Page 6 - Sanger Herald 3-8-18 E-edition

SANGER HERALD 6A THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 2018
Mike Gavaldan is honored by state legislature
Dick Sheppard/Sanger Herald
State senator Jim Nielson, a Sanger High School graduate in the class of 1962, presents a reso- lution signed by him and state senator Andy Vidak to classmate Mike Gavaldan. "The resolu- tion documents Mike's many accomplishments," said Nielson. The resolution was presented to Gavaldan on March 3 at a 75th birthday party at the Sunnyside Health and Racquet Club.
stuff, and I wanted to edit,” Gavaldan said, “So I would stay after work and teach myself how to work the ma- chines, I would find old tapes and put them together for practice.”
Gavaldan’s career took off after he got his first editing credit on “The Don Rickles Show.” He served as an editor on various televi- sion shows and received an Emmy nomination for his work on the 1976 television movie “Victory at Entebbe.”
He also worked on the oc- casional music video.
“Years ago me and my buddy did John Lennon’s last video, ‘Woman.’ It was an overwhelming experience,” Gavaldan said. “Yoko [Ono] was in the back on a couch watching the whole thing.”
Gavaldan met his
fair share of world-class celebrities, but he always maintained a professional working relationship. “You learn they’re there to work, and you’re working too. I never asked for an autograph because I didn’t think it was appropriate.”
Gavaldan also worked for Warner Brothers Pictures as an associate director and he edited the top-rated show “Night Court” the last six years of its nine-year run on NBC.
He also was an associate director and edited sitcoms the“Sinbad” show,and “Homeboys in Outer Space” at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank.
He received an Emmy nomination for “Victory at Entebbe," a made for TV movie for ABC.
"During my southern California career I also had the good fortune of working as an editor at Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, CBS and Universal Studios.
"[Fresno State professor] Candace Egan visited me
at Universal and she also brought students on a field trip to Burbank. I gave a short presentation in my edit suite and then took them to a
taping of Night Court at War- ner Brothers Studios. The director was kind enough to take the time to talk to the students before he started the show."
At Egan's request, Ga- valdan was a guest speaker at one of the Summer Arts programs at Fresno State.
Gavaldan said the secret to his success is simple. “Hard work and dedication, and don’t let anybody tell you what you can’t do,” he said. “No matter where you are
in life, you can do what you want to do."
He noted that his journey was not an easy one. He often had to work late nights and didn’t always have time for his family.
“I would work late, wouldn’t always be home for my first son,” he said.
But Jose Huerta, Gaval- dan’s nephew, thought his uncle was the picturesque family man, a projection to aspire to.
“Growing up, I remember having to do a project where we had to write an essay about someone we looked up to, and I always wrote about Mike,” Huerta said. “Not only was he this successful Hollywood guy, but he also had a happy family, so he was larger than life.”
Huerta recalled Gavaldan playing an active role at fam- ily functions.
“Whilealltheadultswere inside talking he’d be outside playing games with the kids. It was neat to see someone you admired so much spend time with you as a kid,” he said. “One of the things I admired most about him was not only his work ethic, but his ability to balance work ethic with recreation.”
Gavaldan, who has returned to live in Sanger, said he continues to spend
as much time as he can with family now that he is retired. He also tries his best to keep in touch with old friends.
Pat Ogle, director of the Bulldog Foundation, is one such friend. Ogle has known Gavaldan since they both at- tended Fresno State together.
“Mike is very friendly, very knowledgeable, great to have a conversation with,” Ogle said of his old friend. “He was very dedicated to what he did at Fresno State
and later in his professional jobs.”
The two regularly get together for lunch to keep up with each other.
Ogle said Gavaldan was
a key figure behind the live news show Fresno State’s broadcast studio used to air. “Mike was instrumental in the encouraging others to be a director one day or an edi- tor one day.”
Another old friend, Sanger Herald editor Dick Sheppard, remembers working with Gavaldan at KMJ back in the late '60s and early '70s.
"I was KMJ program director back then. We had recently brought Fresno State sports play by play to KMJ. George Cooper was the play by play guy, I was color announcer and Mike [Gaval- dan] was the audio engineer," said Sheppard.
"When a Saturday evening Bulldog football game was in California, we would usually travel by car. I would pick up Mike from his day job at a pizza parlor and we would spend many hours travelling to and from the game.
"Mike, just a kid in those days, was a consummate professional who some- times smelled of mozzarella because he hadn't had time to change out of his pizza clothes."
Sheppard and Gavaldan went separate ways in the '80sanddidn'treconnectun- til both returned to the Valley about 20 years later.
"Mike insists it's his turn to drive now," said Sheppard.
"It was fun catching up while we travelled to and from most of the Apache away games last season.
"The travel time and the football games bring back a lot of good memories."
Gavaldan hopes he serves as an example to others in the Valley.
“People say to follow your dreams, but I say go beyond your dreams,” he said. “Who would have thought a coun- try guy from Sanger would be a Hollywood editor.”
And be honored by
the state legislalture at a birthday party with about 200 friends, family and class- mates, all wishing a fellow Apache a happy birthday - and many more.
By Ron Camacho
with updates by Dick Sheppard
Mike Gavaldan, Sanger High School Class of 1962, celebrated his 75th birthday last Saturday with about 200 friends, relatives and former classmates.
State senator Jim Nielson presented Gavaldan with a resolution signed by Nielson and state senator Andy Vi- dak.
"The resolution documents Mike's many accomplish- ments," said Nielson
What are those accom- plishments?
When Gavaldan was grow- ing up in Sanger, he figured he would become a dairy farmer or packing house worker when he was older.
Instead he found himself working on television sets and meeting world-famous
actors and actresses. Gavaldan is a retired
televsion editor. He’s worked on a number of television shows throughout the years, including the first season of “ALF,” which ran from 1986 to 1990, and the 1990s sitcom “Homeboys in Outer Space.”
But Gavaldan started off the way most other Sanger natives did. As he teenager he worked in the fields and local packing houses. It wasn’t until his junior year of high school that he started thinking about college.
“My junior year at Sanger High, my counselor said, ‘Mike, if you get your grades up I can get you into Fresno State.’ So I went for it,” Gavaldan said, recalling his decision to go to college. “Coming to Fresno State changed my life.”
Gavaldan began as an
agriculture major at Fresno State, but he switched to broadcast television after
he saw a local television reporter give a presenta- tion on career day. He was hired to work at KXEX, a local Spanish radio station, during his second year. He was simultaneously working at three different stations
by his third year, and by his fourth he had taken positions at Channel 24 and KMJ.
Gavaldan was so busy with work that he dropped out of school. “I was already working so figured I didn’t need to keep going,” he said.
Gavaldan kept looking for ways to advance his career. He got his big break when a work acquaintance told him of an open position at Trans- American Video, a Holly- wood-based post-production company. He applied and got the job.
“It was a very historical place, all the post-production
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