Paul Salata

Paul Salata is 81, yet he still knows how to have fun. Salata sat down with the Daily Pilot and talked about his favorite week of the year. Irrelevant Week in Newport Beach. The founder of the event honoring the last player chosen in the NFL Draft is ready to make David Vobora, a linebacker from the University of Idaho, feel like the No. 1 pick and not No. 252. The party kicks off at 5 p.m. Monday, when Mr. Irrelevant XXXIII will be showered with gifts and have a press conference at the arrival party at Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort.

The Trojan Football Alumni Club will have its 40th annual golf classic May 9 at Pelican Hill Golf Course. Paul Salata, founder of Irrelevant Week, as well as other former Trojans: Anthony Davis, Paul McDonald, Brad Budde Rodney Peete, Matt Willig, Derrick Deese, Johnnie Morton, Curtis Conway and USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett are scheduled to appear. There will also be a post golf party at the Palm Garden Ballroom, part of the Island Hotel. The alumni club will have a silent auction.

It was truly ironic that, as the moment unfolded Sunday at his home in Moscow, Idaho, David Vobora knew the pursuit of his NFL dream would become a reality well before those around him did. Vobora, who led the University of Idaho in tackles and earned first-team All-Western Athletic Conference recognition the last two seasons, was outside on the patio when the call to his cell phone came through from the St. Louis Rams, telling him they had...

QUIRKY KIRK Today’s Irrelevant Week fact: In 1976, the Pittsburgh Steelers selected the first Mr. Irrelevant, Kelvin Kirk. A press conference for him was set to kick off the inaugural event in Newport Beach, but Kirk missed his flight to Southern California. When IW founder Paul Salata learned of Kirk’s absence, he scoured the neighborhood for an impostor. And so, the event began with a Safeway butcher filling in as Mr. Irrelevant. Kirk arrived in the middle of the press conference, relieving his body double of his duties.

Paul Salata is at it again. The founder of Mr. Irrelevant and Irrelevant Week, which celebrates the NFL Draft’s final selection, is conducting a contest with a winning prize of $500. But a Newport-Mesa high school will also win, as one of the four (Corona del Mar, Costa Mesa, Estancia, Newport Harbor) will receive $1,000. Entrants guess who this year’s Mr. Irrelevant will be and with their entry they include the school they want to support. The school with the most entries will receive $1,000.

Monday was quite a day for the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines of Camp Pendleton. Thanks to the hard work and generous donations of Newport-Mesa sponsors and Newport Beach officials, the fighting troops and their families got a hefty financial boost from a golf tournament at Newport Beach Country Club. Because of my impeccable golf skills (don’t believe what publisher Tom Johnson says about my golf game), I was invited to play in a foursome. What a delight that was. Included in the foursome was Lana Johnson, the Pilot’s promotions director, and two Marines fresh from the fighting in Iraq, Gunnery Sgt. Bill Mund and Sgt. Kenneth McMillian.

NEWPORT BEACH — Done with his first national TV interview with the NFL Network, Ramzee Robinson appeared cool, no sweat to disrupt the makeup. That changed when Robinson, from a distance, saw his next seat, the one towering over hundreds at Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort & Marina. The white chair stood out as did the cool weather to this Huntsville, Ala. native. The chair was suited more for a lifeguard than the last player chosen in the 2007 NFL draft. Robinson, known as Mr. Irrelevant XXXII for being the 255th pick by the Detroit Lions, looked more terrified than thrilled about climbing to his seat.

The best way to enjoy Southern California for the first time calls for a tour guide, maps, hip clothes, shorts, lots of money, a camera, a hat, bling, trendy shades and sunscreen. Forget all of that says Ramzee Robinson, a 23-year-old native of Huntsville, Ala. Robinson, who landed in Orange County Sunday, is Mr. Irrelevant XXXII, the last player chosen in the NFL draft, and he wants his trip, well, to be relevant. So Robinson's bringing a landscaper, someone to observe the area.