HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA PAL
50 Years Building Bonds
California PAL was started by two police officers, Lt. Charlie Ellis with the San Francisco Police Department and Officer Jim Guido with the San Jose Police Department. In 1971 there were only five police departments in California that provided PAL programs: San Francisco, Vallejo, Richmond, Oakland and San Jose. These departments first started the same type of youth programs as the very successful police departments on the east coast, such as New York City PAL, Yonkers New York PAL, Hoboken PAL in New Jersey and Nassau County PAL on Long Island, New York.
Lt. Ellis, who had established the Joe DiMaggio Baseball Leagues with the New York Yankee’s second baseman future Hall of Famer, first organized with other officers he met to establish organized tournaments. With the help of Officer Jim Guido and three other officers from around the state, an organization was established that would promote activities sponsored by law enforcement agencies called “California Police Activities League.”
The founders decided to change the PAL name from “Athletic” to “Activities” as they envisioned more programs than just those in athletics.
California PAL then became the first State PAL in the country. Although California PAL membership for the first 18 years only grew to 15 police departments statewide, between 1990 and 2020 California PAL membership sky-rocketed to over 100 cities and counties, providing activities and tournaments to thousands of kids.
As we celebrate our 50th anniversary, over 140 cities and counties around the state are members of California PAL, the largest in the nation.
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