Sure, they could have just kicked back in the family room, feet on the coffee table and a bowl of popcorn between them on the couch. But when Steve Farber learned that his friend and fellow hoops fan New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine would be in town the night the Florida Gators would take a bite out of the UCLA Bruins to win the 2006 college men’s basketball championship, the Denver attorney thought it’d be fun to show the visiting politician how adept the city is at turning a ballgame into a benefit.
So Farber took his friend to the third annual Hoops & Hoopla at Mile High Station on April 3. The basketball-themed evening raised $137,590 for National Jewish Medical and Research Center.
Four hundred others were there, too, watching the game on big-screen TVs and fueling up at a buffet catered by Epicurean. Guests could also try their luck at the Texas Hold ‘Em, poker, blackjack, craps and billiards tables, and bid for one of the 20 items featured in a silent auction.
Alan Guzowski will be dining with nine of his friends at Elway’s while Eric Uhlberg walked out with a new TAG Heuer Formula 1 quartz watch on his wrist. Rich Dunlap was high bidder for a round of golf at Denver Country Club. Brad Robinson got the Frontier Airlines tickets and Tim Vanstelle snapped up a two-night stay at the Oxford Hotel with dinner at McCormick’s Fish House and Bar.
Head coaches for Hoops & Hoopla were Rich Baer of Qwest Communications; Bill Farrell of Wells Fargo Bank; Dave Greiner of Greiner Electric; John Kamprath of the Weitz Co.; Manuel Martinez, an attorney with Holme Roberts & Owen; William Mutch of Colorado Concern; Rich Schierberg of Peregrine Group Development; and Uhlberg, who is with Merrill Lynch.
Guests included the new leader of National Jewish, Dr. Michael Salem; David Engleberg, chairman of the hospital board; Carol Gibson, the vice president for development; Barry
Hirschfeld; Eddie Robinson; Sol Leftin; Mark Weber; Shane and Jason Fisher; Deno Pappas; and Tyler Ellis.
Also of interest
On Wednesday, Vail Valley Medical Center’s Volunteer Corps hosts its annual
luncheon and Neiman Marcus fashion show. Proceeds will go toward the purchase of a 64-slice CT scanner to be used in the early detection of heart disease.
The Colorado Sports Hall of Fame welcomes six new members April 18 when a dinner in their honor is held at the Marriott City Center. The inductees are Ceal Barry, Tom Hancock, Bill Hybl, J. Allen “Pat” Patten, Davis Phinney and Dennis Smith. Call 720-258-3535 for tickets.
Tea ‘n’ Tunes is the theme for an April 20 gathering of the Fine Arts Foundation. Representatives from the Jefferson Symphony Orchestra and Opera Colorado will entertain at the 1 p.m. event held at The Cedars, the Cherry Hills Village home of Don and Arlene Mohler Johnson. Details are available from Becky Barcheski (303-693-4958) or Marj Wise (303-771-4887).
University Hospital’s new president and chief executive officer, Bruce Schroffel, and his wife, Lorrie, were introduced to a host of local VIPs when Ernie and Sharon Magness Blake hosted a reception for them at Shadowlands, the Blakes’ home in Cherry Hills Village.
Society editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jmdpost@aol.com.
