Networking for charities

In the parking lot of a golf course once home to the likes of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, Paul Salata networked in Toluca Lake on Wednesday.

The founder of Irrelevant Week handed out literature about Ryan Succop. The last player selected in April’s NFL Draft — 256th by the Kansas City Chiefs — has it hard as it is. He’s a kicker and his last name is pronounced “suck-up.� No celebrity playing at Lakeside Golf Club was going to think that’s cool.

“Who defies greater odds?� Salata asked. “Some people ask me if kickers are really football players.�

Whatever position Mr. Irrelevant aspires to play in the NFL — quarterback, safety or benchwarmer — Salata has represented the underdog on and off the field for the past 34 years.

Newport Beach plays host to the four-day event starting Monday. The player might be irrelevant, the causes the event supports are not.

Salata said proceeds from Irrelevant Week go to organizations like Serving People In Need, which helps homeless people in Orange County, and Wheels 2 Water, which assists people suffering from spinal cord injuries.

“In the 33 years before this year, we’ve raised over a $1 million,� Salata said of the total going to more than two dozen organizations. “It’s better than zero and it’s made a lot of people happy.�

The goal this year, Salata said, is to raise $25,000.

Salata and his daughter, Melanie Salata-Fitch, who runs the show, are hard at work. The rest of the staff, which includes mostly graduate students, or what Salata likes to call, “apprentices.�

At 5:30 p.m. is the arrival party at Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort & Marina, the kickoff of Irrelevant Week’s Super Bowl.

Unlike the big corporate sponsors the Super Bowl attracts, Salata hits anybody up for a donation, even in a parking lot.

There’s a reason the 82-year-old went to Toluca Lake to join his good friend, Peter Ueberroth, at the Southern California Sports Broadcasters luncheon at Lakeside Golf Club.

Ueberroth talked about a variety of topics, the 25th anniversary of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles to performance-enhancing drugs in sports.

One item Ueberroth left out was Mr. Irrelevant. Salata was OK with that. It was his turn to speak, of all places, in the parking lot.

Salata might have regretted telling a bunch of broadcasters, producers and directors about Succop. Quite a few of them, Salata said, are out of work.

“Unfortunately, they have lost their job due to the economic crisis,� Salata said. “They can still cover Irrelevant Week, though.�

Where Salata said he might have drummed up more support that day for Succop was at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. More than 100,000 people tried to get into the same stadium where his friend Ueberroth served as the organizer of the 1984 Olympic Games.

This time, the Los Angeles Lakers held center stage. Fans quickly filled the place to celebrate an NBA championship won.

On his drive to Toluca Lake, Salata knew something was up because of the excess traffic. He thought of a clever marketing tool for Succop.

“I saw a lot of those Laker flags� hanging off car windows, he said, before envisioning Mr. Irrelevant flags.

If Salata had some Wednesday, he would’ve had the valet guy install the flags on the cars belonging to celebrities.

Can you get better coverage for Irrelevant Week than seeing a Succop hounded by the paparazzi?