Poinsettia Ball Was Corny but Grand

SAN DIEGO —  “Ioway, Ioway. That’s where the tall corn grows.”

True, but things got pretty corny right here in Surf City on Saturday night when 580 supporters of the San Diego State University Aztecs and the University of Iowa Hawkeyes squared off socially at the ninth annual Poinsettia Ball. Held in the Hotel Inter-Continental’s Pavilion Ballroom, the event benefited not only college football’s ever-more-prestigious Holiday Bowl but also the San Diego chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

An unusual sense of enthusiasm and excitement permeated the party, largely because finally, for the first time in the history of the Holiday Bowl, the home team was about to play. Thus just about every San Diego County civic, business and social leader who knows how to spell quarterback turned out, eager to dig into a plate of hometown boosterism seasoned with a solid dose of civic pride. More than a touch of savor was added by the fact that because the hotel was headquarters for the Iowa delegation, the adversaries were in sight--the grounds and lobbies were liberally sprinkled with Farm Belt boosters wearing jackets emblazoned with the name of their favorite team.

During the cocktail hour, good-natured Iowa jokes sprouted like corn on a Hawkeye State farm. And not all of them were told by locals; Iowa head coach Hayden Fry, who dazzled the crowd by wearing a turquoise-clasped string tie rather than the requisite black bow, drew snickers with his recitations of Midwestern one-liners.

Fry, in fact, evidently arrived in town equipped with a sunny smile that refused to leave his face. Skip Starkey reported that, the previous day, at a reception for the two teams given aboard the aircraft carrier Constellation, the coach put on a country bumpkin routine just for laughs.

“Fry was looking at this huge carrier in awe,” said Starkey. “Then he turned around and said, ‘I wonder how many bales of hay that thing could carry?’ ” A typical Farm Belt question, perhaps, but not for a man whose main interest lies in how many times his running backs can carry a football.

One partygoer who emphatically refused to relate any Iowa witticisms, and denied even wanting to know any, was SDSU Athletic Director Fred Miller, to whom the Hawkeye competitors were anything but a joke.

“Iowa’s got a great team, and they’re the favorites,” Miller said. “But our kids are hungry and all lathered up. Just watch us.”

SDSU President Tom Day was quite willing to commit himself on the outcome of the game. “These teams are well-matched, and they’re both good and have good coaching,” he said. “But San Diego’s going to win.”

Despite this verbal jousting, good feelings and high spirits flowed as liberally as the food, drink and entertainment that made this final Big Deal of 1986 an especially lively party. The decor featured banks of the poinsettias that give the ball its name; the Bill Green Orchestra kept the dance floor hopping, and Lisa Kahre, the reigning Miss California and the official Holiday Bowl hostess, played “The Carnival of Venice” on her flute.

The smash entertainment of the evening, however, was provided by The Diamonds, the rock ‘n’ roll group that introduced “Little Darlin’ ” and “The Stroll” in the 1950s. Frankly a little long in the tooth after 30 years in show biz, the group still knew how to rock and generally sweep away what proved to be an exceptionally receptive audience.

“You don’t have to send your $6.95 to K-Tel Records, we’re going to do this live,” announced lead singer Bob Duncan just before the group swung into “Blue Moon.”

Officially, the football game is known as the Sea World Holiday Bowl in honor of its chief backer, and Sea World President Jan Schulz was on hand with some cheery news about yet another beneficiary of the whirlwind of fund raising that surrounds the event.

“I suggested that we tie the Holiday Bowl to a neat charity,” said Schulz, and the charity chosen was the Make a Wish Foundation, which attempts to grant the special requests of children diagnosed as suffering from terminal illnesses. The first youngster to benefit from the $20,000 Schulz hopes to raise this year was 10-year-old Ryan Boyles of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a cystic fibrosis sufferer and a died-in-the-wool Hawkeye fan whose greatest wish was to head west to cheer for his team. The boy, who spent Saturday dividing his time between the beach and Sea World, was unaware at that time that he was destined to be named honorary captain of both teams at the Tuesday game.

A man who has brought smiles to millions of young faces, author Ted (Dr. Seuss) Geisel, also was present, in his role as honorary chairman of the Holiday Bowl and marshal of the grand parade held downtown Sunday morning. Midway through the evening, Geisel was given a plaque by ball chairman Sally Jones and Holiday Bowl President Jim Schmidt. (Schmidt, a native Iowan but now a fierce Aztec fan, literally found himself in the best of two worlds.)

Others in attendance were event co-chairman Beverly Muchnic and her husband, Bill; Aztec head coach Denny Stolz and his wife, Cena; Vangie and Dick Burt; Debbie and John Daley; Marie and Dean Dunphy; Gloria and Drew Gissinger; Barbara and Leon Parma; Jeanne and Vinnie Vinson; Poinsettia Ball founder Kay Rippee and her husband, Bill; Linda and Chuck Owen; Marge and Paul Palmer; Lee and Larry Cox; Jane and Herb Stoecklein; Kathi and John Howard; Mary and Dave Duea; University of San Diego President Author Hughes and his wife, Marge; Tijuana socialites Afife and Sirak Baloyan, and local Multiple Sclerosis Society Executive Director Gary Powers and his wife, Sharon.

The smokestacks on Mission Bay’s new stern-wheeler, the William D. Evans, belched artificial smoke and flashed flames when the boat pulled away from the Bahia Hotel dock on a Dec. 22 holiday cruise for 600 friends of Anne Evans and her children.

The whole crew did not clamber aboard together--the boat repeatedly returned to the dock to accept new passengers and disgorge those whose seasonal party schedules required their presence somewhere else. But the grand tour of the Christmas-lit houses along the bay left broad smiles on every face, especially upon that of young Bill Evans, who sees the boat (named for his late father) as a triumphant conclusion to a family project.

“We’ve got 1,200 horses in this baby, and it can move ,” said Evans, who added that the simulated smoke and flame issuing from the smokestacks were rigged by a Hollywood special-effects crew.

The guests moved, too, mostly straight up the stairs to the boat’s upper deck, where an extravagant buffet waited under the vaulted, back-lit, stained-glass ceiling that displays a panorama of Mississippi River scenes. Those especially in the mood for locomotion headed back downstairs to the dance floor, presided over by the Mar Dels.

The host family included young Anne Evans and her sister Margaret, and their sisters and brothers-in-law Grace and David Cherashore and Nancy and Herb Kyzer. Among guests were Don and Tisha Swortwood, John and Jane Murphy, Al and Betty DeBakcsy, Dick and Maureen King, Charles and Gloria Melville, Gus and Gretchen Colachis, Dempsey and Berneice Copeland, Gordon and Karon Luce, Paul and Jinx Ecke, Ken and Fran Golden, Mike and Jan Madigan, and Janie and Tom Fetter.