Event on track to celebrate 50 years

UP AND OVER—A student participates in the high jump competition during last year's Hap Rapp Memorial Track Meet at Camarillo High. The event was started in 1959. A record number of schools are expected to compete in the Hap Rapp Memorial Track Meet at Adolfo Camarillo High School on Sat., May 2.

Some 700 fourth- through eighthgraders in teams representing at least 14 public and private schools in Camarillo and Somis have registered for the meet, organizers said. Usually 10 to 12 schools participate.

"The spirit of competition is always . . . a great thing," said Dave Drumright, event chair.

Kathy Long, Ventura County supervisor, and Luis Villegas, Pleasant Valley School District superintendent, are expected to award ribbons to competitors in first through fifth place and trophies to the top performing class in each grade level.

Since 1959, about 10,000 children from elementary and middle schools in Camarillo and Somis have competed in the Rotary Club of Camarillo's track and field games.

The club started the meet, now the Hap Rapp Memorial Track Meet, 50 years ago as a way to bring the community together and because no such competitions existed for children in these age groups.

Hap Rapp was a tireless workerbee Rotarian who epitomized the slogan, "Service Above Self," said Jay Berger, a 10-year Rotary Club member who's publicizing the event. Rapp was usually the first one to arrive at Rotary events and the last to leave. A building designer by profession, Rapp built whatever was needed—whether it was a longjump pit for the track meet or a float for the Camarillo Christmas Parade.

The annual track meet was one of Rapp's favorite club projects. In recognition of his dedication and spirit, and because his presence was noticeably missing, the club named the meet in his memory after he passed away in 1988, Berger said.

The meet was "a good way to do something that nobody else was doing," Berger said.

Over the years, the club has had to forgo the meet once or twice when no Rotarian volunteered to organize it. Berger acknowledged that the event requires a lot of work.

The track meet chair must contact all the principals at public and private elementary and middle schools in the two communities and encourage them to form teams. In addition, the chair makes the food arrangements for the competitors, buys the awards and trophies, and recruits fellow Rotarians to groom the grounds on the day of the event.

Usually, the same person takes on the responsibility for a couple of years but then "burns out," Berger said.

Drumright, a track and field athlete when in high school, said his love for the sport motivated him to chair the meet. Drumright, who's been a Rotarian since 1991, has served as club president and knows how difficult it is to get volunteers.

"I can't ask people to step up if I'm not willing to step up," Drumright said.

About 50 Rotarians are needed to put on the meet, including members of Interact, the club's high school affiliate, and Rotaract, the California State University Channel Islands campus club.

Admission to the Hap Rapp Memorial Track Meet is free and open to the public.

For more information, call Drumright at (805) 807-3100.