Our BOSS Weekend 2019, our annual fundraising weekend was a huge success!  We kicked off things with an all-day Showcase of BOSS for 200 plus youngsters from the Pointe at the Walter Pyramid on the Long Beach State campus.  Click here for a photo gallery and click here for a short video that capture some of the excitement of our 2nd Annual BOSS Weekend.

Former Marquette standout and NBA player, now a NBA Players Association career counselor, Dr. Lloyd Walton, one of 3 former players in NBA history to earn a Doctorate, was set to deliver the keynote until a sudden illness prevented him from traveling from Chicago.  Mental  performance expert Michael Cooper, who traveled from Miami delivered an interactive keynote after sharing mental strength training and life skill strategies designed to turn leaders, influencers and athletes into champions on and off the playing surface.

Michael was joined by a group of amazing mentors, for a day of exploring career pathways and success strategies, including AEG’s Larry Abel and Mark Clay; Dodger’s alumni Kenny Landreaux; former Oakland Raider turned Manager of Safety on the Inglewood Stadium, Elston Ridgle; former USC great and NFL performer turned commercial real estate broker, Will Poole; Turner Construction engineer Thomas Christopher; former MLB picture turned commercial real estate professional Thomas Murphy; Mikel Davis, Senior Manager, Applied Analytics at NBC Universal Media; Curt Flood, Jr., President of the Curt Flood Foundation and son of the man who changed the economics of sport when he challenged the so-called “reserve clause” in baseball; Merrill Lynch financial advisor Justin Lacey; former D-1 basketball player turned Modern Woodman of American financial advisor, Anson Moye; former NFL player turned actor and producer, Jerrell Pippens; USC Associate Athletic Director Jabari Brown; KPMG CPA and Director of Sponsorship for the USC Entertainment Network, Kathryn Shirley; Amirakal Marketing CEO Brandon Adams; corporate attorney and NBA/NFL certified contract advisor, Kate Ferrara; commercial real estate broker/business aerial drone videographer, Damon Jones; Chase Bank CRA officer Ali Tarzi; commercial real estate broker/investment specialist, Cedric Ferrell; and former NFL player turned actor/producer, Jamal Johnson.

We ended the day with a tour of the Long Beach State and provided the boys with stuffed goodie bags. BOSS Awards honoree and former NFL player and current Fox Sports personality, Marcellus Wiley (Compton, Columbia, NFL) shared his wisdom and experience with the boys and signed a copy of his new book Never Shut Up for each boy.

On Saturday, we welcomed a standing room only crowd of approximately 300 business, civic, education, political and sport industry leaders to the Long Beach Marriott ballroom for our 2nd Annual BOSS Awards.  We celebrated the power of sport to change lives and saluted a group of individuals whose accomplishments are aligned with our BOSS Pillars:  LBUSD Board Member Dr. Felton Williams (Mentally BOSS), Port of Long Beach and its Executive Director Mario Cordero (Corporate Good Citizen and Corporate Leadership);  Klutch Sports’ Rich Paul (Economically BOSS); Dodgers VP of External Affairs Naomi Rodriguez (Socially BOSS);  Fox Sports’ Marcellus Wiley (Physically BOSS);  Chargers Senior Director of Player Engagement Arthur Hightower (Emotionally BOSS), and the Marriott’s Imran Ahmed (Spiritually BOSS).  Entertainment was courtesy of up and coming saxophonist J Boykin.

The testimonies by BOSS student-athletes Dylan Ballard, Jakob Brannon, Andrew Pierce, Christian Rios and Darius Williams was the highlight of the evening.  A good time was had by all and we doubled the net proceeds to help us strengthen BOSS from Long Beach State and scale our impact to either Cal State Dominguez or USC this summer.

Here’s a photo gallery that captures some of the excitement of our BOSS Weekend.  You can view the program journal from our BOSS Showcase at this link, the program journal from the BOSS Awards at this link and enjoy a video that captures some of the excitement from our 2nd Annual BOSS Weekend at this link.