
Point Loman Eric Graves will be at the helm of two of San Diego’s biggest sporting events in 2010. Last month, Graves was elected president of the San Diego Bowl Game Association, which includes the 2010 Pacific Life Holiday Bowl and San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl games. “For the people on that board to nominate me to be the president this year was quite a distinction,” Graves said, “and I’m quite honored and thrilled by the opportunity to serve the two bowls.” Graves joined the San Diego Bowl Game Association Committee in 1993 and was appointed to its board of directors in 2001. As president, he will coordinate all of the board meetings, represent the bowls in the community and oversee the nearly 150 volunteers associated with them this calendar year. “I just want to keep the momentum and the tradition of excellence intact,” Graves said. “We have an absolute stellar reputation in this community for having put on 32 Holiday Bowl games that have just been extraordinarily exciting — with the exception of last year, which was the first shutout we had in 32 years.” Graves said the bowls have reached new agreements with the Big 12, Pac-10 and Mountain West conferences to continue their participation in the coming years. He said the most notable change this year could come to the game’s name. “We are in the process of naming a new title sponsor,” Graves said. “That’s also a great opportunity for us, to introduce a new title sponsor to our bowl family.” The Holiday Bowl puts on numerous events during the year, including the Outrigger Challenge and Luau at Mission Bay, Hoops at the Beach at Crown Point, the Golf Classic and the Wiener Nationals. Those events support both bowl games. “Ask anybody in the college football business and they will tell you that the Holiday Bowl is truly one of America’s most exciting bowl games,” Graves said. “We work very hard to maintain that tradition.” Graves, 61, has worked in sales at KFMB Radio for the last 28 years. He currently resides with his wife, Nancy, in Point Loma, where the two lived for 27 years and raised three children. “I love Point Loma. It is a wonderful community and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else,” Graves said. “I love being a Point Loma resident.”
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