On Mike Lansing’s second day as executive director of San Pedro’s Boys and Girls Club, the headquarters on 13th Street and Cabrillo Avenue had flooded.
Leaks from old skylights inside the gymnasium brought a winter storm indoors, and the wood floors were soaked. It was Tuesday, January 3, 1995.
“It was pouring rain in the gym because they had these old chicken-wire skylights,” recalls Lansing, 68. “Two of them had broken, and it was literally raining in the gym. That was my initiation into the club. I said, ‘Okay, we’ve got some work to do here.’”
Cut to 30 years later, and Lansing’s legacy—the “work,” as he put it—is as inspiring as it is impressive.
The list of achievements that have positively impacted thousands of young lives through his leadership puts Lansing in dignified company along with other San Pedro legends, whose names adorn the town’s streets, parks, and buildings and whose life’s work will be felt for generations to come.
Lansing (third from left) at the B&GC of San Pedro Teen Center groundbreaking in 1999. (photo: courtesy Mike Lansing / Boy & Girls Clubs of the L.A. Harbor)
That’s why, when Lansing announced he was retiring at the end of the year, many friends and colleagues were both surprised (because no one thought he’d ever leave) and thankful for his dedication to serving San Pedro’s youth.
“Mike is truly one of San Pedro’s finest,” says Augie Bezmalinovich, community affairs advocate for the Port of Los Angeles. “I’ve known him for most of my life, and he has always been a fighter for our youth.”
“Mike has been a key figure in our community, not just because of his notable work but also due to his genuine dedication to helping others,” says Yadira Agredano, fine arts coordinator and instructor at the Boys & Girls Clubs of the L.A. Harbor. “His leadership and vision have had a huge impact on our shared journey, motivating us to seize opportunities and embrace change.”
NATIVE SON
Lansing is one of a dying breed in San Pedro: a born-and-raised, second-generation San Pedran who’s spent his life’s work serving his hometown.
His grandparents on both sides emigrated from Europe and settled in San Pedro. His father was an electrician with the ILWU Local 11 for 29 years.
Lansing playing ninth grade football at Fermin Lasuen. (photo: courtesy Mike Lansing)
“My family, all my cousins and relatives, mainly all live here in San Pedro or up on the hill,” says Lansing. “This has been my home my whole life. It’s a great place.”
Growing up one of three children, Lansing had, as he describes it, a typical San Pedro childhood in the 1960s and ‘70s. He attended Holy Trinity School through eighth grade, spent freshman year at Fermin Lasuen, and graduated from San Pedro High in 1974.
Although he loved athletics, he didn’t succeed much in high school. He broke his finger during his sophomore year, had a less-than-stellar tennis performance as a junior, and, even though he was tall, he didn’t make the varsity basketball team as a senior.
“Athletics was huge for me,” says Lansing. “I wasn’t that good, but it was something I loved. It made me realize that I didn’t try hard enough. I think it helped me later on.”
Lansing as a physical education teacher at Holy Trinity in 1982. (photo: courtesy Mike Lansing)
In the early 1980s, while at California State University, Long Beach, Holy Trinity hired him as their physical education coach. He eventually earned his teaching credential from California State University, Dominguez Hills and spent 14 years teaching math and coaching at Holy Trinity, bookending a three-year stint as athletic director and coach at Mary Star High School.
“That wasn’t the plan,” he recalls. “I was going to go into business. I was going to own a sporting goods store. I earned my degree in business finance, but then fate offered me a chance to coach and teach at Holy Trinity, which changed my life’s path.”
In 1988, he founded the San Pedro Youth Coalition, a volunteer organization that supports and advocates for the needs of San Pedro’s youth. He served as its president for a decade.
“I worked with Mel Bobich, a great mentor and great guy,” says Lansing. “The coalition was instrumental in getting the new gymnasium at Peck Park and Field of Dreams [built]. Bobich was the driving force behind that. He was just awesome.”
CLUB KID GROWS UP
Established in 1937 by the Civitan Club of San Pedro, the Boys Club had one mission: to lure kids off the streets to a more positive environment, primarily through sports and activities. Lansing first stepped foot in the club in 1964 at his father’s insistence.
“I started going when I was seven-ish,” recalls Lansing. “I left when I was 13, because [the club] didn’t have any teen programming back in the day.”
By 1995, Lansing was already heavily involved in the club, having volunteered and served on its board of directors. So, when Ray Martinez, the club’s executive director at the time, decided to retire, he asked Lansing to apply for the position.
“When I applied, I said there are three things I want to focus on,” explains Lansing. “First, we must serve teens with impactful programs and pathways. Second, we need more sites to serve more kids. Third, we must have comprehensive programming prioritizing academic support, comprehensive arts, and athletics. I called it our Triple A program.”
Under his leadership, the Boys and Girls Club of San Pedro has grown from a single club serving a small group of mostly young children to 25 clubs stretching across the Harbor Area, serving 2,800 students daily from Pre-K through high school, including a second San Pedro location at the Port of Los Angeles that opened in 2001.
Lansing with College Bound students. (photo: John Mattera Photography)
He’s spearheaded successful programs like College Bound, resulting in a 98 percent high school graduation rate, and Career Bound, a new program helping non-college students learn workforce skills, engage in paid internships, and secure employment upon high school graduation. Besides academic centers and fine arts/music programs at each of their 25 sites, his Clubs now include four fully dedicated teen centers, two industry-standard recording studios, an innovation center, and a recently finished podcast studio.
Seeing how much the club has expanded in three decades (their annual operating budget has grown from $270,000 to over $16 million), one would assume mission accomplished, but for Lansing, there’s always more work to do.
“I said we have two simple mantras. One is ‘kids first,’ and the second is ‘more,’” he explains. “How do we serve more? How do we impact programming more? How do we transfer those alumni and get more of them to come back and become youth development professionals? So ‘more’ has been our one-word strategic plan, for lack of a better term. And it’s worked.”
CALLING IT A DAY
Thirty years after he walked through the doors on Cabrillo Avenue, Lansing has decided to call it a day. The teen center he helped establish at the San Pedro club in 1999 now bears his name, the Mike Lansing College Bound Center. While bittersweet, he’s confident he’s leaving the organization in a good place.
“It was a tough decision, but I figured it was probably time for new leadership,” he says. “We have a great board. We have unbelievable staff. We have fantastic investors. But it will take more just to sustain what we’re doing because the cost of doing business will be more, and there will be more kids and young adults to serve.”
His successor is Peter Settelmayer, who led a charter school in San Jose before becoming the club’s CEO on August 1. Lansing will stay on until the end of the year to help with the transition.
“Pete is a great guy. I’m confident he will do a great job,” says Lansing.
As far as retirement goes, Lansing has no plans to slow down. While he says he’s looking forward to spending more time with his wife Veronica and their family and friends, he still plans on staying involved with the Boys & Girls Clubs in some form and would like to consult with other nonprofits. He’s also hoping to work with Scott Lane to revive the San Pedro Youth Coalition, which has been dormant since the pandemic.
Anthony Pirozzi, Jr., a friend and former L.A. harbor commissioner, says the positive impact of Lansing’s leadership has a lasting ripple effect.
“Mike has demonstrated what leadership looks like through his selfless acts of putting others first,” he says. “That ego doesn’t matter; humility does. For standing up against adversity and doing what’s right. The fact that he’s just a ‘Pedro kid’ shows that even though you’re from a small town, you don’t have to leave to do great things.” spt