So you think holding season tickets, setting your homepage to
espn.com, or even forgoing shaving until your team wins the title
makes you a sports fanatic?
Then ask yourself when’s the last time you would go to a
women’s tennis practice and shag balls, or take a city bus
from the Coliseum to the Rose Bowl just to catch a USC and a UCLA
football game on the same day.
Needless to say, most people do not have the time to be the
sports fanatic Lee H. Ravitz is. After holding a job as a machine
operator at Lighting Parts Inc. for 26 years, Ravitz was laid off
over a year ago because of the slowing economy and has not been
able to find permanent employment since. Although always an avid
sports fan, he has been on a crusade recently, digesting just about
every professional and collegiate sport in person on almost a daily
basis.
“I’m doing all the weekday activities I
couldn’t do if I was at work,” the 53-year-old Ravitz
said.
Although his favorite sports are football, baseball and
basketball, Ravitz’s devotion to the smaller sports such as
softball, tennis and volleyball distinguishes him from the rest of
the crowd.
“When he’s not around, it’s like, “˜Where
is he?'” women’s tennis coach Stella Sampras
Webster said. “He knows a lot about UCLA, and our entire team
knows him and feels comfortable around him.”
However, his interest in the smaller sports separates Ravitz
from the average fan. Twenty years ago, Ravitz moved into the Ogden
Manner Guest Home in West Hollywood, which cares for those with
autism and trains them for employment.
According to administrator Allan Samson, Ravitz is on the higher
functioning end of those with autism, which can impair
socialization skills. Ravitz displays none of these signs as a
spectator, frequently approaching the visiting team’s players
after games and asking them nonchalantly for their autographs.
“Lee has conquered the biggest fear people like him
have,” Samson said. “He has a love of activities where
he finds independence and is as nice and appropriate as can
be.”
Although a regular at nighttime and weekend events since moving
into the house, he has taken his obsession to a new level now that
he has extra time to frequent the afternoon matches.
“He attends more activities in one week than most people
will in half a year,” Samson said.
On a typical day, Ravitz wakes up at 9 a.m., eats breakfast and
then takes an MTA bus to campus.
“Most clients who live there are not as independent as
me,” Ravitz said in explaining why he travels solo.
“I can’t take responsibility for them.”
Oddly enough, the campus Ravitz arrives at is not always UCLA.
Although it is difficult to find a home UCLA sporting event where
he is absent, Ravitz is not just a loyal Bruin fan. He will
sometimes take the bus to USC or even Pepperdine if that is where
the most intriguing game is to be found. Strange how the fan who
has taken in more UCLA sporting events than Captain Helmet is not
even a Bruin at heart.
“I’ve always been a believer in “˜may the best
team win,'” Ravitz said in reference to his divided
loyalties to the local teams. “It’s too hard to pick
favorites when the rivals meet head to head.”
When he arrives at UCLA, usually around 11 a.m., Ravitz will
stroll around the campus and stop in at the Cooperidge, absorbing
the college atmosphere he never experienced. Once the afternoon
events get under way, he’s there at the start, dressed in
suit and tie.
“I like to look nice for the girls,” Ravitz said
unabashedly explaining his attire.
While taking in a tennis match, Ravitz shows no emotion,
appreciating the high level of play, but seemingly indifferent
towards the outcome. After the match ends and he has collected his
desired autographs, he is still not ready to retire back to Ogden.
Ravitz sticks around campus if there are any basketball or
volleyball games scheduled, eager to take in all the activities he
possibly can.
“He’s been following us forever,”
women’s basketball head coach Kathy Olivier said. “He
can rattle off all the numbers and is at every game, win or
lose.”
Following so many different teams and sports, conflicts present
themselves regularly for Ravitz.
However, he does not seem terribly torn between having to
choosing one sporting event at the expense of another, simply
explaining that he goes to the game that is easiest to make or has
playoff implications. Additionally, he does leave some sports out
of his daily diet, citing golf, bowling, boxing and auto racing as
sports he can live without.
“If I wanted to watch cars running around in circles, I
could go see that on a freeway for free.”
With college sports on hiatus during the summer, the
professional sports world fulfills Ravitz’s sports
appetite.
“There’s not as much activity in the summer, but
I’ll pay some visits to Dodger Stadium,” he says,
referring to his favorite venue where he saw Kirk Gibson’s
game winning home run in Game One of the 1988 World Series.
Ravitz has also been to the last two Super Bowls at the Rose
Bowl and annually attends the Rose Bowl game and Parade. He has
seemingly been to all the major sports venues in Los Angeles and if
the city opted to build a new stadium for a professional football
team, he’d likely be there to monitor the construction.
In spite of his deep passion and knowledge for sports, his
interests do extend beyond the subject. He is an avid consumer of
the performing arts, rattling off recent shows he has taken in at
the L.A. Philharmonic and the autographs he collected there. It is
the conflicts between these shows and sports that weigh most
heavily on him when choosing which event to attend.
“We get the feeling he lives underneath the
Pavilion,” said Jim Payne, house manager of the Dorothy
Chandler Pavilion. “He introduces himself when he comes in
every time and shakes everybody’s hand.”
Although Ravitz will continue to be a regular at his usual
nighttime affairs, his options for which weekday events to frequent
next year will likely be minimized.
He is close to securing employment in Glendale as a maintenance
worker at a pharmaceutical company, which would occupy his weekdays
from 7 a.m.-3 p.m.
“I wouldn’t be disappointed because I need the money
to survive,” Ravitz said. “It will keep me busy so I
can keep doing all my weeknight and weekend activities.”