her parents created the foundation the following year; it was chosen as Walk the Coast’s beneficiary from the beginning. Since the first lemonade stand, more than $250 million has been raised. For more information or to donate, check out ilwuwalkthecoast.org or alexslemonade.org.

It was a sensational season for San Pedro High basketball — boys and girls — but two of the biggest stories involving the program had nothing to do with winning or losing.

The first story actually had its beginning last season when Josiah Walley was a junior. Josiah, who is autistic, loves basketball and badly wanted to play for the Pirates. Unfortunately, he failed in tryouts but didn’t let that stop him. He became a team manager and continued to practice religiously. Finally, he earned a spot on coach Rodney Lusain’s junior varsity team, and in his first game, he made four three-pointers. Varsity head coach John Bobich says, “He became the first player in my 30 years of coaching to have the fans rush the court and be carried off the floor.”

His story and a video of Josiah’s remarkable storybook game can be seen on the San Pedro High School Basketball Facebook page Josiah, still making three-point shots, played again this past season for the JV team, which, under coach Keith Gibbs, won 20 straight games and the league title. And while Josiah’s playing career may be over, we will probably hear from him in the future: He received an academic scholarship to UC Davis. However, feel-good stories are becoming commonplace for Pirate basketball under Bobich, who turns out winners both on and off the court. He’s also the school dean, and as such, says, “My job is to identify goals for students. For my players, during the holidays, we adopt families, needy families in town.”

Last year, Bobich was made aware of a San Pedro mother and her three children, one of whom was a San Pedro High student who faced a Christmas without Santa.

As he wrote in an email:

I brought the three teams in for a meeting and explained that a family needs our help. Three young children and their mom were living in a car, then a shelter. On Christmas Eve, we went by the shelter to be ‘Santa’ for the family since Santa was unable to come. Last week, Mom proudly contacted me to say she found a small place, but it was absolutely empty. I asked the players (not their parents) for their help. Within 24 hours, the players collected three beds, pillows, sheets, blankets, dishes, shampoo, chairs, and so on. We loaded up a player’s truck and helped create a home. One player was so touched he drove back the same evening and gave them his own TV and helped with videos. The special-needs eight-year-old had the biggest and proudest smile as he said, ‘This is MY home.’ There were tears and smiles flowing as we said a good night.

For those who doubt the power of today’s youth, please give them a chance. They make me very proud both on and off the court.

And San Pedro can be proud it has produced people like Bobich and Imbagliazzo. spt strains, back pain, carpal tunnel, peripheral neuropathy, wounds, plantar fasciitis, tendonitis, and joint pain.

Steve Marconi can be reached at spmarconi@yahoo.com.