HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Sunkist Invitational
OR:
Sunkist Invitational on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

The Los Angeles Invitational was an elite level indoor track meet, held in the Los Angeles Sports Arena in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
. For 25 years (1970 to 1995) the event was sponsored by the hometown
Sunkist Growers, Incorporated Sunkist Growers, Incorporated, branded as Sunkist in 1909, is an American citrus growers' non-stock membership cooperative composed of over 1,000 members from California and Arizona headquartered in Valencia, California. Through 31 offices in ...
who assumed title sponsorship and the event was known as the Sunkist Invitational. The meet was promoted by Al Franken (not the comedian/U.S. Senator), later with the help of his son Don under the banner of Franken Enterprises. Franken co-founded the meet along with coach Herschel Curry Smith. It was usually held in early to mid-February, was frequently televised nationally, and was an elite level stop between the Millrose Games and the
USA Indoor Track and Field Championships The USA Indoor Track and Field Championships is an annual indoor track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. In years which feature a World Indoor Championships i ...
. In addition to attracting the top elite athletes which dominated the evening schedule, it was an all day event featuring the top high school runners (all running unattached to conform to CIF rules), just before the official track season began. The event was cancelled before its 44th edition in 2004, due to lack of sponsorship. Before its demise, it claimed to be the second longest running indoor track meet in the United States. They also claim 105 Olympic gold medalists among their alumni and many other elite athletes participated in the meet. Several still standing World, American and other national records were set at the meet.


References

{{US track and field competitions Recurring sporting events established in 1960 Track and field competitions in California Sports competitions in Los Angeles Annual sporting events in the United States 1960 establishments in California