Driving home a golf classic

Golfers expect to pack their bags later this afternoon at the Newport

Beach Country Club as the eighth annual Toshiba Senior Classic runs its

course. Five years ago, those involved with the event feared it may have

run its course due to management problems.

Since co-chairmen Hank Adler and Jake Rohrer took over the reins at

that juncture, the event has raised $3.4 million for the Hoag Hospital

Foundation. In 2000, the event became the Senior Tour’s first stop to

raise $1 million.

On Wednesday, City Editor James Meier stopped by the course’s driving

range without his clubs to talk to Adler, a former Irvine Unified School

District board member, about the event’s successes under partly sunny

skies.

Q: What’s been your proudest accomplishment relating to the

tournament?

A: We’ve helped facilitate over the last 16 years about $6 million

worth of charity to Hoag Hospital. It’s just been a great thing. It’s not

my accomplishment. It’s the community’s accomplishment. All we do is help

facilitate it.

But it’s been a great run. Had a lot of fun. Hospital’s done real well

by it. It’s been a kick.

Q: What are your thoughts on this year’s tournament?

Q: Given 9/11, a couple years of bad weather behind us, it’s running

just as smooth as can be. We’re going to have a great tournament, great

weather over the weekend. The forecast for Friday, Saturday and Sunday is

darn near perfect.

We’re hoping to have big galleries. We’ve got 30 of the top 31 money

winners from last year, all five of the new entries. So, we’ll probably

have the best field of any Senior [PGA] event in the country this year.

So we’re on a roll. It’s going great.

Q: Obviously, it’s been a major change since five years ago.

A: Yeah. We’ve never quite figured that out. But, yeah, the first year

the hospital made about $600,000. We made $800,000 the second year. A

million the third year, $1.1 million last year. We’ll probably make a

little less this year -- a tough economy.

The fact we’re making as much as we are just is a tribute to this

community.

Q: Was there any consideration given to dropping it about five years

ago?

A: From the Hoag standpoint, we’ve been doing this for 27 years, and

we had had the Newport Classic for 17 years. We rolled into the Taco Bell

Newport Classic. We were making $300,000 a year. We stepped into the

shoes of the guys who weren’t doing a very good job. So that question

never wouldn’t have come up for us.

We thought we knew what we were doing and that we’d be able to pull

this off. The truth is, we had no idea what we were doing, but we hired

Jeff Purser and he did, so that’s just as good as knowing what you’re

doing.

Q: I’m sure you’re completely amazed at what it is today.

A: It’s just been a fabulous result. Jeff is walking over here and is

someone you should interview, but he’s probably the best hire I’ve made

in my career. He’s just done a fabulous job for us. The sponsors are

happy. So we’ve got the right charity, we’ve got the right people, got

the right community -- it’s just a great formula. It really is. It’s a

great deal.

Q: Are there any ideal changes you would make to the event?

A: Not really. It’s about as good as it gets. We’d love to have more

sponsors and more tents and more of a gallery, and every year it grows a

little bit. Everything’s moving in the right direction. I’d like to be

younger.

Q: What will Hoag use this year’s donations for?

A: All of about probably $80,000 or $90,000 will go the Hoag Women’s

Pavilion. That’s a huge project. The hospital has a $50-million campaign

going on for that. So all the proceeds will go to that. We did the

emergency room for a few years. Then we did the cancer clinic. Now we’re

doing the Women’s Pavilion. If we’re lucky 10 years from now, we’ll be

doing the heart center or something like that.

Q: What’s your favorite part of the event?

A: I love it all. And I really like the community breakfast. We had

Fuzzy Zoeller speak [Tuesday]. He was just letter fabulous. And, you

know, we’ve had these great playoffs on Sunday afternoon. And everybody

you know shows up sometime during the weekend. It’s just a great week.

Q: Any final thoughts?

A: No. Keep the weather gods in our favor.

Q: This doesn’t run until Sunday.

A: By then we’ll know all about it. The ground is solid. I mean, we

can play in almost anything. It’s a lot more fun when it’s not raining.

BIO

Name: Hank Adler

Age: 55

Residence: Irvine for 30 years

Occupation: Accountant; partner with Deloitte & Touche

Education: Bachelor’s degree from UCLA; master’s degree from Anderson

School of Business

Family: Wife of 31 years Marcia, daughters Julie and Sally

Community involvement: Co-chair of the Toshiba Senior Classic;

treasurer of the Hoag Hospital Foundation; four years, including a

one-year stint as president, on the Irvine Unified School District; board

member of the Center of Democracy at UC Irvine

Hobbies: Golf, reading and history