May 6, 2018
The 8th Annual Golden Bagel Awards honored four outstanding members of the community who have, through sports and other endeavors, made significant contributions to the quality of life in the Bay Area. The event was presented at Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City.
This interesting, fun, and informative event is an opportunity to recognize activists who are deserving of recognition — the synagogue athletic coach, the sponsor of an all-Jewish team, a volunteer referee — the unsung heroes who have made contributions to the Jewish community.
Please join us in honoring:
The Golden Bagel Award is an honor bestowed upon those who have made a significant contribution to our community who have, through sports, made significant contributions to the quality of life in our Bay Area.
The award ceremony is always a joyous occasion and includes an array of bagelicious food, beverages, and a ton of fun. The morning’s festivities support the Northern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame’s Student Scholarship Program.
The Golden State Warriors have named Joanne Pasternack Executive Director of the Warriors Community Foundation and Vice President of Community Relations. She will oversee the Warriors Community Foundation and all day to day management of the Warriors community relations efforts.
Pasternack will report to the Warriors Chief Operating Officer, Rick Welts. “Joanne has a proven track record in building and growing foundations and knowledge of the Bay Area community that will be a tremendous asset in her role with us,” said Welts. “Since our ownership group took over in 2012, the Warriors Community Foundation has done a fantastic job giving back to our community and has provided over $7 million in grants to Bay Area youth. We know with Joanne’s experience, we will be able to continue to increase our overall impact through philanthropic investment and outreach while continuing to deepen our connection with our incredible Bay Area community.”
Pasternack joins the Warriors most recently from the San Francisco 49ers where she served as Vice President and Executive Director of Community Relations and the 49ers Foundation, overseeing fundraising and community relations programming to enhance the 49ers Foundation’s mission of keeping kids “Safe, on Track, and in School.” While at the 49ers, Pasternack was responsible for increasing annual revenue into the 49ers Foundation from of $1.5 million to $4.6 million and oversaw all day to day management of the community relations department.
Steve Robinson has been the boys’ and girls’ golf coach at Lincoln High School in San Francisco since 2004. Steve has served as an ambassador for golf, exposing many Lincoln students to the sport. Steve is also an excellent coach for experienced players. He has been able to guide and support a number of fine golfers – some of whom have played in college.
Steve has also done vital work outside of Lincoln. He has spent several summers teaching with the First Tee of San Francisco, which introduces the game of golf and its values to children. He also currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Golden Gate Park Golf Course. Steve has used his ties to the First Tee, Lincoln Park, Golden Gate Park, and the Lake Merced Golf courses to cultivate a number of junior golfers.
When he’s not involved in golf, Steve serves as a Special Education teacher at Lincoln High School. He’s worked with the Mayor’s office and with Jewish Vocational Services to train and find careers for a number of his students.
Steve has been a champion of our youth, and his work in golf has played a large role in the lives of many students.
Coach Pollock has vast experience as an athlete and a coach. In high school, Pollock was a three-year starter on the soccer team and captained the Pioneer High School state champion swim team in 1984.
In college, he played on the Cornell University sprint football team, after which he spent 17 years playing competitive club soccer in southeast Michigan.
He began his club diving coaching career in 1984, and took over the job at his old high school in 1992. He was a three-time Michigan High School Diving Coach of the Year, and in 2003 earned the prestigious Bruce Harlan Award for continued leadership, contributions, and service to Michigan High School diving. Among his divers were five individual state champions and 13 All-American champions, several of whom went on to compete at the collegiate level.
He continued coaching diving after moving to California in 2005, working with the Stanford age-group program and students at Gunn and Palo Alto High Schools in Palo Alto. Coach Pollock coached age-group travel soccer for four years in Ann Arbor, overseeing the team’s rise from third division to first division. After becoming the soccer coach at JCHS, he guided the Wolves to an overall winning record between 2005 and 2012 and in 2016, he coached the Boys Soccer team to a championship in the Private School Athletic League.
Amy Wender-Hoch is the President of the Wender Weis Foundation. WWFC has raised funds for more than twenty years, and creates awareness for well-vetted charitable organizations that provide assistance to at-risk kids. WWFC donates proceeds from their fundraising efforts to various outreach programs, which provide children with opportunities to build their confidence and skills. WWFC’s mission is to improve children’s self-esteem and self-confidence. The Wender Weis Foundation for Children is a publicly supported philanthropic organization with the goal of enhancing the lives of youth today for a brighter tomorrow.