Making a splash with Fish Fry’s return

Two years ago, it seemed the Fish Fry was fried. And to everyone, in

2001 and 2002, it was. But several months ago, organizers announced

that a scaled-down version of the Fish Fry fund-raiser for May 31 and

June 1 at Lions Park.

After 57 consecutive Fish Fry events at Lions Park and Orange

Coast College, organizers have dubbed this year’s Fry “One in a row,”

revealing just how pleased they are to get the old tradition back on

its tail after a lawsuit had it floating on its back.

There are no plans to revive the parade down Newport Boulevard

that was once televised on KTLA-TV Channel 5. But the fried Icelandic

cod that gives the event its name will return.

On Thursday, City Editor James Meier visited Rollo McClellan’s

Costa Mesa home to talk to the Lions Club member who participated in

the previous 57 Fish Fries. On hand were Lions Club President Mike

Scheafer, who is seeking a Costa Mesa City Council appointment, and

club member Chuck Cassity.

How did the Fish Fry come about back in 1946?

McClellan: Well, it came about through a guy by the name of Bob

Skiles, really. He joined our club about the year the Fish Fry

started. He was an entertainer. He and his wife went around to

different high schools and played piano and told jokes and the whole

bit. And he also had these old stands, and he’s the one who got this

thing going.

And they were cooking fish down there in Newport for free. They’d

have a fish fry down there at the Dory fishermen. So Heinz Kaiser

[past Lions Club president and a former county supervisor] said,

“We’ll come up here and cook the fish.”

What are your earliest memories on the Fish Fry?

McClellan: Well, getting it organized, I was a little skeptical of

what was going to happen. In fact, I asked the president of the club,

Howard Gerrish, “What’s this guy going to get out of the club.” He

says, “Well, if you don’t have nothing, you can’t get nothing.” I

said, “That’s a good answer” [laughing].

So we were skeptical of him. But then it got bigger and bigger.

The next year, it was Les Miller; he was president. We called him Mr.

Fish Fry because he worked on this thing real hard and kept going.

What are your fondest memories of the Fish Fry?

McClellan: The getting together and the satisfaction of doing

something for the community.

Mike Scheafer: I think the highlight of the event is seeing old

friends, guys he went to school with.

Chuck Cassity: Like a reunion.

Scheafer: It’s like a reunion.

McClellan: The Fish Fry started there in front of Mayfield’s on

Newport Boulevard [where Mainly Seconds is now] and we used the

American Legion Hall kind of like a kitchen and then we brought the

stuff into the park. But we could never put the carnival in the park

because it had to stay on the road. So it stayed on the road until

the city became a city, and then we got it into the park.

Tell me about hamburger flipping you did.

McClellan: Well, we had this guy named Harry Hilliard. He was an

old carny man down in Long Beach. He made his living selling 10-cent

hamburgers, so we’d give him a pound and we had about 10 to 12

hamburgers a pound. He’d use an ice cream scoop and he’d put it down

there and then hit them with a spatula. He’d have a huge pile. And he

had this other guy named Mac, this professional chef who’d put on a

show for everybody.

So we got bigger and bigger, and when we went to the manufactured

hamburgers, old Harry quit us [laughing].

So that’s how the hamburger stand got started. Then we got two

hamburger stands going. First we called it North and South. We had a

competition to see who sold the most hamburgers. And they’d mix the

North and South together, and I was in the North, so I thought we

were getting the short end of thing.

So then we changed the names to Big Al and Big Rollo.

Scheafer: Rollo can probably expand on this, but in the early

days, they had a game where you could win a duck. They had live ducks

in a tank of water ... .

McClellan: And you’d throw a ring on the duck and then you’d get

the duck.

Scheafer: The gaming people came in and shut that one down.

How much different is it going to be this year?

McClellan: It’s going to be a little smaller. When they took away

our sheds, our equipment, we were shut down.

Scheafer: When we moved out of Lions Park over to Orange Coast

College, we lost all of our booths, so we went to rental booths and

it worked fine, but we just want to get our toe back in. We’ll have a

few carnival rides, a lot of community booths and our fish dinner.

We’re having our secret batter made. It’s a secret batter, so we have

a guy on notice who’s starting the batter. Today, we’re ordering

about a thousand pounds of fish.

What do you look forward to most about the return of the Fish Fry?

Scheafer: This old fool has pushed me harder than anybody else to

do this. The community needs this. There is no other single event

other than the Orange County Fair this city does as a city. And the

fair is not ours. It’s the state’s.

McClellan: And they always have something going on at the fair.

This way, it’s one event in one park here. Other service clubs have

tried theirs and this is it.

Cassity: This was, at one time, the largest Lions Club event in

the world. This is a famous club. There are thousands of Lions Clubs

all over the world.

Scheafer: I’ve held international office, and people all over the

world say, “Is your Lions Club the one that did the Fish Fry?”

Because we’re known as the Fish Fry Club.

McClellan: Each time a guy was president, he’d try to do it just a

little better. So each new guy’s job was to see if he could do it

just a little better.

Scheafer: My father was president [of the Lions Club] in 1976, and

at that time, Gerald Ford was president [of the United States] and

the club had arranged for Mr. and Mrs. Ford to fly into the Fish Fry

to make a presentation on the stage. I was working with my dad at the

time. And I remember the Secret Service came into the park, and you

knew they were Secret Service because they all had sunglasses and

they all kept talking into their coats. And my mom was sweating

bullets because she was going to make a presentation and meet Gerald

and Betty Ford.

So, we’re getting ready to make the presentation and, all of a

sudden, the Secret Service guys got in their cars and took off.

Nobody said anything, they just took off. So my dad tried to figure

out what was going on.

Years later, we found out that they were on their way in the

helicopter to Costa Mesa. Betty Ford, a recovering alcoholic, instead

of coming to Costa Mesa, they took the helicopter to the naval

hospital in Long Beach. And that’s when she started her

rehabilitation. My mom was relieved because she didn’t have to get in

front of all of those people. My dad was ticked off because the

president didn’t come.

You’re the longest continuously active member of the Costa

Mesa-Newport Harbor Lions Club. What keeps you involved?

McClellan: [With a laugh] Just being alive. No, I enjoy doing

this. I have a lot of friends. All of my friends are in the Lions

Club.

Scheafer: We’re not going to let him die and we’re not going to

let him quit the Lions Club because -- he’s not going to like us

saying this -- as a little bit of a younger person, you look up to

people, you look up to role models and you look up to people who have

done things and never asked for retribution or repayment. The epitome

of that sits right next to you.

This man has done more for people and more for the community, and

no one’s ever heard of Rollo McClellan except for those of us who

know him and love him. That’s what keeps him with us. He tries to

leave, we’ll hunt him down.