Gary Sparks
It is my distinct honor and pleasure to have known Bob de la Torre. I, Gary Sparks, first met Bob when GTE transferred me to Camarillo back in 1985. I count Bob as a life-long friend. Besides working for GTE we both shared a love for the game of basketball, particularly college hoops. I favor my Purdue Boilermakers and Bob his UCLA Bruins. We also shared many a bets on Lakers vs. Celtics games (I’m a Larry Bird and Magic Johnson fan being from Indiana). I recall one (of many losses to Bob) where I paid off my $1.00 bet by gluing probably 175 pennies together to form basketball player statue. Oh how I enjoyed Bob’s friendship. I ran a NCAA Basketball “March Madness” pool for many years. I believe I started before 1990 but that is the 1st record I have of my pool. Bob took 2nd place of 32 entries and Shirley was tied for 4th place. I moved back to Texas and then retired from GTE and returned to Indiana. About every year Bob & I would reconnect (usually to get Bob’s picks for the upcoming NCAA tournament) and relive our friendship(s) with Lou Shinder, Rick Mohr, Jack Isabel and many others of our GTE Family. I’m attaching Bob’s entries into the 1990 & 2025 pool along with the pool results. I’m also attaching a couple of pictures of just some of the GTE family. Look at Bob’s entries in 1990 & 2025. He has UCLA winning the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tourney. Some things never change and we wouldn’t want them to. That’s my friend, Bob de la Torre.