Ray Calame - Pillar of Achievement

Ray Calame tells this story often. It was the late 1950s when as a student at Roosevelt Middle School, Calame would find his way up to Glendale Junior College to work the games at the Sam Barry Basketball Tournament. He counts it as one of the most memorable events in his life, one that put him in the middle of the action for the game he loved.

On a recent visit to the college and to that same Verdugo Gym, Calame mused about how important the college was to him as an impressionable youth. Head mits that he wasn’t a very good basketball player at Glendale High but improved a great deal under former GCC Head Coach and hall of fame inductee Abe Androff.

“The days working the Sam Barry Tournament were just wonderful for me. Anytime I get to be back in the Verdugo Gym remembering all the hours I spent there as a volunteer and a player are very special to me,’’ said Calame. “I would be gone all day into the night doing anything that needed to be done for the games. Then to be back here as a GCC basketball player for Coach Androff was incredible and it helped me move on to play at Cal State Fullerton.’’

Recalling the phone call that let Calame know that he had been selected to the 2018 GCC Athletic Hall of Fame in the Pillar of Achievement Category, he still shakes his head at the idea that anything he has done in his post collegiate career has been impressive enough to deserve this honor.

But impressive doesn’t begin to describe Calame’s over 40-year career with the Glendale YMCA as a youth basketball coach and as a director of Camp Fox and the amount of lives he has affected on a daily basis. Called Gator at Camp Fox, Calame has led so many trips to Catalina Island that he has lost count.

Calame said that being involved as a Camp Fox Director has been one of the most fulfilling things he has ever done in his life and the community response and the sold out status of many of the summer sessions in advance is a testament to the power of the activity.

“If you could see the changes in these young people who come to their first camp ever as shy and introverted kids and leave us that week completely changed and ready for new experiences,’’ he said. “We don’t tout the camp as life changing but to see young kids embrace the experience and come back as counselors that I have worked with for decades gives me energy that keeps me going after all these years.’’