Danny Gonzalez of the Pico Barber Shop won the Nov. 9 celebrity poker tournament at South on Wilshire to benefit Santa Monica High School baseball team, which raised about $17,500 for the program.
“It was about a third of what I was hoping to make and half of last year,” said baseball coach Sheldon Philip-Guide of the fundraiser. “It was still a very successful event but unfortunately we still have a lot of work to do. We are going to have other fundraisers”
Gonzalez took home a 42” flat screen TV for his winning the tournament. Retired Major League Baseball outfielder Kenny Lofton and current MLB free agent Derrek Lee were among the other notable attendees at the second annual event, organized by actor and Samohi athletics booster Tony Todd.
“To run a successful baseball program is almost as much as running a football team.”
Also in attendance were actress Deirdre Hall from “Days of Our Lives” and recent Samohi graduate Cody Decker, who plays in the San Diego Padres organization.
