If you’ve gone to a Spring Training game, you have encountered the fantastic Mesa HoHoKams. They are the wonderful volunteer organization that is dedicated to making every Spring Training season a wonderful experience for all the fans. It’s their members and volunteers that are running the gate, handling parking, selling programs, ushering the stands, running the raffles. They’re the heartbeat to Spring Training.
They are also the people who brought Spring Training to Mesa. In 1951, Dwight Patterson along with thirty-four other businessmen, ranchers, farmers, and Mesa locals banded together to make a difference and impact in Arizona. This year marks seventy-five years of service to Mesa and to Spring Training and their partnership with the Cubs and the Athletics are a tribute to the work of those thirty-four men decades ago.
It doesn’t end with Spring Training though. The HoHoKams sponsor and donate half a million dollars to youth sports and other non-profits in the East Valley through their fundraising efforts. In the beginning, they raised funds by renting seat cushions for the wooden benches at the stadiums!
The HoHoKams are committed to empowering the athletic dreams of the next generation. They are deeply invested in youth athletic success, sponsoring city championship games across sports like tennis, golf, unified track and field, cross country, and a few more. The HoHoKams, in partnership with the Cubs, have also been supporting baseball and softball field renovations across Mesa high schools.
Over the past seventy-five years the Mesa HoHoKams have grown from the original thirty-five that worked so hard to get the Cubs to Mesa. Today, the Mesa HoHoKams have one hundred and sixty members. Members are the ones who are leading committees, propelling the groups, and committing to being at seventy-five percent of the organization’s events throughout the year. That equals about nineteen Spring Training games in a thirty-day period if you were wondering. There are still events outside of Spring Training too. Something to know about the members of the Mesa HoHoKams is that a majority of them are local business owners and working professionals. They are dedicated to the mission and the impact the HoHoKams make on the community, juggling the commitments well and with a smile. There are also about one hundred and fifty volunteers with the Mesa HoHoKams. The commitment level for volunteers is less than a member, which makes this a more approachable way to serve—anybody can be a volunteer.
The Mesa HoHoKams is an organization that has been dedicated to investing into the community from the start. First by bringing Spring Training to Mesa, growing and evolving to where they bring the best fan experience to the Cubs and the Athletics Spring Training games, and now they give back, empowering the athletic dreams of the next generation through generous donations to youth sports and other local nonprofits. It’s no wonder that the City of Mesa proclaimed February 17th be Mesa HoHoKam day in honor of the 75th anniversary of the Mesa HoHoKams.
Now they give back, empowering the athletic dreams of the next generation through generous donations to youth sports