About The Plaza Club
The Plaza Club is a social organization consisting of friends and colleagues. Members meet weekly for breakfast and occasionally for various social activities, events and purposes. The Club is not to be used for networking or business purposes and promotes an atmosphere free of solicitation for charitable contributions or business considerations. Membership is limited and by invitation only.
Camaraderie and friendship are the sustaining values that have maintained The Plaza Club’s vitality for more than fifty years. In addition to the breakfast meetings, which begin each Tuesday at approximately 7:30, members have engaged in any number of social activities. Among them are annual parties with spouses, cultural experiences, golf outings, sporting events, concerts, behind-the-scenes looks at local institutions and social hours hosted by individual members.
The Plaza Club speaker series is the mainstay of The Plaza Club’s life. Elected government officials and political operatives, chief executives of major corporations and entrepreneurs, educators and scientists, book authors and artists, newsmakers and news reporters, sports personalities and officials, and experts from numerous fields of endeavor have shared their unique perspectives with members.
The Plaza Club History
The Plaza Club was founded in 1964 as The Plaza Sunrise Optimist Club. Much of The Club’s early history was focused on assisting boys from disadvantaged areas of the city. Charter members included Jack Britton, Bob Carlson, Moe Corville, Ken Frashier, Keith Herrin, Monte Hobart, Bill Mantz, Bob Massman, Chuck Scott, Dick Stephens (whose father was a member of the The Plaza Optimist Club that supported the Plaza Sunrise Optimist Club formation), Frank Terrell and Jim Tyrer (a former Kansas City Chiefs star). The Club disaffiliated from Optimist International in 1968.
During its fifty-plus years, The Club has held its weekly breakfast meetings at Plaza III, the Buttonwood Tree, Woodside Racquet Club, Wolferman’s, Fedora and presently at the Classic Cup.
2023-2024 Officers
Nate Olson – President
Bill Watson – Vice President
Andrew Carlson – Treasurer
Jeff Ellis – Secretary
Leonard Popplewell – Immediate Past President
Lou Steele/Jim Huntington – Program Chairmen
Gary Brouillette – Historian
Jake McFee – Webmaster
Directors
1-YEAR Remaining (2022-23)
Paul Fogel
Paul Himmelstein
Bill Coughlin
Bill Watson
Jack Kilroy
SERVING 2-YEAR TERM (2022-24)
Bill Pratt
Kevin Barb
Bob Jackson
Ron Spradley
Andrew Carlson
The Plaza Club’s Past Presidents
- 2021-22 Jon Hile
- 2020-21 Geoff Parker
- 2019-20 Marty Peterson
- 2018-19 Paul Sinclair
- 2017-18 Roger Coldsnow
- 2016-17 Chip Osborn
- 2015-16 Mark Allen
- 2014-15 Don Proffer
- 2013-14 Paul Fogel
- 2012-13 Rick Hughey
- 2011-12 Lou Steele
- 2009-10 Hunter Wolbach
- 2008-09 Pete Story/Jim Cusser
- 2008-08 Jim Cusser/Pete Story
- 2007-08 Paul Sinclair
- 2006-07 Jim Cook
- 2005-06 Curt Watkins
- 2004-05 Geno Harrison
- 2003-04 Tom Rogge
- 2002-03 John Meara
- 2001-02 Tom Martin*
- 2000-01 Sam Colville
- 1999-00 Jeff Lanza
- 1998-99 Myron Sildon
- 1997-98 Rick Hughey
- 1996-97 Tom Gresham
- 1995-96 Eric Johnson
- 1994-95 Van Wolbach
- 1993-94 John Parker
- 1992-93 Sam Hayes
- 1991-92 Jim Wassberg
- 1990-91 Ford Brent
- 1989-90 Bud Burgess
- 1988-89 Roger Phillips*
- 1987-88 Rick Sloan
- 1986-87 Jack Fox
- 1985-86 Gary Brouillette
- 1984-85 Pat McLarney
- 1983-84 Bruce Pendleton
- 1982-83 Art Fillmore
- 1981-82 Tom Thornhill
- 1980-81 Nip Weisenfels
- 1979-80 Bob Butler*
- 1978-79 Bob Cook
- 1977-78 Bill Calkins
- 1976-77 Ed Enloe
- 1975-76 Bruce Mclelland
- 1974-75 Ed Garber*
- 1973-74 Paul Lyon
- 1971-73 Jack Britton
- 1971-72 John Morrison
- 1970-71 George Leonard*
- 1969-70 Meigs Jones
- 1968-69 Tom Burcham
- 1967-68 Jerry Fogel
- 1966-67 Frank Terrell
- 1965-66 Monty Hobart*
- 1964-65 Keith Herrin
*Deceased