The Long Beach Century Club continued its mission of supporting amateur sports in the city with a special event last week, which took their commitment to a whole new level. The club has been making a large annual donation to all the city’s schools for the last decade-plus, but never in the amount handed out at a special meeting held at LBCC on Tuesday–Century Club president Mike Fillipow completed his goal of making a $100,000 donation to the school sports programs in the city.
“It’s been building every year, and then a few years ago we saw this number and said, ‘Can we do this down the road, can we do more and more fundraising?’ and the answer is yes,” said Fillipow.
COVID-19 and other disruptions have led to Fillipow being in a unique position as the four-time club president over the last five years, part of what’s allowed his vision to build over the last several years. His tenure is set to conclude at the end of June.
“I love doing it, it’s a perfect fit for me being a former coach and being involved with the middle school cross country meet and then coaching high school,” he said. “We’re giving back to everybody–it’s been a great way to keep my foot in the door, but it’s time for some fresh blood.”
The Century Club is a social club that’s existed for 70 years in the city with the mission of supporting school and amateur athletics in Long Beach; they’ve helped icons like Billie Jean King and Misty May-Treanor launch their careers, and 20 years ago stepped in to save the LBUSD Middle School Sports program when budget cuts threatened to shutter it.
The donations last week included: $16,000 to Long Beach State for its scholarship fund, $8,000 to Long Beach City College for their student academic success program, $4,000 each to the city’s high schools, and $2,000 each to the LBUSD middle school sports programs.
A representative from each school came up to thank the Club for the donation and give the membership an idea of how it would be spent. Answers ranged from much-needed equipment and gear to mascot costumes, weight equipment, a year-end banquet for middle school athletes, and more.
The answers highlighted the need at many local schools, several of which said they were just happy to get new uniforms, or new basketballs or volleyballs, for their student-athletes.
Fillipow recalled other meaningful answers over the years.
“Avalon used the donation for when they missed their boat after a game and had to pay for a hotel every night,” he said. “Everybody needs the money. But I’ll tell you that my soft spot is the middle schools. They don’t have the budget–they sometimes don’t have balls, or jerseys, and I think that’s where our biggest impact is.”
The high schools’ plans for the money included defraying travel expenses or paying for new track and field equipment, scoreboards, or for new Hudl film services which will cover all sports at Lakewood and Long Beach Poly.
