He's been brewing a lifetime of caring.

Competitive spirit forged as SDSU quarterback

Leon Parma asks his assistant more than once if her home is going to be all right, if the Nov. 2 fire fed by Santa Ana winds in North County will spare it.

Yes, she assures him, she's checked on things, and it looks like it's going to be OK. Parma appears more than a little relieved.

The local king of beers knows what's important in the grand scheme of things: family, friends, service. In a word, caring.

He is a sports fan, a husband of 43 years, a friend of the rich and famous, and a widely respected businessman. His financial interests range from a beer distributorship and San Diego Padres baseball, to real estate and electrical equipment for chicken ranchers.

The 66-year-old former quarterback for the San Diego State Aztecs is a longtime booster of San Diego and San Diego sports. He went to Chicago a few weeks ago as a member of the Super Bowl task force that lobbied for San Diego.

He was jubilant in October after confirmation came from the National Football League team owners that San Diego would host the mega-event. The feeling was deja vu: He also celebrated in 1984 as a member of the task force that snared Super Bowl XXII for the city.

It was at a 1984 pre-Super Bowl party that Parma and his cronies got the idea to bring the game here.

Herb Klein, vice president and editor in chief of Copley Newspapers, former Chargers' manager Johnny Sanders and former Congressman Clair Burgener decided if cities like Tampa, Fla., could do it, so could San Diego.

The 1988 Super Bowl brought $136 million into San Diego, according to the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau.

This year's task force, including Mayor Susan Golding and Chargers owner Alex Spanos, reminded NFL owners how much fun they had in 1988. They also stressed the city's relatively low-strife human relations' climate, its compactness and convenience.

"The task force did one whale of a job," Spanos said. "I can't be happier that we got the Super Bowl for 1998."

Parma and his wife, Barbara, have attended every Super Bowl game since Super Bowl IV.

Besides sports, the couple enjoys traveling. They recently went to the Mediterranean with former President Gerald Ford and his wife, Betty. They have vacationed regularly with them since 1963.

"(Parma's) just one of the straightest arrows that I've ever known," said former Congressman Bob Wilson, a Republican who retired in 1981 after 28 years in office. "He's genuine. He isn't a braggart. He's a very loving person."

Parma served as Wilson's administrative assistant in Washington, D.C., from 1958 to 1963. He did the political legwork on issues like dredging San Diego Harbor to accommodate aircraft carriers, building a wharf and bringing a submarine base to local waters.

"I first saw him as a quarterback at (San Diego) State," Wilson recalled. "He was a good quarterback, small -- but he was fast. He was just a brilliant young man and cautious in investments. He's a shrewd businessman."

His four children and 12 grandchildren all live within five minutes of the Parma's La Jolla home, and they visit often. His mother is a close part of the family.

He founded La Jolla Bank & Trust Co., serving as chairman of the board until it merged with Security Pacific Corp. in 1990. He is chairman of La Jolla Capital, Inc., a financial holding firm for Coast Distributing Co., a Pacific Beach-based distributor of Anheuser-Busch products he co-owns.

Parma is one of 15 owners of the Padres and is a managing partner of Par Broadcasting Co., which owns local radio stations Rock 102.1 FM and KGMG-AM. The Federal Communications Commission is reviewing the broadcasting company's agreement to purchase radio station KKLQ, which airs as Q-106 FM and AM 600.

He owns a real estate investment company and is on the board of directors of Summit Resources, Ltd., an oil exploration company with wells in the Canadian provinces of Calgary and Alberta.

He is chairman of Lyon Electric Co. and of Pacific Capital Trading Co., an importer and exporter of products to Pacific Rim countries. He also serves as chairman of Par Tower Communications Co., which leases antennae equipment for radio towers.

"I'm just a highly motivated person and I like to be busy," Parma said. "I don't like to be sitting around. I think the essence of life is to accomplish things, and to that end you should be involved, in business and in civic affairs. Participate."

Compete is more like it, says Tom Palmtag, president of Mesa Distributing, which distributes products for Miller Brewing Co. Palmtag was Coast's general manager for more than 12 years before leaving in February to head Mesa. He says, predictably and only half-jokingly, that he's out to de-throne Parma.

"Leon is a fiercely competitive individual who hates to lose in whatever endeavor he's undertaking, whether it's playing a game of gin for a penny a point or making a three-foot (golf) putt for a dollar a skin," Palmtag said. "Leon always plays to win. Leon reflects back on his competitive days as a quarterback at State. It's an achievement in his life that he's proud of. He's taken the skills he learned into business and used them most admirably.

"He's also a very opportunistic person. When he bought the (Coast) distributorship in the late 1970s, he didn't know a can from a bottle of beer, but he did everything to make it one of the top Anheuser-Busch distributorship in the country."

At least one of his undertakings did not gleam with his Midas touch. Parma and other civic leaders failed in their attempt to get the 1972 Republican convention to come to town.

He headed the local committee assigned by the City Council to prepare the bid for the convention.

Although the GOP officially selected San Diego, problems gnawed away at the plans.

There was concern over the number of hotel rooms needed to accommodate the convention, and the cost of upgrading the Sports Arena, the proposed site. Citizens feared masses of Vietnam War protestors would descend on the city. The public benefit vs. the risks and expense drained public support.

Without public support, Parma and the others couldn't make it happen. In hindsight, Parma says it was for the best.

"We had the city qualified as a convention city, and we did not have to go through the trauma of hosting a convention in that very volatile time in our history," Parma said.

Parma is mostly a behind-the-scenes kind of guy. He likes to make a difference, quietly.

"I find it far more satisfying in public service than I do in business," Parma said. "Over the years I've tried to keep a balance, otherwise I wouldn't make a living for my family, but I get fulfillment in service to others."

Parma's ancestry is Italian. Some of his relatives settled in Baja California, but Parma is a fourth-generation Californian. Born in 1927, the son of a deputy sheriff, Parma served as a Navy aviation radioman in World War II. After the war, he attended community college in Riverside where he first met his wife. He transferred to then-San Diego State College, earned a bachelor's degree in economics and political science, and went to work for the San Diego Junior Chamber of Commerce as executive manager. He later moved to San Francisco to assume the same post for the statewide junior chamber.

Parma returned to San Diego and worked three years for Solar Aircraft before getting on Wilson's congressional staff. After that, he worked for 12 years at Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical before founding La Jolla Bank & Trust Co. and buying Coast Distributing.

"I've had a great life," Parma said. "I have no regrets at all."

TITLE: Co-owner Coast Distributing Co. AGE: 66 RESIDENCE: La Jolla BIRTHPLACE: Riverside EDUCATION: B.A., economics, SDSU, 1951 FAMILY: Married, three daughters, one son