California Masons and San Diego Padres Team Up for Scholarship Program

The Masons of California, San Diego Padres, and Reality Changers of San Diego to expand Johnny Ritchey Scholarship Program, honoring trailblazing ballplayer’s memory.

January 5, 2023 (SAN DIEGO) — On what would have been the 100th birthday of the trailblazing baseball player Johnny Ritchey, the Masons of California and San Diego Padres  have jointly announced a major expansion of their Johnny Ritchey  Scholarship Program. The program supports first-generation, underserved high school seniors in San Diego County with resources to help them reach college.

Tom Seidler, vice president of community and military relations for the San Diego Padres, poses with Carlee Battle, the granddaughter of Johnny Ritchey; Tamara Craver, CEO of Reality Changers; and Doug Ismail, president of the California Masonic Foundation. Photo by Matt Thomas/San Diego Padres.

Ritchey, the San Diego-born player who has been described as the “Jackie Robinson of the West Coast,” broke the color barrier in the Pacific Coast League in 1948. His debut came just one year after Robinson broke the Major League’s color barrier. Ritchey played for the Padres as a catcher in 1948 and 1949. He also later played for the Sacramento Solons and San Francisco Seals of the PCL.

The scholarship program, which is being administered by the California Masonic Foundation, the San Diego Padres’ charitable foundation, and Reality Changers of San Diego, is being expanded to provide up to 10 scholarships worth $10,000 each ($2,500 annually over four years). The program is designed for students that have encountered and, more importantly, overcome significant personal adversities in their lives and have used those challenges to strengthen themselves in their pursuit of higher education.

“Honoring the achievements of Johnny Ritchey by rewarding young people who have demonstrated grit, determination, and courage is what this scholarship is all about,” says Doug Ismail, president of the California Masonic Foundation. “We are thrilled to partner with two great teams—the Padres and Reality Changers—to make this happen for our community.” Through its charitable foundation, the Masons of California have a long-standing commitment to public education, with a particular focus on literacy, scholarships, and other programs

From left: Carlos Battle, the son-in-law of Ritchey; Mike George, president of the Masons of California’s San Diego Public Education Advisory Council; California Masonic Foundation president Doug Ismail; Mike Thibodeaux, chairman of the California Masonic Foundation board; Grand Master of California Randy Brill; Tamara Craver, CEO of Reality Changers; Miriam Wood of Reality Changers; Johnaa Ritchey Battle, Ritchey’s daughter; and Carlee Battle. Photo by Matt Thomas/San Diego Padres

“The Padres and the Padres Foundation are excited to celebrate Johnny Ritchey and the Padres’ ‘barrier-breaking’ legacy in such an impactful way,” says Tom Seidler, the team’s senior vice president of community and military affairs. “We are proud to play an important role in helping first-generation students, through the Johnny Ritchey Scholarship, realize their dream of a college education. We thank Reality Changers and the Masons of California for coming together as part of this creative partnership to help local students.”

Courtesy of San Diego Padres

Reality Changers of San Diego will nominate pre-screened students affiliated with their organization to apply. Applications will be collected exclusively online until Tuesday, February 28, 2023, at 4pm PST. After reviewing all applications, the selection committee will invite finalists to participate in an interview with representatives of the Padres Foundation and local members of the Masons of California. All chosen recipients will attend an on-field pregame ceremony at Petco Park on April 17 announcing their selection.

“Thank you to the Padres and the Masons for believing in the work we do at Reality Changers,” says Tamara Craver, president and CEO of Reality Changers. “We are honored to have been selected to identify first-generation students that will follow in the footsteps of the great Johnny Ritchey by overcoming barriers for equal access to higher educations.”

To learn more about the charitable programs of the Masons of California, visit masonicfoundation.org.

The post CALIFORNIA MASONS AND SAN DIEGO PADRES TEAM UP FOR SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM appeared first on Masons of California.

Grand Master Brill: This Holiday Season, Remember to Give Back

From the Masons of California,
we wish you all a  safe and happy holidays!



Share on facebook

Share on twitter

Share on email

The cold and gray of December started covering the city but the avenues—especially the one in my neighborhood—lit up the sky and spread a warmth with lights and decorations hung from the lamp posts and sparkling in every window. 

My fondest childhood memories of the holidays was being reminded by our teachers and parents of what the spirit of the season was really about and how important giving and generosity were to feeling that spirit. “Better to give than to receive” was literally the standard theme. 

We were aware that some of our friends and neighbors had different names and practices for celebrating the same ideas and spirit. I’ll never forget the first time I heard of a Hanukkah bush—a humorous but heartfelt nod to Christmas trees. And I was shamelessly jealous of some of my neighborhood playmates who got presents for days in a row while I got just one shot. No matter what, it was always a warm and memorable time of the year.

Regardless of what spiritual path you follow, Susan and I hope that you and yours experience all good things during your holidays and all through the year. I especially hope that in the spirit of giving, you find a way to remember our California Masonic Foundation and our Masonic Homes, as well as any of the other charitable programs that our Grand Lodge supports. May God’s blessings be upon you and may this Holiday Season bring nothing but joy.

Fraternally yours,

Randall L. Brill
Grand Master of California

The post Grand Master Brill: This Holiday Season, Remember to Give Back appeared first on Masons of California.

Meet the New Grand Master
Randall L. Brill

Randall Brill of San Diego No. 35 explains his love of dolphins—and his vision for a fraternity in harmony.



Share on facebook

Share on twitter

Share on email

On Sunday, October 23, Randall Brill was installed as Grand Master of Masons in California—the crowning achievement of a long career spent in Freemasonry. In addition to serving as master of his home lodge, San Diego No. 35, Brill has also served on several Grand Lodge committees and boards, as well as the Public Education Advisory Councils and vice president of the California Masonic Foundation. And yet for all his work within the fraternity, Brill has also enjoyed a distinguished—and colorful—career outside of Masonry. He’s an expert dolphin trainer who helped study underwater sonar systems for the U.S. Navy, for instance, in addition to being an accomplished amateur magician. (He’s a charter member of Ye Olde Cup and Ball Lodge No. 880, a newly formed lodge that meets at the Magic Castle in Los Angeles.) Here, Grand Master Brill introduces himself and lays out his vision for the fraternity.


How did you first come to Freemasonry?
I remember my father always really admired the Masons, and I guess that stuck with me. But I spent a lot of years thinking you had to be invited in, which isn’t true. So when I moved to San Diego, I would pass every day in front of the Scottish Rite Center and think about it. Finally, I was at work one day and I saw a colleague wearing a square-and-compass ring, and I thought, That’s it. That’s a message. So I just stopped in one day and happened to find my lodge, San Diego No. 35, there.

What were you most surprised to learn about Freemasonry once you joined?
It was the sincerity. The lessons you draw from the ritual. The interactions with the other members of the lodge. My oldest son is now a past master back in Chicago, and when he was raised to the third degree, I went back to be there for it. And one of the comments he made to everybody was that one of the reasons he wanted to become a Mason was having observed a change in me. He thought becoming a Mason had turned my personality around and made me a better person. That really touched my heart, and I knew where it came from.

With the help of a dolphin named Nemo, Randy Brill proved a theory about echolocation during his time at the Chicago Zoological Society, 1975-1989. In this picture from the same period, he poses poolside with dolphin Shana.

Can you tell us a little about your work? I understand you spent a lot of time training dolphins.
I was finishing my master’s thesis in psychology, and my project had to do with studying group interactions in a large-brained mammal, the Amazon river dolphin. That really got me more interested in the animals than in the other things I was studying, so I went to the Brookfield Zoo and worked there for a few months. At the end of the summer, they had an opening for an attendant, and basically 20 years went by and I became the head trainer for the dolphin program. Then eventually I finished a PhD at Loyola University and was offered a job with the Naval Marine Mammal Program in Hawaii, where they had a research development group. I did another 20 years with the Navy and retired in 2009 and got a job as the general secretary for the Scottish Rite in San Diego, and did that for 10 years, and then retired again in 2019 and got tagged as the junior grand warden.

What exactly were you training dolphins for in the Navy?
The fleet animals were used to detect swimmers and underwater mines. They’re very good at it because they have a natural sonar system that incomparable. We haven’t duplicated it yet. Hell, they can find a quarter in a sandy beach as long as they know what to look for. They’re a valuable asset.

And I assume you came to really appreciate the animals.
Oh my God, they’re great. Dolphins don’t argue with you. They’re smart—just plain smart. No two are alike, and to work with them is a real experience. It opens your eyes in terms of inter-species relationships.

OK, back to Freemasonry. Your theme is “Fulfilling Our Obligations.” What does that mean to you?
In my case, there are specific obligations I’m talking about. When a candidate kneels at the altar to take the degrees, he accepts a number of responsibilities, not the least of which is the philanthropic responsibility to support his brethren and their families. We’re also called to support public education. So those are my big drives: To reinforce and increase enthusiasm for those programs. In addition, our long-range plan has a pillar called “diversity and harmony.” I’m huge on that. If your lodge is in a community of mixed ethnicity, does it reflect that? If not, why not? I think the lodge has a responsibility to allow itself to be attractive to everyone.

What would you like the fraternity to look like in 25 years?
I’d like to see a bigger mix of ethnicities represented to a significant degree. I want to see a real blend—a real brotherhood. Not just in pockets, but throughout the fraternity. Also—and someone might throw stones at me for saying this—I’d like to see the average age of membership come down, to where the average Mason is in his 30s or 20s when they’re coming in. We’re getting there by virtue of a couple of things. There’s an opportunity today to attract a younger body of membership. But they want to engage in different things: They want to get into the deep philosophical lessons and things of that nature, of which Masonry has plenty to offer. So our focuses are shifting, and that’s good.

—Interview by Ian A. Stewart



The following article appeared in the June/July 2010 issue of

California Freemason magazine and is reprinted here with permission.

The Dolphin Whisperer

If someone told Randy Brill in 1975 that he’d end up training and studying dolphins for 34 years, he wouldn’t have believed it. At the time, his only experience with animals was in high school, when he led obedience training for German shepherds.

But he made a career out of it. Along the way, he confirmed a theory about how dolphins echolocate—and helped Navy engineers build better sonar.

“It wasn’t a life goal, but it became a life’s passion,” says Brill, a past master of San Diego Lodge No. 35 and general secretary of the Scottish Rite there.

It all began with an Amazon River dolphin and Brill’s project for his master’s degree in psychology. He wanted to work on a large-brained mammal, but wasn’t keen on primates. Soon, he found himself using his behavioral psychology expertise to train bottlenose dolphins at the Brookfield Zoo near Chicago. Then he began a doctoral program in experimental psychology and started work on his mentor’s theory that dolphins “hear” through their lower jaws.

Dolphins find their way and locate objects in space by emitting high-pitched signals and waiting to hear how those sounds bounce back to them. But dolphins don’t have external ears.

So Brill set about testing the theory that dolphins “hear” by absorbing sound waves through their hollow, fat-filled lower jaws. He blindfolded a dolphin, Nemo, with soft rubber suction cups, then measured the dolphin’s ability to discriminate between targets with two different hoods over the lower jaw—one that blocked sound waves, one that didn’t. Nemo was 90 percent accurate with the hood that allowed sound to pass through to his lower jaw. But he could only guess when his jaw was covered by the hood that blocked sound.

Brill’s study changed the debate about echolocation. It also drew the attention of the U.S. Navy. The Navy’s engineers wanted to improve their sonar, and Brill came on board to test the engineers’ theories.

“The question when I got there was, ‘Could we build a system to literally replace the animal’s natural abilities?’” he says. “We’re not there yet, but we’re getting closer.”

That optimism and determination is what makes Brill tick—as a scientist and a Mason.

“The two statements I never like to hear are, ‘We did it once and it didn’t work,’ and ‘You can’t do that, it’s not possible,’” says Brill. “Well, we proved it is.” Brill concludes, “That’s the most salient connection between my work and Masonry: to approach things with an open mind.”

The post Meet the New GrandMaster: Randall Brill appeared first on Masons of California.