Los Angeles, Calif. (September 11, 2023) – Jim Kruse, Kidder Mathews Regional President of Brokerage for Greater Los Angeles, earned a gold medal in water polo at the World Aquatics Masters Championships in Kumamoto, Japan. Representing the San Diego Athletic Club, his team won 8-5 against Australia’s “Cockatoos” on August 11th.
Before his career in commercial real estate, Kruse was a prominent water polo player. He was a member of the U.S. National and Olympic teams — playing for the U.S. for seven years — and was later invited to be a water polo commentator for NBC and ABC Sports for five Olympic Games between 1980 and 2000. In 1986, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the University of California Irvine for his time as an All-American player in college.
Kruse returned to water polo three years ago after a break from the game. The masters league includes a mix of sports enthusiasts looking for something more competitive than a standard rec team, along with a smaller population of former professional players. On his team at the San Diego Athletic Club, Kruse plays with two of his former U.S. teammates.
“In my previous life, I was practicing five hours a day, every day. It was all very regimented and organized. And now, I guess one of the good things is that it’s not regimented and it’s not organized. It’s as loose as you want to make it,” said Kruse.
Before joining Kidder Mathews in 2022, Kruse served as Senior Managing Director at CBRE, Executive Vice President at Grubb & Ellis, a top-producing broker at Cushman & Wakefield, and CEO at LA-based investor/developer DPI Retail.
About Kidder Mathews
Kidder Mathews is the largest independent commercial real estate firm on the West Coast, with over 900 real estate professionals and staff in 20 offices in Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, and Arizona. Kidder Mathews offers a complete range of brokerage, appraisal, asset services, consulting, project & construction management, and debt & equity finance services for all property types. The firm performs $12 billion in transactions, manages 53 million square feet of space, and conducts over 2,600 appraisals annually.
