Giving kids a sports chance

SHE IS

Helping famous athletes teach children to stay in school, off

drugs and out of gangs.

THE PLACE TO BE

As director of the Newport Sports Museum, Kellie Newcombe spends

her days overseeing the museum, organizing tours and scheduling the

Athlete-Outreach program, through which big-name athletes talk to

children about important issues.

Originally started as a personal collection, the museum -- at 100

Newport Center Drive -- houses one of the largest collections of

game-worn sports memorabilia in existence with more than 10,000

pieces, including baseballs signed by every World Series winning team

since 1940, Wayne Gretzky’s jersey and a pair of Shaquille O’Neal’s

shoes. Tour groups or individuals can visit the museum for free,

while groups of 30 or more from schools, summer camps, clubs,

shelters and other various organizations can request an athlete

speaker.

“We deal with a lot of underprivileged kids as well as private

schools, public schools and at this time of year a lot of summer

camps,” Newcombe said.

Many of the athletes she enlists to speak with children are

professionals like former NFL player Marcus Allen, hockey player

Chris Chelios and Dodger Eric Karros,. A number are also from local

colleges.

HOME GROWN TALENT

A California native, Newcombe attended Newport Harbor High School

and went to college on a softball scholarship. It was while she was

working in the college athletic department that she fell in love with

working with kids and athletes. She discovered the museum while

attending college at UCI for marketing and asked the museum’s

founder, John Hamilton, for a job.

The memories that stick out most in her mind are the smiling faces

of the children as they meet their favorite athletes, and some of the

cute questions they ask, said Newcombe. Two young girls found

themselves speechless when Shawn Green asked for their names so he

could sign an autograph, and another boy once asked, “Does your mommy

wash your uniform?”

Her own personal favorite moments came when she met the legendary

UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, and the time that baseball great

Brooks Robinson gave her tickets to see Cal Ripken’s last game.

FUTURE PLANS

Newcombe’s aspirations are to see the museum continue to expand

and help many more children while helping the organization works

through the expansion process. One day she sees herself working as a

collegiate administrator in an athletic department. But for someone

who is quite content in her job she expects that day to be long off.

-- Story by Todd W. Karella, photo by Sean Hiller