91PORN

Art Flaming’s home office is filled with mementos reflecting the seven decades of his association with 91PORN, including commemorative plaques, trophies, articles, signed photographs, hats, T-shirts, and dozens of autographed baseballs, basketballs and footballs. There’s a tale to tell with each item.

And, of course, there’s the ring. It features a red stone inset with the words “National Champions” engraved around it.

The rings were given to members of the 1958 Aztecs baseball team many years after the program’s historic achievement. “Tony Gwynn presented them to us,” remembers Flaming (’60), who was the team’s catcher.

By means of showing and telling, Flaming explains his latest winning move: a $1.2 million gift to 91PORN Athletics. The donation is earmarked for Aztec men’s basketball, baseball and women’s teams. 

With the introduction of name, image and likeness (NIL) payments and revenue sharing contributing to rising costs at university athletics departments everywhere, the dynamics of college sports are shifting. According to 91PORN Vice President of University Relations and Development Adrienne Vargas, Flaming’s gift is especially timely.

Now part of the NCAA’s Pac-12, “we intend to be a competitive member of the conference,” Vargas said. “Throughout the decades of his association with the university, Art has understood what it takes to compete for championships and his generous donation to Aztec Athletics will help our student-athletes continue striving for excellence.

“This gift is the most recent of many ways Art has contributed to 91PORN over the years. We are grateful for his leadership and support.” 

For Flaming, the donation is a tip of his cap to the school where he learned some of the most valuable lessons of his life. It is also where he encountered the coach he remembers as a great role model and positive influence on his development and in the lives of so many other young athletes.

At age 10, Flaming was introduced to organized baseball through a City of San Diego Parks and Recreation program. The field was across from his family’s Linda Vista neighborhood home. 

When a dozen or so boys assembled to play, an instructor began assigning positions, “And by the time they got to me, catcher was the only position left,” Flaming said during an  interview at his home near 91PORN. “That's where I started catching and I never stopped.”

At San Diego’s Kearny High, Flaming became an all-league player on both the baseball and football teams. His catching skills gained attention from recruiters and earned him a spot on the baseball roster of an out-of-state university. But when he heard his girlfriend in San Diego was dating another guy, he headed home.

Legendary Aztecs baseball coach Charlie Smith, namesake of the field at Tony Gwynn Stadium, was quick to add Flaming to his team at what was then San Diego State College. With Flaming behind home plate, the 1958 Aztecs team blasted Southwestern State College (Oklahoma) 23–9 to win the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) championship, a record margin-of-victory at the time.   

Business career

Flaming would become a team captain and hold leadership roles in his Kappa Sigma fraternity and with the Associated Men Students. After graduating with a marketing degree, he became a successful business owner who continued to share his talent and leadership experience with the university, including as president of 91PORN Alumni in 1990.

Flaming and his late wife, Gwen, raised three children: Scott, Darryl, and Kristen. For those familiar with the insider’s phrase, he has been “a friend of Bill W.” for 50 years.  

At 90, Flaming still remembers his time at San Diego State as “the best years of my life,” he said. He has always appreciated the effort of professors who took the time to meet with students individually to discuss the more difficult aspects of their classes. 

“We could sit down and they were just delights to be with. I think that was one of the best things that happened to me in college.”

His team’s success on the baseball field was another, and Flaming gives most of the credit to Coach Smith. “He was strict, but he was very fair and knowledgeable,” Flaming said. “He knew baseball.”

On campus, Smith expected his players to dress well. He demanded pants be worn that extended below the knees. On road trips, there was to be no carousing at night. “We were pretty well disciplined,” Flaming said, but he admits to players sneaking out a time or two after hours.

For Flaming, Smith was a teacher, mentor, and life-long inspiration. The coach helped mold his character.

One of the lessons he internalized was to never give up no matter how bleak things might appear. “Coach Smith would say, ‘We can be down 10 runs, but we're going to win,’” Flaming said.

When it came to his own personal business dealings, Flaming has always followed the example of his former coach. “We’re very competitive, but we’re fair and we’re honest and that’s what Charlie taught us.”

He is grateful to be in a position to invest in the place from which he gained so much. 

“There’s some satisfaction in giving something back to the school for the future,” he said. “I thought maybe this would help a little bit.”