Sanders Tries to Win Back Past Glory in Mayoral Bid : Campaign: Watts hailed Rhodes scholar as a rising political star. Now, lawyer steps from behind the scenes.

Thirty years ago, a “Stan Sanders Day” was held in Watts.

Residents glowing with excitement over the departing Rhodes scholar took up donations to send him off in style. He was a hero, heralded across the city as a rising political star.

“Stan’s destination can be anywhere,” a newspaper columnist wrote back then. “He could be the first to go from 103rd to Pennsylvania Avenue.”

Today, Sanders, now 50, has finally decided to enter the political fray. As he campaigns for mayor, he must fight that gap in years at every turn, trying to win back the glory of his youth.

Tall, athletic and articulate, Joseph Stanley Sanders was the prototypal politician-to-be. A graduate of Jordan High School, he rose from the tough streets of Watts to the hallowed halls of Oxford, becoming a sensation among blacks and whites at a time when hope had been dashed by a riot.

“At one point he was a hot item, very much in the public eye and probably could have very easily won some public office,” said John Mack, who heads the local Urban League. As it is now, practical politics has many potential Sanders supporters troubled. “There is a real apprehension that it may be a wasted vote,” said Mack, echoing a concern Sanders’ campaign has heard again and again.

The city’s decline, last year’s riots and Tom Bradley’s decision not to run again combined to propel Sanders into the race. “In politics, no one can say now is your time,” said Sam Anderson, a retired teacher who knew Sanders at Jordan High and is rounding up alumni support. “You have to feel it yourself. Now is the right time for Stan. He’s ready.”

But the long delay has allowed Sanders’ name to slip from the community’s consciousness--making him relatively unknown even in the African-American neighborhood where he grew up.

Despite his close ties to Bradley, Sanders has been campaigning as an alternative to the mayor’s absentee leadership, highlighting his own rags-to-riches story whenever he can. He told students at 102nd Street Elementary School in Watts, who were gathered for a Black History Month assembly, that he was an example of black history and they could be too.

While campaigning he has knocked Bradley’s longtime feud with former Police Chief Daryl F. Gates and pledged to meet with Chief Willie L. Williams every day, if necessary. He also has stressed the importance of reaching out to ethnic neighborhoods, something he said Bradley failed to do in his later years. He and Councilman Michael Woo are the only candidates to open campaign headquarters south of the Santa Monica Freeway.

Small businesses in the inner city are Sanders’ focus. Rebuild L.A. would redirect its attention away from large corporations in a Sanders Administration and would be headed by Sanders himself. A development bank would be formed to loan much-needed capital to inner-city entrepreneurs.

“Not much has changed since the days when I helped found the Sons of Watts,” he said. “The feeling of desperation out there is striking. It’s remarkable that when I return to Watts as a candidate for mayor after another round of riots, there is a group of young men doing exactly what we did and they just have a different name . . . Big Brothers of Watts.”

Sanders may lack name recognition among voters, but he moves through official circles like a longtime politico. A Bradley fund-raiser and appointee to the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Coliseum Commission, Sanders still has the mayor’s ear. Nelson Rising, a partner at the influential development firm of Maguire Thomas & Associates, is the godfather of one of Sanders’ sons.

Sanders considers Bill Cosby a friend and goes to yoga class in Beverly Hills with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. His Ivy League degree and Rhodes scholarship also brought connections with some of the country’s most influential leaders--classmates such as Oklahoma Sen. David L. Boren and CIA Director R. James Woolsey Jr., both of whom have supported his campaign.

What Sanders must overcome is the view on the street that he is coming out of nowhere to grab the city’s top job--a sentiment that extends even into the African-American community that his campaign views as critical to his success.

“He is active in a different way from how I would define activism,” said Danny Bakewell, president of the Brotherhood Crusade.

Back in the late 1960s, with his future as bright as could be and a Yale law degree in hand, Sanders returned to his hometown with gusto. He tried public interest law and a large Beverly Hills firm but eventually settled on his own law partnership with an emphasis on small African-American businesses. He was soon socializing with politicians, Hollywood celebrities and powerful businessmen.

But for a variety of reasons, Sanders never ran for public office.

Early on, the young lawyer saw powerful colleagues who were able to bring about change without having their names on the ballot. Then, after he was married, he wanted to spend time with his family.

His family remains a critical part of his decision-making. His wife, Melba, and youngest daughter, Chelsea, frequently join him on the campaign trail, part of his effort to make the run for mayor a family affair. One routine has endured even his hectic campaign schedule--the weekend gathering at the family’s Mid-City home, where Sanders prepares a spicy taco feast.

As Sanders grew older and no obvious political opportunity appeared, he became a behind-the-scenes player, campaigning for Bradley and other elected officials. He never could see himself as a councilman--concentrating on potholes and other street-level concerns--and Bradley had the mayor’s office locked up.

“We’re all very loyal to Mayor Bradley,” said Johnnie Cochran, a prominent black lawyer who has known Sanders for years. “To a man we would not run against him. There just wasn’t the opportunity for Stan.”

Sanders’ academic and business successes have put him in unique positions to affect change. He visited South Africa while a Rhodes scholar in a highly publicized trip and has served on the U.S.-South African Leadership Exchange Program for years to improve conditions for blacks there.

He is praised by colleagues for his leadership on the Recreation and Parks Commission and for his negotiating skills on the Coliseum Commission. He played a behind-the-scenes role in bringing the Raiders to Los Angeles and keeping them here.

But his deal-making is not limited to corporate boardrooms.

After the riots, he used his legal expertise to help Ed Choi, the owner of a dry cleaning business damaged during the turmoil. Eager to form a partnership with an African-American businessman, Choi said he was repeatedly frustrated while trying to sell the idea to officials in City Hall and Rebuild L.A. Sanders eagerly helped him set up Innerciti Investment Foundation aimed at promoting joint ventures between African-Americans and Korean-Americans across the city, Choi said.

On the campaign trail, Sanders has focused heavily on his rise from humble roots, a story that he touches on yet does not often flesh out.

The son of a city garbage collector who lived in Watts, Sanders was inspired by his older brother, Ed, who in the 1952 Helsinki Games became the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing. Stan was 12 in 1954 when his brother was knocked out in the 11th round of a bout in the Boston Garden and died later of head injuries.

In 1963, when Sanders graduated with top honors from Whittier College, he was faced with a critical career choice--a prestigious academic prize or a football career with the Chicago Bears.

With his brother’s tragedy in the back of his mind, he chose Oxford.

Political analysts say it is Sanders’ impressive resume that remains the lifeblood of his campaign. In this second post-riot period, Sanders says he is a living example that hard work can bring about dramatic results.

At forums, Sanders has impressed many spectators, who view him as a stately leader who stays out of political brawling. Eschewing the sound-bite responses that have come to dominate politics, Sanders uses the same academic discourse whether at a public forum or a late-night interview in his wood-paneled study--although his pipe comes out only at home, adding to his professorial image.

Campaigning has been an eye-opening experience for Sanders, who for most of his life looked on the process with scorn. “It is an opportunity to really connect with a lot of human factors in Los Angeles that you only read about or hear about,” he said. “Running for mayor enables you to hear it from the horse’s mouth--whether it’s senior citizens in Encino or kids in Watts.”

With several better-known, better-financed candidates in the race, Sanders has a great deal more work ahead of him. On one recent muggy afternoon, he shuttled across the city on a rented bus covered with campaign signs. In a city of millions, he appeared to have difficulty finding hands to shake.

He had to sit through the entire school assembly in Watts--in an auditorium with a malfunctioning air conditioner and few people of voting age--before he was given half a minute to address the crowd. He then moved on to the Hollenbeck Youth Center in East Los Angeles, a popular facility that was nearly barren when Sanders arrived.

“People of his era know of him and his accomplishments,” Bakewell said. “But there’s probably a generation and a half who don’t know him . . . and knowing him is just the first step.”

Profile: Stan Sanders

Born: Aug. 9, 1942.

Residence: Mid-City.

Education: Bachelor’s degree from Whittier College, Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University, law degree from Yale University.

Career highlights: Senior Partner at Sanders & Dickerson, a small corporate law firm; member of Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission, president of the Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Commission.

Interests: Reading, yoga, crossword puzzles.

Family: Married, four children.

Quote: “Something very serious is wrong with our city. The leadership is abandoning the city. . . . I want to provide that leadership and new vision as we enter a critical time.”

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