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Their Work is Play

For some Sac State alumni, mixing business, fitness and recreation is all in a day’s work—hiking a national forest, taking a bike for a spin, hitting the tennis court, sailing a world class lake. But while fun is part of their job descriptions, these grads are also teaching their fellow Sacramento Region residents the importance of a balanced life.

Bill Campbell co-owner, spare time clubs

Bill Campbell (’67 Accountancy, ’70 MBA) was in college when he discovered the sport that would shape the rest of his life. Tennis became the catalyst for his professional career as an athletic club owner and for his work as Sac State’s Director of Tennis. It also introduced him to his wife and business partner, Margie.

And while tennis was the spark, it was a paper in a Sac State business class that formed the foundation for his career in recreation.

Campbell came to Sac State to earn his accounting degree because at that time Sac State accounting students had the highest passage rate in California on the Certified Public Accountant exam. But while playing on the tennis team, Campbell learned something else, “I found I was more interested in teaching tennis than I was in playing tennis or becoming an accountant.”

After graduation in 1967, when he wasn’t studying for the CPA exam—which he passed—Campbell built a local junior tennis program. He soon had 400 children in the Fulton-El Camino Recreation and Park District tennis program. Campbell’s next step evolved into the foundation for Spare Time, Inc.

Campbell says, “While pursuing my MBA, I became really interested in tennis and swim clubs.” In researching a paper for a financial management class, he called club owners to talk about how they ran their businesses, including asking to see their financial statements. As he traveled to tennis tournaments, he stopped at 22 clubs up and down the state. Amazingly, all of them agreed to share their data.

The business plan for Spare Time, Inc. was an outgrowth of that research and paper.

“I decided that what I really wanted to do was create environments where people could enjoy all aspects of club recreation—not just tennis,” Campbell says. Thirty years ago most private clubs were pretty simple, he says. They usually had about eight tennis courts and a backyard-type swimming pool. The membership varied widely from summer and winter.

The Campbells opened Rio del Oro Racquet Club in 1973. As a multi-recreational, year-round club, it was an innovative concept in club construction and management. The pool was heated, there were 27 tennis courts, two racquetball courts, an “exercise room” with a twelve-station universal gym and two stationary bikes. It also had child care.

And while that small gym may not seem like much compared to today’s mega-gyms, “It was novel,” Campbell says. “People could mix gym-based exercise with tennis. The whole family was at the club.”

Spare Time was also one of the first clubs in California to create “Kids Clubs” for teenagers and youngsters too old for child care. The clubs give them a place to do homework, work on the computer, meet friends, watch movies, play video games or ping pong and do crafts. “This type of club amenity is now standard,” Campbell says.

Since opening Rio del Oro, Spare Time, Inc. expanded its operations to 10 facilities, drawing 65,000 member visits each week. The newest Spare Time club, Diamond Hills Sports Club and Spa, is located in Oakley, Calif.

Campbell says a key factor to the clubs’ success is the loyalty of the tennis players. “When tennis players join a club, they stay. We still have tennisplaying members who joined Rio del Oro in 1973,” he says, adding that he has played on Tuesdays with the same club member for the last 32 years. “There is a lot of that going on,” he says. “People form strong friendships.”

Campbell says that he and Margie believe the family atmosphere at the Spare Time clubs is an important social outlet. There is a heavy emphasis on recreational and competitive programs for children. For example, the Spare Time, Inc. Junior Tennis Academy has 220 young people, 101 of whom hold a U.S. Tennis Association Northern California ranking. Each club also has junior swim programs with as many as 300 children on some teams. “These types of activities provide for great social events for parents,” Campbell says. “They spend a lot of time here.”

Three decades later, Campbell continues to implement the strategies outlined in his college paper. “It’s been a satisfying life,” he says.

Of his greatest satisfaction, Campbell says, “For Margie and me, it’s been being a part of people achieving their goals. That satisfaction is in everything we do, whether it’s a child learning to swim or playing tennis for the first time, a player ranked number one in his or her age group, a winning team or an adult losing 50 pounds. It’s what really matters.”

Delta Pick Mello, membership director, california state railroad museum

There are trains in Delta Pick Mello’s office. Not one or two, but hundreds. She used to have animals in her office. Not one or two, but hundreds.

Mello (’81, Communication Studies) is the membership director for the California State Railroad Museum Foundation. Before that, she was the marketing director for the Sacramento Zoo. “I have been very lucky,” she says. “I have had two of the very best jobs you could want.”

Mello graduated from Sac State in 1981 with a communications degree but wasn’t able to put it to use until she began working in the marketing department of an area computer company. “I took on the company newsletter and really began to appreciate my communication background,” she says. The job was satisfying, but what she really wanted was to work for a non-profit agency. “I wanted a sense of giving back to Sacramento, and so I began looking at community-based organizations.”

In 1991, a friend gave her a tip about a membership coordinator position at the zoo, and she found what she had been looking for. “I loved working there,” she says. “It was a unique opportunity to see things from behind the scenes such as animals being born.”

It also gave her a greater ecologic awareness. “I learned an enormous amount about endangered species, and I became more environmentally sensible,” Mello says.

In March, she left the zoo for the Railroad Museum Foundation. “I took this job because I love history,” she says. The museum, located in Old Sacramento, is a cavernous building with 21 real engines and rail cars from bygone eras and hundreds of models and toy trains.

“There’s a difference between models and toy trains,” she says, hinting that she may have learned that fact the hard way. She manages a database of about 10,000 members for the museum and Railtown 1897, a state historic park in Jamestown, Calif. She also edits a quarterly magazine for the members and plans membership events.

“I am so fortunate,” Mello says. “The museum has a huge future, and I really look forward to being a part of that.”

Miguel Macias, assistant recreation officer, Sequoia National Forest

Miguel Macias (Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration, ’07) knew from a young age he wanted to spend a lot of time outdoors, but he didn’t plan on a career in it. “I was the first in my family to graduate from college let alone continue on for a master’s degree, so I wasn’t aware of the opportunities,” Macias says.

He had a revelation in an outdoor recreation course he took at Sac State. “Professor David Rolloff talked extensively about the National Parks Service and the national forest,” he says. ”I knew that’s where I wanted to be.”

Today Macias works as an assistant recreation officer in Sequoia National Forest, where he oversees the forest’s wilderness area, the OHV/OSV (off-highway vehicle/ over-snow vehicle) program, developed/dispersed camping, and the trail network. He also plans for district maintenance and upgrades.

When asked what his favorite part of the job is, Macias says, “There are so many things. I get to be outdoors. I’m protecting natural resources and advocating for outdoor recreation. But most important, I’ve never had a job where I felt like it was exactly right, that it was exactly what I’m supposed to do,” he says.

Brian Dulgar, director, and Cindi Dulgar, youth programs director and operations manager, Sacramento State aquatic center

Water sports are a family affair for Brian and Cindi Dulgar.

Ask them about their work at the Aquatic Center, and they tell you how it’s a place for families, friends and their children to come together. They recount how their own children are growing up at the Lake Natoma facility, joking that the girls were “born with webbed feet.”

And they reminisce about the family of student workers they’ve trained and mentored over the years and who are now bringing their kids for lessons. And while fun and family are the life of the Aquatic Center, there’s a serious side too. The facility has an education mission to fulfill for its sponsoring agencies, says Cindi (’88 and ‘05, Recreation Administration). “We have a responsibility to the California Department of Boating and Waterways to provide boating safety education programs and to Associated Students to serve students through our courses and employment opportunities,” she says.

About 4,000 children and 8,000 members of the general public participate in the Aquatic Center’s various aquatic programs. And more than 2,000 Sac State students take kinesiology courses for credit, like rowing, sailing and windsurfing, along with experiential learning courses as staff members.

“We have students who are doing all sorts of things: boat repairs, equipment and facilities maintenance, applying epoxy, working with fiberglass,” says Brian (‘90, Business Administration). “We jokingly call them ‘sport utility students’ because they are learning a wide variety of things that they could only learn by doing, things they could find themselves doing on a job in the recreation field.”

The couple met as teenage competitive waterskiers and both skied for the Sac State team. Brian began working at the Aquatic Center while in college and eventually took over the administration of the facility including marketing, operations and budget. Cindi started as a student instructor and through an internship opportunity worked with youth programs, which she has grown to include leadership training for young people as well as executives.

“There are other things we could have pursued,” Brian says. “But we were able to turn an obsession of water sports into our profession.”

Janet Baker, director, Sacramento County regional parks department

As director of the county’s regional parks department, Janet Baker (’85, MBA) has a long-standing history with one of Sac State’s closest neighbors. The American River Parkway, which runs parallel to the campus, is one of the parks in the system she oversees.

“I grew up and played along the American River before it was the Parkway,” the longtime Sacramento resident says of the recreational area, which is nationally recognized and the “jewel” of the county’s park system. Her team also maintains and operates Ancil Hoffman, Discovery and Riverbend parks and the Effie Yeaw Nature Center. The county’s park system also includes open space areas such as Deer Creek Hills, the Cosumnes River Preserve, four golf courses and Gibson Ranch—some 15,000 acres in all.

One of Baker’s goals is to expand and promote the county’s historic ranches, including the Dry Creek and McFarland Ranch Houses. “The ranch houses are a wonderful way for people to see pioneer life in the Sacramento Region dating back to the late 1800s,”

Baker says. Baker previously worked in radio, television and the governor’s office, but felt her academic background was lacking in the nuts and bolts of business. “I enrolled in the MBA program at Sac State because I knew it would open doors in different arenas,” she says. After graduation, she applied for a job with the city’s parks and recreation department and never looked back. “Although I had no experience in parks and recreation, I believe that the knowledge and skills I gained from my MBA program were instrumental in getting me that first position,” Baker says.

Working in the parks system is not just a job to Baker. “It’s been my passion now for 23 years,” she says. “There are so many things I love about my job including working with a terrific staff, seeing children enjoy being outdoors and learning about nature, and truly making a difference—Improving the quality of life for Sacramento’s neighborhoods.”

Mike Upchurch, owner, Mad Cat Cycles

He nearly was an engineer. Until his interest in the outdoors, some sage advice from his wife, and a student job at Sac State’s Peak Adventures program— which provides a plethora of recreation activities for students—convinced Mike Upchurch (’99, Recreation Administration) to open his own bicycle shop.

“I began as an engineering major but was spending my weekends playing and riding,” Upchurch says. “My wife said, ‘Why don’t you get into something you love doing?’ Two weeks later, I changed my major.”

Now, Upchurch’s Mad Cat Cycles is the place for Sacramento’s mountain bike crowd and he’s about to launch a new phase of the business that will draw on the programs he helped run while at the University.

Upchurch says that while the shop’s bread and butter is mountain bikes, “because that was what I was into,” he has seen interest grow in their road, racing and family bikes as well. Part of the success is the shop’s cycling team—40 riders who represent Mad Cat at area races. “It’s not a typical sponsorship. Instead I bring them in as role models, as a marketing department. In return they get discounts on equipment and repairs. It’s a fast, fun, positive group.”

That type of personal touch is an expansion on Upchurch’s business philosophy. “My focus is on customer service, which was also my focus at Peak Adventures,” he says. “I see customers as potential friends and family.”

Upchurch will enter the next stage for Mad Cat in the spring, offering trips and teaching people to ride. “I want to expand the offerings beyond that of a typical bike shop,” he says. “Now we do clinics on things like bike maintenance. We are involved in races. This takes us to the next level—guided tourism.

“It is rewarding every day to be doing something you love—helping people, teaching people, getting them into riding.”

Adam Lane, recreation therapist, California State Prison Sacramento

Adam Lane’s job is not your ordinary job and not in your ordinary location. His office is, literally, a prison where he works as a recreation therapist for the mentally ill inmates of California State Prison Sacramento, adjacent to Folsom State Prison. Lane (’06, Recreation Administration) began working in the prison in February.

“The only thing I knew about prison came from television and the movies,” Lane says. “I thought it would be dark and gloomy and there would be water dripping from the walls, but it is nothing like that. The inmates are treated with respect, there is a very high level of professionalism and the people I work with are lighthearted and fun.”

But, he says, it is still a prison. “It’s a pretty safe place, but you never completely let your guard down and generally, you keep your head on a swivel.” It may sound like Lane has a tough job in a tough place, but he’s probably a little more used to it than most. He is a former Marine who spent four years on active duty before coming to Sac State. Once here, he played rugby for the University for five years. After graduation, he became a forest ranger and even worked with a fire crew.

“One of my professors said to figure out what you love and how you can get paid for it,” he says. “I love sports and I love the outdoors.”

As a recreation therapist, Lane sets up leisure activities and tournaments to help mentally ill prisoners better cope with incarceration. He says art, music and gamebased therapy are a big part of helping the inmates.

“It’s called perceived freedom,” he says. “During that time, they are not thinking about the prison, but the chess game, or drawing, or whatever activity they are participating in. It gives them something to look forward to, and it helps reduce stress, depression and anxiety.”

While life at Sac State did not necessarily prepare him for a career in the prison industry, he says it did help him understand the importance of recreation.

“The recreation program at Sac State made me realize there is more to school than just what is in a book,” he says. “I understand I’m not changing the world, but if I can help relieve the inmate’s stress for a day or even a few hours, I have done my job.”