34th ANNUAL L.A. WATTS SUMMER GAMES HEADED UP BY VOLUNTEER CHAIRMAN,
CRAIG MOBLEY

LOS ANGELES - Craig Mobley has been selected as the 2001 LA Watts Summer Games Chairman by the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce. The appointment comes with the cache of heading up the largest high school competition in the nation. Mobley will help direct the tournament, which involves more than 7,000 high school students, 200 schools and 400 plus teams from throughout Southern California. Craig is also responsible for leading the 70 person volunteer steering committee that implements the seventeen boys and girls sports tournament. As Chairman, Craig also serves on the advisory and scholarship committees, which direct the Games' long-range strategic plans and $42,000 scholarship allocation respectively.
Craig has been a part of the Games for many years serving as a Site Coordinator and Area Supervisor. His love for the Games encouraged him to serve as the Chairman, focusing on bringing communities together in accomplishing the spirit and the mission of the Games.

Raised in South Carolina, Craig graduated as an honor student from Chester High School in Chester, South Carolina. Active in many sports, he earned a full basketball scholarship to Clemson University as the first black athlete on a full athletic scholarship.
He graduated from Clemson University with a Bachelors of Science in Chemistry and minor in Physics. He then worked as a research Chemist for Minnesota, Mining, and Manufacturing Company (better known as 3M), where research on non-woven industrial tapes lead to such products as hospital masks, dust masks, duct tape, and many other non-woven tapes used in construction and medicine.

Craig received a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force and was promoted to Major. He served as a space radar operator for several years before earning two masters degrees, one in Business Administration and the other in System Management. His military experience provided an opportunity to coach military basketball teams, and this experience transferred over to Middlesex Community College, in Massachusetts where he coached both men's and women's Junior College Basketball.

Craig's love for sports and volunteerism led him to the Special Olympics in Boston, where he helped organize the event. He also participated as a coach and later an organizer for the Massachusetts Bay State Games, which are similar to the Watts Summer Games. He joined the coaching staff at Washington Preparatory High School in Los Angeles for the 1999-2000 season where the team participated in the city playoffs and won the Marine League both years. He is the owner Magna Enterprises Construction.

"The Watts Summer Games allows me the opportunity to do what I love, enjoy sports and the camaraderie that exists in sports. One of the unique components of the Games is that it exposes teams and families to other high schools and communities that would never be scheduled to meet and play in the regular high school athletic calendar. So, it is easy to
volunteer for the Games because it is a unifier and allows many diverse individuals with varying backgrounds to work on some common goals. Building Bridges of Understanding is not some hollow statement, but a meaningful message that must be continued, effectively", says Craig.

L.A. Watts Summer Games will be held on June 2, 3, 9 &10 at L.A. Southwest College, Cerritos 16 Los Angeles High Schools. For detailed schedules and additional information, log on to www.lajcc.org.

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