Reliance Athletic Club
{{Infobox athletics club
| name = Reliance Athletic Club
| image = Reliance Club Building.png
| image_border =
| image_size = 300px
| alt =
| caption = Reliance Athletic Club building, 1898
| fullname = Reliance Athletic Club
| founded = 1885 (dissolved 1910)
}}
The Reliance Athletic Club was an athletic club and gentlemen's club in Oakland, California, United States. Founded in 1885, the organization grew rapidly as it added other sports and social activities, reaching its peak in the mid-1890s before financial troubles led to its bankruptcy and disestablishment in 1910.
History and activities
File:Reliance Baseball Club Oakland, CA c1895.jpg
The club was founded as a baseball club in 1885 in downtown Oakland.{{cite news|url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC18930530.2.99|title=Reliance Club: Opening of new quarters in Oakland|date=May 30, 1893|newspaper=San Francisco Call|volume=73|number=181|accessdate=June 9, 2014}} The club's focus was on developing physical fitness for its members in its gymnasium, including sports such as boxing and fencing.
Football teams representing the club competed with other west coast athletic clubs, including the Olympic Club of San Francisco and the Multnomah Athletic Club of Portland, Oregon, and also played college teams, most commonly those of Stanford and California.{{cite news|url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19000727.2.131|title=Football games for the coming season|date=July 27, 1900|newspaper=San Francisco Call|volume=87|number=57|accessdate=June 9, 2014}}{{cite news|url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19020102.2.58|title=Reliance team shuts out the Multnomahs|date=January 2, 1902|newspaper=San Francisco Call|volume=87|number=33|accessdate=June 9, 2014}}
The club was one of several in the Bay Area that trained young boxers,{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/boxinginsanfranc00somr|url-access=registration|title=Boxing in San Francisco|last=Somrack|first=F. Daniel|year=2005|page=[https://archive.org/details/boxinginsanfranc00somr/page/7 7]|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=0738528862}} and the club staged regular boxing events at its facilities. In 1905, the club organized and sponsored an outdoor track and field meet.{{cite news|url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC18930530.2.99|title=Reliance Club plans big athletic meet|date=May 23, 1905|newspaper=San Francisco Call|volume=97|number=176|accessdate=June 9, 2014}} In addition to sports, club members played billiards and card games and hosted social events to which women were also invited.{{cite book|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?printsec=frontcover&output=reader&id=o_lKAAAAYAAJ&pg=GBS.PA228|year=1898|title=Alameda County: The Eden of the Pacific|publisher=(Oakland) Tribune Publishing Company|page=228}}
Growth
The club moved several times to various locations around Oakland as it grew. The club was incorporated in 1892 with a membership of 300, and by 1893, had 350 members and held a gala affair as it moved into a three-story building at the corner of San Pablo Avenue and 17th Street. The club remained in this facility into the first decade of the 20th century,{{cite news|url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19040515.2.177.2|title=Reliance Club renews lease on quarters|date=May 15, 1904|newspaper=San Francisco Call|volume=95|number=167|accessdate=June 9, 2014}} but after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake was forced to relocate to accommodate San Francisco businesses that moved to Oakland when their buildings were destroyed.{{cite news|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1906-05-25/ed-1/seq-4/#words=Reliance+Club|title=Brides share social favors with refugees|date=May 25, 1906|accessdate=June 9, 2014|newspaper=San Francisco Call}}{{cite news|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1906-06-04/ed-1/seq-6/#words=Reliance%20Club|title=Oakland women's clubs are quick to act|date=June 4, 1906|accessdate=June 9, 2014|newspaper=San Francisco Call}} The new location was renovated in early 1907,{{cite news|url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19070309.2.39.10|title=Reliance Club improvements|date=March 9, 1907|accessdate=June 9, 2014|newspaper=San Francisco Call|volume=101|number=99}} but by the summer of 1907, the club had moved again near the Piedmont Baths.{{cite news|url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19070809.2.52.3|title=Reliance Athletic Club secures new quarters|date=August 9, 1907|accessdate=June 9, 2014|newspaper=San Francisco Call|volume=102|number=70}}
Demise and legacy
By 1910, the club had moved several more times but was apparently facing financial difficulties; in August 1910, a contractor sued the members for $2,300 owed to him. With no money in the treasury, the club declared bankruptcy and dissolved the organization.{{cite news|url=http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19100830.2.58|title=Debts deals Reliance Club death blow|date=August 30, 1910|accessdate=June 9, 2014|newspaper=San Francisco Call|volume=108|number=91}}
The building at 17th and San Pablo in which the club was at its peak was converted to the Reliance Theater in 1916.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bYI_eT_EVOEC&pg=PA32|title=Theaters of Oakland|pages=32–33|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|year=2006|last=Tillmany|first=Jack|author2=Jennifer Dowling |isbn=9780738546810}} The theater was later known as the American Theater and finally the Esquire Theater. The building was demolished in the 1950s to make way for a Mel's Drive-In.
References
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{{Coord|37.807288|-122.272441|type:landmark_region:US-CA|format=dms|display=title}}
Category:1885 establishments in California
Category:1910 disestablishments in California
Category:Athletics clubs in the United States
Category:Sports clubs and teams in Oakland, California
Category:Organizations based in Oakland, California