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The patriarch
Ball proud of his legacy, but worried about San Diego lakes' future
Ed Zieralski, San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 8, 2003
Sitting at a picnic table overlooking Lake Murray in a tree-lined park that he designed when he ran the San Diego city lakes in the 1960s, Orville Ball spoke with pride of a fishing and recreation program he helped build.
Ball, 78, and now living in Washington state, will always be remembered for his role in the historic importation of Florida-strain largemouth bass to San Diego in 1960. Today, 21 of the heaviest 25 bass caught in the United States are the progeny of that transplant to Upper Otay.
But as important as Ball's successful Florida Bass Experiment was, it's only part of his vast legacy in San Diego. The lakes recreation program the former Hoover High and San Diego State running back lateraled to an eager and capable Jim Brown in the early 1970s is the standard nationwide for big-city, multiple-use lake recreation and fisheries management.
But now Ball is concerned. Brown is retiring from the city in June. And Ball left a lunch meeting with Brown earlier this week disturbed about the direction of the city lakes program.
"I've heard that when Jim leaves, the structure for the future of the lakes is not defined," Ball said. "There's a real need in that program for a manager who can work with the public and the administration. But right now, I don't know who that would be. There's no specific plan to replace Jim, and that raises a question mark about the program."
Fishermen and water contact users such as water-skiers see the handwriting on the wall of the lakes' abandoned concession stands. The city's real estate assets department thought so little of its recreation program that the city is without concession services at its eight lakes and likely won't have any concessions for six to eight months.
The lakes program is under the aegis of the city's water utilities department, and as such, is one of the least concerns of a division more involved with drinking water issues and storm-water runoff from the ever-encroaching asphalt and concrete jungle. Recreation is an afterthought.
Ball heard the same song when he was program manager, and Brown has had to dance around it during his 28-year tenure.
Ball credits Brown for doing "a very good job under difficult conditions." Ball knows from experience that running a recreation business in a bureaucracy can be a mind-altering, energy-depleting experience.
"I look back at some of the interesting conflicts and confrontations I had with water department administrators over the years and I realize it was simply a matter of principle," Ball said. "I stood up and said what I thought. More than once I was called into the director's office. He'd have the newspaper in front of his face, and he'd say, 'Orville, why did you say this?' "
Ball said Brown has circumvented much of the problems with the city's administration by "reaching a sort of understanding with the water utilities department to operate within its constraints"
"Jim's comfortable with that, but I took issue with the constraints," Ball said. "I found out that being technically correct was not always a winning proposition."
Ball praised Brown for expanding the city lakes' recreation program from mostly hunting and fishing to include outdoors activities such as hiking, water-skiing, windsurfing, canoeing, kayaking and more.
"These are things that Jim has done of which San Diego can be very proud," Ball said.
Just as Ball sought grant money from such agencies as the Department of Fish and Game's Wildlife Conservation Board to do projects, Brown has fetched more than $6 million in grants during his tenure for the city lakes system from the state's Department of Boating and Waterways.
Ball said for the city to maintain its current program or advance it to the next level, it will need a special person to replace Brown.
"They need to get an energetic, talented, creative administrator to get the ideas flowing and the juices going within the constraints of the public health issues and the engineers' concerns," Ball said. "But I haven't heard anything from Jim or anyone else to indicate that the city is going to enhance the lakes recreation program.
"If they hire someone, that person is going to need to have the passion for it and the vision, and they can't hesitate to do what's right."
Meantime, Ball and Brown agreed to begin writing a history of the city lakes recreation program, which dates to 1913.
What the two men want most is to ensure that there's a centennial celebration for the San Diego city lakes recreation program in 2013.
Ball proud of his legacy, but worried about San Diego lakes' future
Ed Zieralski, San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 8, 2003
Sitting at a picnic table overlooking Lake Murray in a tree-lined park that he designed when he ran the San Diego city lakes in the 1960s, Orville Ball spoke with pride of a fishing and recreation program he helped build.
Ball, 78, and now living in Washington state, will always be remembered for his role in the historic importation of Florida-strain largemouth bass to San Diego in 1960. Today, 21 of the heaviest 25 bass caught in the United States are the progeny of that transplant to Upper Otay.
But as important as Ball's successful Florida Bass Experiment was, it's only part of his vast legacy in San Diego. The lakes recreation program the former Hoover High and San Diego State running back lateraled to an eager and capable Jim Brown in the early 1970s is the standard nationwide for big-city, multiple-use lake recreation and fisheries management.
But now Ball is concerned. Brown is retiring from the city in June. And Ball left a lunch meeting with Brown earlier this week disturbed about the direction of the city lakes program.
"I've heard that when Jim leaves, the structure for the future of the lakes is not defined," Ball said. "There's a real need in that program for a manager who can work with the public and the administration. But right now, I don't know who that would be. There's no specific plan to replace Jim, and that raises a question mark about the program."
Fishermen and water contact users such as water-skiers see the handwriting on the wall of the lakes' abandoned concession stands. The city's real estate assets department thought so little of its recreation program that the city is without concession services at its eight lakes and likely won't have any concessions for six to eight months.
The lakes program is under the aegis of the city's water utilities department, and as such, is one of the least concerns of a division more involved with drinking water issues and storm-water runoff from the ever-encroaching asphalt and concrete jungle. Recreation is an afterthought.
Ball heard the same song when he was program manager, and Brown has had to dance around it during his 28-year tenure.
Ball credits Brown for doing "a very good job under difficult conditions." Ball knows from experience that running a recreation business in a bureaucracy can be a mind-altering, energy-depleting experience.
"I look back at some of the interesting conflicts and confrontations I had with water department administrators over the years and I realize it was simply a matter of principle," Ball said. "I stood up and said what I thought. More than once I was called into the director's office. He'd have the newspaper in front of his face, and he'd say, 'Orville, why did you say this?' "
Ball said Brown has circumvented much of the problems with the city's administration by "reaching a sort of understanding with the water utilities department to operate within its constraints"
"Jim's comfortable with that, but I took issue with the constraints," Ball said. "I found out that being technically correct was not always a winning proposition."
Ball praised Brown for expanding the city lakes' recreation program from mostly hunting and fishing to include outdoors activities such as hiking, water-skiing, windsurfing, canoeing, kayaking and more.
"These are things that Jim has done of which San Diego can be very proud," Ball said.
Just as Ball sought grant money from such agencies as the Department of Fish and Game's Wildlife Conservation Board to do projects, Brown has fetched more than $6 million in grants during his tenure for the city lakes system from the state's Department of Boating and Waterways.
Ball said for the city to maintain its current program or advance it to the next level, it will need a special person to replace Brown.
"They need to get an energetic, talented, creative administrator to get the ideas flowing and the juices going within the constraints of the public health issues and the engineers' concerns," Ball said. "But I haven't heard anything from Jim or anyone else to indicate that the city is going to enhance the lakes recreation program.
"If they hire someone, that person is going to need to have the passion for it and the vision, and they can't hesitate to do what's right."
Meantime, Ball and Brown agreed to begin writing a history of the city lakes recreation program, which dates to 1913.
What the two men want most is to ensure that there's a centennial celebration for the San Diego city lakes recreation program in 2013.
