People from all over Stockton and the East Bay made their way to what’s known as a “hidden gem” in Stockton to celebrate the Super Bowl in a unique way – at the Stockton Sailing Club.
It’s just about an hour-and-a-half east drive from Santa Clara, where the Super Bowl was held on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.
The sailing club overlooks the Delta and on its deck, 10 bowls of chili were ready to be judged by Stockton firefighters for an annual chili cookoff. Setting sail on the big game with the cookoff, it’s been an annual event for almost two decades.
Pat Brown is the port’s captain and a retired fire captain of Santa Clara, home of the 2026 Super Bowl. For him and the sailing club, this means more than just football and chili.
“It’s really an event, the chili cookoff goes back from when Tom Lueck started here in the club,” Brown said. “He’s been a longtime member, along with me, and he was also an engineer in the fire department. And so he was really involved in this, so he started this chili cookoff. So, it’s a really neat event ad it’s a lot of fun, and Tom really supported a lot of events here from Delta Ditch Run to all these different events and the kids program, so things like this. So, this is just kind of the continuance of his great thing he did.”
“For at least 18 years, so we had a prior member, Tom Lueck, who, unfortunately, is no longer with us but in his memory, he started the chili cookoff years ago and he was a fireman, as well,” Deborah Doscher, Stockton resident, said.
Stockton Sailing Club
The cookoff is held in honor of Tom.
“For at least 18 years, so we had a prior member, Tom Lueck, who, unfortunately, is no longer with us but in his memory, he started the chili cookoff years ago and he was a fireman, as well,” Deborah Doscher, Stockton resident, said. She went on to say: “We miss him dearly. His wife, Lynn, will be here today amongst all of our officers and all of our members that are joining and, in his honor today, we’re going to celebrate him.”
Stockton firefighters are tasked to judge the chili, with prizes at stake for the cooks in amounts of $100, $75, $50, $25 gift certificates, ribbons, and goodie bags. Greg Zamora, one of the chili judges, is a Stockton Fire engineer – so was Tom.
“Happy to carry on the legacy,” Zamora said.
Trevor Gillian is a Stockton firefighter and EMT and is rooting for the Seahawks.
Brown told CBS Sacramento that Tom, along with always doing something like putting cement down, he also took kids out sailing and one of them he helped, Marcos, is now one of the best sailors in the Bay Area and sails some of the top boats in the nation.
Stockton Sailing Club
“It’s always good to give back, anytime we can get out, it’s good to meet the people,” Gillian said.
Stockton Fire Captain Darren Drown recognizes the importance of an event like this.
“I think it’s always good anytime when we can interface with the community and stuff like this, especially when it’s not emergency-related, just on a regular day-to-day basis, it’s good for them to see us when we interact and talk, and have fun, the community likes it, we like doing it,” Captain Drown said.
One of the contestants, Joshua Davis, brought his award-winning Old Glory Chili, modifying his late step-father’s recipe. It is a nostalgic chili for him and his family, remembering gathering together during the Holidays as Davis said the recipe was passed down to him.
Davis said his wife urged him to enter into chili cookoffs and found out it was free to enter his chili at the sailing club.
“I’ve never been here before,” Davis said. “I didn’t even know this existed out here. It’s just beautiful. I got to, they have a small outdoor kitchen and I got to sit down there by the water and cook my chili this morning and just enjoy the morning and the Delta. It was just amazing, it was really beautiful.”
On Sunday at the club, it seemed the rooting interest leaned more towards the Seahawks, especially since they beat the 49ers.
“Just because Seattle destroyed the Niners, I have to go for Seattle,” Brown said. “I have to stay NFC West. I can’t go for the Patriots, they’re back East Coast, those guys.”
Doscher’s chili entry ended up winning the chili contest as the team she was rooting for, as well, also got the win in Santa Clara.
Brown told CBS Sacramento that Tom, along with always doing something like putting cement down, he also took kids out sailing and one of them he helped, Marcos, is now one of the best sailors in the Bay Area and sails some of the top boats in the nation.