Charles H. Strub

Charles Henry ('Doc') Strub (1884 - March 28, 1958) was an American dentist and entrepreneur who built and owned Santa Anita Park racetrack in Arcadia, California and was president and partner of the San Francisco Seals baseball club of the Pacific Coast League.

Born in Hollister, California, Charles Strub graduated from the University of California at Berkeley. During 1903 and 1904 he played baseball with the San Francisco team in the California State League but made his living as a dentist. Aggressive and entrepreneurial, he speculated in the burgeoning California real estate market and became a very wealthy man. One of the San Francisco buildings he built was 450 Sutter, which still houses medical professionals. In 1918, the financially-strapped owner of the San Francisco Seals put the baseball team up for sale and Charles Strub, along with two equal partners George Alfred (Alfie) Putnam and Charles H. Graham, acquired the club. Appointed team president, he successfully led the San Francisco Seals for more than two decades. In 1931, he oversaw construction of Seals Stadium. As President of the Seals he sold Joe Dimaggio to the Yankees for $25,000 on a money back guarantee. Doc Strub always regretted that he was able to get more for Joe's brother Dominic than he got for Joe.

In 1929, he was sitting at the barbers getting a shave when he was handed the phone. On it was the president of Bank of America who told him that he lost everything and was more than 1 million in debt. When Doc asked about repaying it, the response from the President of Bank of America was "Don't worry Charlie, I know you're good for it."

A fan of thoroughbred horse racing, he decided to enter the business when California passed a paramutuel wagering bill in the early 1930s. He had spent several months examining locations in the San Francisco Area and found none of them to his liking, including Candlestick Point. He then connected with a group in Los Angeles that had identified 'Lucky' Baldwin's Rancho Santa Anita as a location, but needed increased financial backing. In January of 1934 Charles Strub, in partnership with Hollywood filmmaker Hal Roach and a group of investors, formed the Los Angeles Turf Club. Created for the purpose of building the first race track in California, they opened Santa Anita Park in Arcadia on Christmas Day, 1934. Although the country was in the throes of the Great Depression, Strub's management and creativity brought success. He introduced a number of significant innovations to American racing, including finish line cameras to verify race results and electronic timing.

In 1939, he was asked to help bail out the 1939 San Francisco World's Fair. It was a task he accepted at no salary. His efforts turned the fair around and into a break-even event for its organizers.

Charles Strub died of a cerebral thrombosis in 1958 in Los Angeles. As benefactor, the Charles H. Strub Memorial Theatre at Loyola Marymount University and Strub Hall at Santa Clara University (part of the Charles H. Graham residential complex) are named in his honor. He was the nephew of Rev. Joseph Strub, founder of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

He married Vera Wood (b. 1896 d. 1968) and had five children.

Strub Series
Santa Anita Park honored him by renaming the Santa Anita Maturity Stakes the Charles H. Strub Stakes. The Stub Stakes is the final leg of the Grade II Strub Series of three open races for newly- turned 4-year-old horses held over several weeks during the first two months of each year. The Series consists of the Malibu Stakes, raced at at 7 furlongs, the San Fernando Stakes, at 1 1/16 miles and the Strub Stakes.

Only five horses have ever won all three legs of the Strub Series: Round Table (1958), Hillsdale (1959), Ancient Title (1974), Spectacular Bid (1980) and Precisionist (1985).