The South Pasadena Champions Awards, a celebration of community service and leadership, returns to the South Pasadena Center for its fifth year on Monday, August 10, 2026 at 5:00 pm at the South Pasadena Senior Center.
The annual event is a tribute to dedicated residents and an opportunity to introduce the community to the South Pasadena Senior Center and its fundraising arm, the Senior Citizens’ Foundation of South Pasadena, Inc. This year we are proud to honor long-time community members and dedicated volunteers Betty Emirhanian and John Vandercook.
Betty Emirhanian has called South Pasadena home for 52 years. She began her career as a dental assistant, later earned a degree in finance from Cal State LA, and spent 35 years working at the Los Angeles Times before retiring. Since then, she has focused on volunteering and spending time with her many nieces, nephews, and godchildren. Betty has served on the WISPPA Board since 2014, serving three years as president, and is now behind WISSPA’s weekly newsletter, the go-to source for city news, public meetings, and community happenings that residents rely on to stay informed. She now leads the Friends of the Library/Restoration Concert committee, a nonprofit that brings top-quality music to the area and helps support the public library. Her community work includes serving on the South Pasadena Animal Commission, raising funds during the pandemic for the Women’s Club and Pasadena Humane, joining the Certified Emergency Response Team program, working on the Measure N and Measure A campaigns, and giving opera talks with her husband at schools, senior centers, and libraries throughout Southern California.
A fixture of South Pasadena civic life for decades, John Vandercook has given his time to nearly every cornerstone of the community. He served as President of the South Pasadena Tournament of Roses in 2004 and 2005, and, for some 30 years, co-chaired its annual Golf Tournament alongside his elementary school classmate Alan Vlacich. A longtime member of the 4th of July Committee and a stalwart of the Pancake Breakfast, John has also been a Kiwanis member for more than 30 years. He served as President of the Oneonta Club (2002–2003) and sat on the boards of the Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Redevelopment Commission. A Golden Arrow Award winner, John owned Reimagine Your Home on Mission Street for 27 years. For the past five years, he’s stayed involved in the Tournament of Roses in a new capacity, joining his wife, Peggy O’Leary, in her nearly 38-year-old tradition as a “pooper scooper.”
