OTLPA Hall of Famer Inductee!

2010 Hall of Famer DON PETERSON

Mr. Announcer Extraordinaire - The Voice of OTL

Don Peterson has been the voice of OTL for as long as we can remember and has been the Chair of the OMBAC OTL Committee for just about as long. 2010 will mark his 43rd year as the OTL event Chairman. It is because of his awesome leadership skills that the sport of OTL has outgrown the sands of Mission Beach to the shores of Mariners Point, and then expanded to Fiesta Island where it is played today. OTL would not be the same without his voice. He's everyone's favorite Announcer!

It's always interesting to find out what team will name themselves after "the Announcer" making him say funny things about himself as he calls himself up on the next court. He always loves it as soon as "The Announcer's a Queer" team gets eliminated from the tourney.

Not many know this, but Don saved OTL and the tournament in 1966. The police vowed to never have another tourney, when things got a bit raucous at Mission Beach. Newbie Peterson helped to patch things up with the city.

He also helped get enough votes to pooh-pooh a proposed yacht club that was to be on Mariner's Point. City Manager, John Lockwood told him that OTL did not need Mariner's as it was too small...and Don told him "No way, OTL would never get that big".

Of course, soon it did move to Fiesta Island. But we still need and use Mariner's Point for other smaller OTL tournaments and practice. A few years later, Don got a call from Lockwood asking, "Um, Don, is there anything I need to know about? I'm getting reports of bulldozers on Fiesta Island". Using his attorney skills, he told Lockwood "Not to worry, it's just some Cal Trans crews testing their equipment".

As Helen Duffy says, "NO ONE has done as much as Don to advance the tournament and the game. Imagine if you will, negotiating all the
OMBAC and player egos AND the land mines that the city puts up. It's
unbelievable, and he really deserves all the kudos and more that come his way. "

Don's another great guy that we all love a lot too, and the game we know just wouldn't be the same without him. When he decides to retire his voice, we will all be sad.

-- J. Hatch, OTLPA, 04-24-10
(some excerpts from 2003 OMBAC program)

As another infamous OMBACer Chuck Millenbah once said, "But, it was that other old Geezer, a calfless, no butted toothpick who used to have a purple beard, Don Peterson, who took me to my first World Championship Over the Line tournament."