Macalpin Puts Palisades on Map

Sunset League Star Shines at USA Bocce Federation National Championships

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

If it is true that practice makes perfect, then the sky’s the limit for Memo Macalpin. Making his debut at the U.S. Bocce National Championships in Boston, he did the Palisades proud while helping  his team to fifth place in the Open B Division at the Methuen Sons of Italy Lodge outside of Boston.

“We made it to the Elite Eight, I played the best bocce of my life, I had a lot of eyes on me and I had a ton of fun,” Macalpin said. “What an experience!”

A Palisades Bocce Club player since its inaugural season in spring 2021, the 48-year-old from Santa Monica witnessed the best of the best in action and he believes the competition at Veterans Gardens is as fierce as anywhere.

“The skill of our players in the Palisades is amazing,” Macalpin said. “Measuring it against what I saw back East, we can compete on a national level. It’s a testament to [founder] Jimmy Dunne and what he’s built here. By my own eyes, we have a world class community of players. I’m proof of that!”

The gregarious Macalpin was the rookie of the foursome which he nicknamed The Red Crush—a moniker his teammates felt fitting.     

“I’d never met any of them but we got long great,” he said. “They took me to dinner, showed me the sights. I’m a t-shirt and shorts kind of guy but there you have to wear pants and a collared shirt. I’m not a uniform person but the dress code people called me Golden Boy because of my shoes. I was accepted from then on. We were trying to come up with a team name and I thought of  my cousin who just recovered from cancer. He’s the football coach at Southeastern University and they’re called the Fire so I saidhow about Red Crush and they all said that sounds intimidating, let’s do it!”

For his introduction to big time bocce he was matched with Fior Almante, a 2019 gold medalist at the Bocce Nationals; former Pan Am Games player Sheila Clarke and her husband Carl, who served as team captain.

“We played in a 10,000-square -foot indoor facility and what I learned is that every lane has its own personality,” Macalpin said.

“The difference there is they have temperature controlled air conditioning whereas here when it’s hot out the track is fast and when it’s cold, the track is slower. It’s tougher here because we have to factor in the weather conditions.”

Each team at Nationals played four games and based on record the eight best moved to the knockout stage. After dropping its first game, The Red Crush won their remaining three group play games thanks to a change in strategy.

“I was nervous going in and our first game everyone played horribly,” Macalpin confessed. “We were far to conservative or careful.

After that each of us played how we do individually and we mopped the floor with the next three teams. I like to play the rails, not down the middle and I like to play deep and I nailed every shot!”

The Red Crush ultimately lost 10-8 to the team that won it all.

“I was on the younger side out there,” Macalpin said. “Fior was  in her early 50s and the couple were in their mid-70s. There were a lot of younger men on the other teams and they were big boys. The atmosphere was terrific and despite the fact we all wanted to win everyone displayed the finest sportsmanship. When another team did something amazing there was high-fiving and congratulations all around.”

For Macalpin, the three courts at the Palisades Recreation Center faciliy became his fortress of solitude during the latter phase of the pandemic. He is friends with Jim Kirtley, Palisades-Malibu YMCA Executive Director, and while he was furloughed during COVID-19 he was offered an opportunity to help. In fact, he still volunteers for summer camps at Simon Meadow.     

“One day I walked over to the Farmers Market and they’d set up a booth with Carlyn Peterson and she signed me up,” Macalpin recalled.
“I decided to play and now I’m there all the time.”

A member and scorekeeper for BB Legends in the Sunset League, Macalpin helped his squad to a 5-1 record in the summer of 2021, a 4-1 mark in the autumn of 2021 and a 4-2 ledger in the spring of 2022. Although  BB Legends have yet to win the championship,  they did beat reigning titleholder Pali Dad Bod in their first season.

Macalpin, who works in the entertainment industry as head of casting for Influential, the largest influencer marketing company in the world. He was a wrestler from the ages of 14 to 27, starting as a 106-pounder at Riordan High in San Francisco, then becoming an amateur and pro wrestler at 190.   

He went to  San Jose State, worked full-time and went to a wrestling academy at night. He is an alum of All Pro Wrestling, a professional wrestling promotion and training school based in Hayward, California founded by Roland Alexander.

Now, Macalpin is passionate  about a new sport and he considers himself fortunate to have trained with BB Legends teammate Betsy Borden.

“I’m on the courts three to six times per week for several hours,” he said. “I’ve played and played with Betsy from June 2021 to the present and I owe a lot to her. She taught me scenarios and scoring. My  birthday was June 3 and she gifted me a bocce laser pointer. How cool is that? If not for bocce, where would people in their 40s and 70s become good friends? It unites us because anybody of any age can learn the game.”

Macalpin wore his BB Legends uniform proudly in Boston with a patch on the arm paying homage  to his hometown team.

“I not only love this sport, I want to be an advocate for it,” he said. “I’m so proud I was able to represent the Palisades at Nationals and put our club on the map. It just so happens that it was me, but it could’ve been anyone. Folks back there called me the Golden Boy and bad boy of bocce. I like that!”

Reinvigorated by his cross country trip to a new bocce land, he dreams of going back. Next time, though, he wants company.

“I’ve already reached out to my Palisades Bocce community,” he said. “My objective is to compete in the 2023 U.S. Bocce National Championships in Chicago on team made up of Palisades players. I already have the players picked, I just need to convince them. I’m going to fundraise the money myself.”     

At the spring postseason party, Macalpin was one of three recipients of the Palisades Bocce Club’s Martini Award, given to a selfless individual filled with passion, talent and willingness to make a difference in the community. The award honors Mike Martini, one of the most beloved Senior League players.   

“We have really strong players,” said Macalpin, who put together a team named Acapulco for the summer, consisting of camp directors. “And in my personal opinion, our Senior League is even deadlier.”

Energized by his maiden performance at the U.S. Bocce National Championships, Macalpin has set three new goals for himself—all of which he feels are achievable.      

“First and foremost I want to win the Sunset League championship, secondly I’d like to bring a Palisades team to the National Championships and third I’d like to play in the Pan American Games,” he said.