Remembering July 19, 1996

As the sun set on July 19, 2016, many an Atlanta Olympic veteran likely spent time reminiscing.

On this evening 20 years ago, the Centennial Olympic Games opened with great music, Georgia luminaries, star athletes and even a parade of pickup trucks!

The anniversary may be bittersweet for some, considering the night's greatest surprise in 1996 -- Muhammad Ali, who greeted Janet Evans and the world with torch in hand -- died earlier this year, a month or so shy of again celebrating his favorite Games experience (Ali wrote in his autobiography how he could not sleep after lighting the cauldron).

During the last week or so, Atlanta media pulled out the stops for 20th anniversary coverage. 

Local NPR affiliate WABE-FM created a series reliving the 1996 Cultural Olympiad -- great reporting in collaboration with ArtsATL.com. 

The station also aired a one-hour special and even wrote up Nike's new for 2016 Atlanta '96-inspired sneakers 

It was fun to read about the Atlanta History Center's plans to update the Centennial Olympic exhibition, which will close in a few weeks and reopen next year -- visitors can enjoy one of the 1996 opening ceremony costumes (a giant fish puppet) now on view in the entrance lobby.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also created many column inches about Atlanta's Games, including a story about three couples who met and married while working at the Olympics (unmentioned with one couple's memories was my cameo role as neighbor encouraging a job application that led to their introduction).

The city and Centennial Olympic Park also pulled out many stops to host a 20th anniversary "Relive the Dream" celebration hosted by Billy Payne, Andrew Young and a cast of medal-winning athletes.

It was fun to spend Saturday catching up with old friends while meeting new contacts. 

Unfortunately, the "dream" evening on July 16 was not all fun and Games due to two lightning delays. Though they eventually got the party started and the content was fun, a handful of attendees took the organizers to task on Facebook with a few harsh but apt emoticons and comments. 

One of my public relations mentors, his wife, a longtime Olympic historian friend and I spent much of the event playing armchair quarterback to the organizers, ultimately deciding/lamenting the majority of the crowd enjoyed themselves but the event's disarray provided a snapshot of snafus parallel to the issues that played out in grand fashion during those 16 days and nights of 1996. 

The anniversary event scene came complete with crass street vendors, tents and credentials for the feted "haves" gazed upon by the excluded masses of "have nots" and other elements that frustrated many of the worker bees from two decades back. 

When I mentioned our observations to a prominent Olympic historian yesterday, he replied with his take that Atlanta was the "first Olympics at which most of the athletes were professionals and the organizers were all amateurs" -- hysterical! 

But, hey -- where would we be without the Atlanta Games experience? I am thankful Payne went to church and scribbled "Olympics" on his working list of community projects in 1988, and that the experiences afforded in 1996 put me on track to attend my 10th Games at Rio starting next week.

I also appreciate the hard work that went into the anniversary event.

This evening the Olympic news outlet Around The Rings hosted a fun party in honor of the Atlanta milestone, and some of my favorite memories of '96 came to mind:

-- Watching the Opening Ceremony live in the kitchen of a Chinese restaurant with my sister, a fellow Olympic Village team member, before we returned to Georgia Tech for the late shift and athletes coming home for the evening

-- Getting acquainted with ACOG Communications Manager Dick Yarbrough and the organization's archivist during work hours (learned the most enriching and "real" Games stories from both of them)

-- Sharing many social gatherings with fellow 1995 USOC interns-turned-Atlantans during the pre-Games spring of '96

-- Following-up the ACOG experience with a bonus two months of Paralympic employment and an additional wave of fun times paired with hard work.

There are many Games-time friends with whom I've lost touch -- would love to reconnect with so many of these people. 

One person in particular is a Village volunteer who attended the University of Georgia. On the last night of the Atlanta Olympic Village, which was Aug. 6, 1996, the two of us visited 4,000 dorm rooms in search of Olympic pins, and I've missed the shared laughter over all the random stuff we discovered the athletes left behind. 

Here's hoping my long-lost friend Emily Sanders is out there and enjoying her Olympic memories as am I.

Photos via Yahoo, Nike, Atlanta History Center. Park photo copyright Nicholas Wolaver.

Get On The Bus for Civil Rights Tours Atlanta

On this beautiful late autumn Saturday, that wonderful "right place at the right time" feeling kicked-in for about 30 fellow Georgians and this blogger, who each held a ticket to the day's Civil Rights Tour Atlanta.

This new arrival on the city's attractions scene -- which takes visitors on a three-hour coach bus tour of numerous and important urban landmarks -- opened earlier this year, and I was overdue for the experience. 

Man, was it ever a great day to finally get on the bus!

Today's tour included several friends met during nearly 20 years of living in the city, one of my professional mentors and her family, a client and his son, and other V.I.P. passengers including a former Atlanta mayor and the city's District Two councilman. 

The tour headliner/special guest: U.S. Congressman John Lewis, who represents the Georgia district in which I reside.

What a treat it was to hear the Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient's first-hand accounts of Atlanta and Civil Rights history woven into the excellent tour narrative provided by the experience creator and weekly host, Tom Houck. At 11 a.m. the bus embarked from The King Center and passengers were quickly immersed in Atlanta's story as the cradle of the Civil Rights Movement.

Organized in eight sections with three stops, a typical tour includes Houck's in-person storytelling and a mix of video presentations featuring other Atlanta icons including Ambassador Andrew Young, Julian Bond and Valerie Jackson, among others. During today's special tour, Houck shared the mic with Lewis as honorary "fact checker" and narrator who shared his own memories along the ride. 

The first tour section includes some house-by-house/building-by-building details about the streets surrounding Auburn Avenue (where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. got started and was later laid to rest). I found it fascinating to learn specific offices, night clubs, markets, churches and other landmarks provided the venues for big decisions (i.e. the choice to march in Selma) and moments (selection of SCLC leadership) in the movement. 

It is also amazing to see the progress made in and around Sweet Auburn, which has come a long way since my early visits to the city during the 1990's, and I can't wait to return to try the new restaurants and historic markets in the area.

A dose of Olympic history arrived during the tour's second section, which focused on City Hall and the first black Atlanta mayor, Maynard Jackson, elected during the 1970's and re-elected as the city presented and won its bid to host the 1996 Olympic Games. Houck and Lewis also recalled Muhammad Ali's first professional fight held in Atlanta after the boxer's ban for opposing the Vietnam War. 

Meandering through downtown and the campuses of Atlanta's collection of historic black colleges (the third tour segment), our group made its first stop at 234 Sunset, the home where the King family resided before MLK Jr. was assassinated. 

On the front steps and lawn, Houck shared details about his many visits to the home, where he, then a twentysomething, got a job as Dr. King's driver and where the King children affectionately nicknamed him "Uncle Tom" during a game of catch in the front yard. 

On a more somber note, Lewis and Houck explained that in the week following Dr. King's murder in Memphis, the home hosted Vice President H.H. Humphrey, Jackie Kennedy, several heads of state and Senator Robert F. Kennedy only months before he was assassinated in Los Angeles (Lewis was in the Ambassador Hotel on that fateful night).

Civil Rights Tours Atlanta provides its second tour stop at a Vine City neighborhood shopping center surrounded by several dining destinations including the original Paschal's (an updated version now operates a few blocks closer to downtown) and the Busy Bee Cafe. 

I marveled at the early 1900's residential architecture and the campus buildings at Clark Atlanta University, and learned about The Herndon Home and Atlanta Student Movement for the first time. 

On our trek further south to see South-View Cemetery (the original resting place for MLK Jr.), passengers learned the lyrics and sang along to several gospel and/or protest songs. 

Later tour views included more gorgeous red brick homes with huge lawns, each juxtaposed as neighbors to the Atlanta Federal Prison built in 1902. We also passed Oakland Cemetery and the original mattress factory where MLK Jr. briefly worked as a young man. 

Similar to our stop at 234 Sunset, when participants disembarked from the bus at South-View, Lewis and Houck shared somber details from Dr. King's funeral, pointing out pock marks on his crypt (where King Sr. now rests) from vandal bullets fired at its marble. 

I highly recommend Civil Rights Tours Atlanta for locals, visitors and anyone interested in an excellent, thorough and entertaining look at Atlanta history. In less than a year of operation, Houck's team hosted more than 3,000, a number that's sure to increase in 2016. Admission includes the three-hour tour and access to the new National Center for Civil and Human Rights. 

And for Georgians fortunate to reside in his district, if you're heading to Washington, D.C., be sure to contact Lewis' office in advance for access to the U.S. Capitol and White House tours. 

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver

Dreamers & Believers Celebrate 25 Years Since Atlanta's Olympic Wishes Came True

Twenty-five years ago -- Sept. 18, 1990 -- Atlanta won its Olympic bid to host the 1996 Games.

Tonight the bid's originator, William Porter "Billy" Payne, hosted a classy anniversary event to say thank you and celebrate the "Dreamers & Believers" who shared his five-ringed vision as early as 1987.

In a tent filled with about 400 friends at Centennial Olympic Park, Payne proudly explained his remarks for the evening were "25 years in the making" before rolling a video unveiling two new monuments coming soon to the urban park he created.

The additions include custom marble benches honoring key Atlanta business leaders (Jim Kennedy, Bill Dahlberg, Bob Holder, Bennett Brown, Herman Russell and Ivan Allen III) first to embrace the Olympic bid. A new marble column featuring the names of the "Atlanta Nine" volunteers who led the bid committee will also join the statue of Payne installed in 1997. 

Though more details remain to be announced, Payne briefly mentioned a capital campaign in the works to provide other park improvements in time for next year's 20th Anniversary of Atlanta's Games, which will take place on the eve of the Rio 2016 Olympics. 

Introduced by Payne as the keynote speaker of the evening, bid partner Ambassador Andrew Young put into perspective several Atlanta milestones of the 25 years since the city's Olympic victory.

Young referenced the city's rapid growth (more than 25 percent, according to a state representative who spoke earlier in the evening), successful collaborations (to build the world's busiest airport, create MARTA, and to pursue then host the Games) and details of his initial conversations with Payne when Young was Atlanta's mayor. Young said Montreal's $750 million debt from the 1976 Games made his staff members reluctant for Young to meet with the 34-year-old Payne. 

"[But] I heard Billy got this [Olympic bid] idea after church," said Young. "I'm a preacher and I know now the Lord works on you, and when an aging jock in midlife crisis gets religion ... that's the way the Spirit works." He took the meeting and the rest, as they say, is history. 

Other party presenters included WSB's Monica Kaufman, who was in Tokyo covering the 1990 vote, and Charlie Battle, the Atlanta attorney credited with visiting more nations during the bid and for helping forge the most friendships with voting IOC members. Other VIP attendees included former Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games CFO A.D. Frasier, Cohn & Wolfe co-founder Bob Cohn, a longtime Olympic collector whose firm provided early public relations counsel for the Atlanta bid team's domestic campaign, and University of Georgia football coaching legend Vince Dooley, for whom Payne played years before his Olympic feats and current role as chairman of Augusta National Golf Club.

During his remarks detailing the bid committee milestones of 1988 to 1990, Battle called out several volunteers including Atlanta Marriott Marquis concierge Albert "Smitty" Smith who charmed many IOC leaders and staff.

"[Smitty] is one of the first people IOC friends ask about when I travel and see them," said Battle.

Battle also mentioned the bid team's early events that wooed the U.S. Olympic Committee away from competing bids from San Francisco, Minneapolis and Nashville. He detailed the scrappy manner through which Atlanta created an "Atlanta House" in Seoul during the 1988 Olympics and around the 1989 IOC Session held in Puerto Rico. 

Forging friendships across the Olympic Family echoed as key to the win, according to remarks from Battle, Payne and Young. Since the rules of Olympic bidding now forbid voting IOC member visits to candidate cities, its likely Atlanta's networking techniques were a first- and last-time option for Olympic bid committees of the 2010s and beyond.

Young said Atlanta proved to have a lot more Olympic connections than anticipated, including then-USOC Treasurer Dr. Leroy Walker as a local high school graduate, and Edwin Moses as a top Olympian of 1976 and 1984. 

Young attributed divine intervention, through his U.S. Ambassador assignments from President Jimmy Carter, as federal duties that helped him renew existing connections to up to 55 voting IOC members on behalf of Atlanta. In Young's mind, things started adding up that "The city was ready for it" and "we did it."

During a media Q&A prior to the event, I asked Young if he could recall waking up in Tokyo on Sept. 19 after reality over the victory may have set in for the team.

"The first thought I had was, 'Damn! We won this thing and we're broke,'" said Young. "They [the IOC] gave us a letter saying that we won, but it was also a bill for $1.5 million for the victory party. I said, 'Thanks, you gave us the Olympics and a bill to start with?" 

Like tonight's gathering, that was one party worth every penny.

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver

The Second Most Popular Man On Earth

At last night's 2015 Salute To Greatness Awards Dinner hosted by The King Center, Ambassador Andrew Young introduced President Bill Clinton as perhaps "the most popular man in the world."

The 42nd president and recipient of the Individual Martin Luther King, Jr. Center's Salute to Greatness Award, was quick to correct Young.

"The most popular man in the world: The Pope!"

Clinton went on to humor the crowd saying that until recently it was a close race until the Roman Pontiff was reported to have declared pets go to heaven.

That was the clincher.

With kidding aside, Clinton delivered an inspiring and timely message as part of his acceptance speech. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution provided an excellent summary and photo gallery online (I sat beside their reporter and stood with their photographer in the photo pit).

On recent violence in troubled neighborhoods both stateside and abroad, Clinton said today's youth should be raised with King-inspired teachings of nonviolence rather than anger and leveraging guilt.

"[Youth] need to believe somebody’s got their back and wants them to live up to their God-given capacity,” Clinton said. “We must stop raising them in shame and raise them in pride.”

With regards to Clinton's message and mission fulfilled by the Clinton Foundation, no other 2015 King Center honoree "gets it" more than Harris Rosen, president and COO of Rosen Hotels & Resorts. Though I've stayed in the Rosen Centre Hotel during many trips to Orlando for client IAAPA, last night was the first I learned of Rosen's generosity through the Tangelo Park Program which he created out of appreciation for his God-granted success.

According to the awards event program, TPP "provides free preschool for every two-to-four-year old in the neighborhood" and "full community college, four-year college or vocational school scholarship for every graduating high school senior." Graduation rates went from less than 50 percent to nearly 100 percent, and inspired by The King Center honors, Rosen announced to the gala audience the creation of an urban follow-up program launching soon to serve a downtown Orlando neighborhood.

Rosen said he wishes for and dreams of other successful business women and men to use the TPP model across the U.S. That's a dream I'll support!

It was fun to witness President Clinton joining Secretary Hillary Clinton, Bono of U2, Ambassador Young, Ted Turner, John Portman (architect of the hotel in which the annual dinner takes place), Dr. Maya Angelou, Oprah Winfrey, Stevie Wonder, Tony Bennett, Hank Aaron, Magic Johnson and Muhammad Ali and many others as Salute to Greatness Honorees.

Some good five-ringed ties in this crowd. More from a brief Olympic conversation with Young to follow in another post.

Photo by Nicholas Wolaver

 

 

 

Atlanta Olympic History @ Atlanta History Center

Last month brought an opportunity to revisit the Atlanta History Center as it hosted an Atlanta Press Club fundraising event. Prior to the APC gathering, I took a few minutes to again peek at the collection of Centennial Olympic Games Museum, worth a visit for five-ringed veterans or the uninitiated.

The museum includes an impressive, complete collection of Olympic torches leading to a visitor photo opp position inviting guests to hold an Atlanta '96 Olympic torch handle and smile for the camera.

I also enjoyed the assembly of artifacts from the Olympic bid team members who travelled with
William Porter "Billy" Payne, Ambassador Andrew Young and other volunteers who landed the Games in spite of tough competition from Athens, Melbourne and Toronto (Manchester, England, and Belgrade, Yugoslavia, were also in the running).

Also included are dozens of souvenir objects: Lapel pins, Olympic medals, volunteer and athlete uniforms, sports equipment donated by star athletes and props used in the Opening Ceremony help tell the story with several videos and recordings. An Olympic medalist podium and portion of the state-of-the-art track round out the experience.


A sight for sore eyes was an original model of the Atlanta Olympic Village as it was envisioned and mostly realized on one section of the Georgia Tech campus. The area shows how for a couple of months the "International Zone" of the Village included a flag plaza with banners of 197 competing nations (the athlete transportation plaza), a temporary dining hall and festive welcome ceremony area.

We had this model in our section of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) offices at The INFORUM downtown -- my first Olympic job -- and it was fun to see the model come to life and to work closely with the small army of professionals who made it happen. Good history.

Today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution brought to light a current initiative of the Atlanta History Center. As the museum continues extensive renovations, curators are planning a 2016 exhibition "Atlanta in 50 Objects" for which public input is sought now through March 2.

To nominate an object for the exhibition, visit www.AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/Atlanta-50-objects and submit a brief nomination statement. This blogger already suggested an Atlanta Olympic bid team item to represent one of Atlanta's biggest and most influential dreams coming true. How say you?

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver. Atlanta In 50 Objects logo via Atlanta History Center.

  

 

Avatar, Sigourney, Gorillas -- AWESOME!

At lunch last week my friend Heather shared a hot news tip: One of my all-time favorite actresses, Sigourney Weaver, would be in town over the weekend for a Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International press conference.

HELLO! I was so there!

Weaver is the honorary chair of the Gorilla Fund, and she returned to Atlanta to preview the organization's October 24 fundraiser and rare big screen showing of "Gorillas In The Mist" in Atlanta.

This would be my second introduction to Ms. Weaver via the Gorilla Fund, but the first for which I could prepare questions, bring a Flip Camera and consider blog posting follow-up options.

I knew from a 2007 Gorilla Fund event that Ms. Weaver knows her stuff on gorilla conservation.

A Yale grad like my best friend, the former "Ripley" of Aliens and "Dana" of Ghostbusters and "Katharine Parker" of Working Girl (not to mention her crush-inducing co-star role in The Year of Living Dangerously and scary avenger role in Death & The Maiden or creepy suburban '70s wife role in The Ice Storm and cheery First Lady role in Dave) star is poised and thoughtful in her conversations with nonprofit leaders, media and fans alike. I'm so glad not be be inflicted with the condition of her character in Copycat.

The press event, and Ms. Weaver, did not disappoint -- she took several minutes to answer my questions about the upcoming James Cameron epic film Avatar.

My first Weaver Q&A query was a two parter: "How are you going to leverage the worldwide publicity opportunity of Avatar to share the message and mission of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, and what specific entertainment peers have you engaged one on one regarding the Gorilla Fund (and their responses)?"

The video with this post (also available at www.YouTube.com/nickwolaver) provides Sigourney's Avatar answers, background on her work with the Gorilla Fund since "Gorillas In The Mist" as well as her answer to my follow up question (insert Chris Farley/SNL humble tone voice) "What is your favorite Olympic-related memory and why?"

For the Olympic ask, I was relieved that Ms. Weaver did not tell me to "Get off my MOUNTAIN!" (Mount Olympus, that is). When we got of the elevator at the Woodruff Arts Center, as the doors opened and a breeze and fellow-fan (an excited woman) entered, it took all of my tongue-biting strength to keep from uttering my favorite Aliens line, "Get away from her, you bitch!"

BONUS: Ambassador Andrew Young, former mayor of Atlanta and civil rights legend, joined Sigourney Weaver on the dais at the event. I was not able to speak with him, but will post more about Young's Olympic, and Gorilla Fund, endeavors in the future.

For now, sit back, relax and enjoy the Avatar interview with Sigourney Weaver, talking about how the film portrays human impact on a planetary scale, and the extent to which James Cameron's themes in Avatar complement the mission of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International organization.

Photos via http://www.homevideos.com/revdate/25b.htm and http://www.ebroadcast.com.au/enews/Sigourney_Weaver_revisits_gorillas_for_Animal_Planet_241005.html and http://www.solarnavigator.net/films_movies_actors/alien.htm

Avatar logo via http://movieblog.ugo.com/movies/avatar

HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco

Posting earlier about International Olympic Committee Member Anita DeFrantz reminded me of another IOC conversation of days gone by (specifically, days of 2002 in DeKalb County, Ga.). Unfortunately, no video to support the latter IOC encounter, but there are photos!

During early '02, the DeKalb International Training Center (now Atlanta DITC -- at the time a client of Edelman, the P.R. firm where I work) launched in Atlanta with the attendance of one of its patrons/co-founders, HSH the Sovereign Prince of Monaco, Albert II. The Atlanta DITC remains a key legacy of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games of Atlanta (check out their intro video).

The launch event included several government officials and local politicos, media, Atlanta DITC Co-Chair Ambassador Andrew Young and Mr. Grimaldi in attendance with Atlanta DITC Co-Founder/Co-Chair, Dr. Marc-Daniel Gutekunst, who had his own Olympic introduction to Prince Albert back in 1996. For those who are curious, in 2006 the World Olympians Association published a DITC backrounder by some guy from Atlanta.

What impressed me most about Mr. Grimaldi was his approachability. In addition to speaking with dozens of guests eager to shake hands and discuss business with him at the "official" event, when we were behind the scenes he was friendly as well.

The best candid moment of the day (as an entourage from Atlanta DITC took him on a venue tour) came at the Emory University student aquatic center, where a young college student named Molly recognized Prince Albert from the pool. Her shy self-introduction quickly melted into an easy conversation with The Prince, and in no time she was asking many questions.

Without hesitation, the IOC member cheerfully answered Molly's eventual request to speak with her mother in Texas via cell phone (see photos). His conversation by phone was as down-to-earth as any other moment of the day, and he was appreciative of every volunteer and experience across Atlanta.

A few years later at another Olympic function, HSH was just as approachable.

My travels have not yet taken me to Monaco, but Monte-Carlo is on the list, including a visit to the nation's international sports events and a casino or two. I'll be looking for the royal bobsleigh training course (did you know The Prince competed at five Winter Olympiads in this sport?) -- you can bet on it!

Photo by Rick Diamond of Rick Diamond Photography in Atlanta c. 2003 for the DITC; Rick was a good sport and rode shotgun at 110 mph in the Prince's summer motorcade trek across Atlanta ... in my old Audi sans airconditioning. Rick is now with WireImage. The colleagues joining The Prince and I in the photo are Carol Milliron (beside Mr. Grimaldi) and Lisa Tilt, now of Full Tilt Consulting -- you can check out her excellent blog regarding branding.