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.

Atlanta's OK Cafe Reopens, And It's All Good

Welcome news arrived via Facebook this morning as a P.R. peer and friend posted that Atlanta's famed OK Cafe at last reopened over the weekend.

As the update on the favorite eatery reached my hungry eyes just before lunch, I trekked to West Paces Ferry Road on the city's northwest side for a return to the dining destination, a first since its closure due to an accidental fire in December 2014.

The "restored" interior is pretty much the same as the dining room ever was, with colorful folk art, vintage curtains and fixtures, carved hardwood booth frames and lamps proclaiming "OK" in big, clunky or stylized letters. Even the "money tree" in the back room looked all spic and span. 

It's my understanding most of the public areas survived with only smoke damage that required extensive cleanup. Crews were still working on touch-ups, especially to the Take-Away areas for "Food That Pleases" to go. 

After ordering a lunch platter featuring turkey with gravy and cornbread dressing and two sides (sliced cucumber and a Waldorf salad), I reflected on many past visits while happily soaking in the new experience.

OK Cafe was one of the first restaurants I visited upon arrival in Atlanta to work at the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. Along with Mary Mac's Tea Room -- another Southern cuisine destination -- OK Cafe was my target spot for comfort food when I missed home cooking.

During the winter and spring of 1996, OK Cafe was a late night dining option when our evening Olympic Village training sessions took place at the nearby headquarters for IBM. 

Later that year, I recall taking several visiting friends from out-of-state to sample OK Cafe's Southern specialties and soak in a dose of "real" Georgians on a spectrum including local celebrities, colorful wait staff, families with folks aged one to 101, politicians, anyone and everyone enjoying a great meal. 

Any time athletes or coaches of Atlanta's Games asked me for a restaurant tip, OK Cafe was my first suggestion. 

My "usual" meal at OK Cafe became their enormous all-beef burger with a dab of Maytag bleu cheese and thick-cut fries, and their milkshakes and cobblers are killer. Their breakfast items are hearty, though I've only enjoyed a.m. dining once or twice for early meetings with clients or colleagues. 

Starting in 1997, I averaged about a quarterly visit to the restaurant, often meeting reporters there, and sometimes taking family members -- my sister, dad and mom visiting from Oklahoma (another place that is "OK") each joined me there on various dinner visits, and the entire Annie Moses Band (my cousin Bill's family, with a new album currently on the Billboard charts) filled a large booth with me after one of their Sunday concerts about 10 years ago. 

Today's lunch also brought back memories of fun conversations with local friends, a few date nights, and meals with two long-time girlfriends. How better to woo someone than with collard greens stuck in one's teeth?

Though it's unlikely any fresh Olympic memories will be forged at OK Cafe, I do look forward to sharing many future visits with family and friends at the reopened hotspot. See y'all there!

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver except the entry photo by HallieAtlanta.

Whitney Houston: One Moment In Time

Sad to read that one of the greatest singers ever, Whitney Houston, died today in Los Angeles.

I expect the following days, weeks and months -- starting with tonight's impromptu radio station memorials and tomorrow night's GRAMMY Awards broadcast -- will be filled with updates and tabloid details on Houston's career and demise. Fortunately most are remembering her beautiful music and celebrating it.

Like millions of other middle schoolers of the mid-1980s, I first heard Whitney Houston via "How Will I Know" on the radio and on MTV. We may not have known what "You Give Good Love" really meant, but we knew that lady could sing.

With my best friend Jason, we used to give his sister a hard time for crying to "Greatest Love Of All" and we can probably still sing all the lyrics to "Saving All My Love For You," All At Once," "Hold Me," "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)." Other greats of course include "Didn't We Almost Have It All," "So Emotional" and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go."

After shaking hands with Peter Ueberroth and Clay Bennett at a June 1988 fundraising party for the 1989 U.S. Olympic Festival in Oklahoma City, "Love Will Save The Day" was the song playing when I tried to dance (age 15) with a cute girl at the event (sadly, love did not save the day, but it's still a good song).

Then came Whitney Houston's "One Moment In Time" during the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Who could forget those iconic images of Korea's games, with NBC's montage of medallists including Florence Griffith Joyner, Carl Lewis, Phoebe Mills and others in slow motion while Whitney delivered the goods?

"One Moment In Time" remains the gold standard in Olympic theme songs.

Other favorites include "Run To You," "I Will Always Love You," "I Have Nothing," her Super Bowl rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "Do You Hear What I Hear."

It would have been so cool to see/hear Whitney Houston perform live. The closest I got was in Torino during the 2006 Winter Olympics, during which she performed at the nightly concert Live Site series (sadly, I heard it was a terrible concert, with U.S. media nearly banned from attending).

During all the time Houston lived in Atlanta, there was only one in-person sighting -- we thought we spotted Whitney in the backstage area of the Atlanta Olympic Village disco hall at Georgia Tech when Bobby Brown "performed" for the athletes (the concert was loud and a let-down, and still not sure why they could not entice Whitney on the stage to sing "One Moment In Time" for the Olympic athletes in attendance.

Her appearance on "Saturday Night Live" remains hilarious.

I must admit to cracking jokes about Whitney Houston's problems, and her clip on reality TV ("Kiss my ass!") still cracks me up. Just the other day (seriously, within the last week) I forwarded the Nancy Reagan anti-drug music video "Stop The Madness" to a colleague, and there Whitney was, the pre-diva, pre-GRAMMY, pre-"How Will I Know" Whitney Houston singing the lyrics "Everyone's a loser in this deadly game that's played." Interesting that Bobby Brown also appeared in the video as part of The New Edition (did they meet there as teens?).

If only she had followed the simple message of that Just Say No-themed production, "Stop The Madness."

Photo via Amazon, album cover photo by Garry Cross

More Olympic Acronyms Coming Soon

There's a running joke, or trend, or something (can't put finger on how the right noun) from one Olympic organizing committee (OOC) to the next.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) or other National Olympic Committees (NOCs), international federations (IFs) and even the global TOP Olympic sponsors have TMAs -- Too Many Acronyms.

According to the AP -- that's the Associated Press -- and ATR (Around The Rings), two more acronyms are signing up for five-ringed status this week: BMW and P&G.

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG was not a big surprise. After all, BMW provided hundreds of gorgeous new cars used by the NOCs staying at the Atlanta OLV (Olympic Village, where their global CEO -- chief executive officer -- presented me a sweet BMW sponsor pin).

Also, BMW's global showcase BMW Museum in Munich is nestled between the 1972 Olympic Village and Olympiapark (if you haven't seen these three sites, they are worth a round trip flight no matter where you live, and you need at least three days to see them all).

Proctor & Gamble. Well, they aren't exactly a surprise either. In Vancouver they had a broad range of engagement underway, and a lot of their product found its way onto The Colbert Report post-Games. What surprised me is their likely announcement of TOP global sponsor status so close to Dow Chemical's IOC sponsor announcement. But then, Tuesday, July 27, marks the two-years-to-London 2012 milestone, so the timing is right.

What other brands do you want to see in the OAS (Olympic Acronym Scene)?

TTYL.

Photo via this Flickr account

Adios, Juan Antonio Samaranch

Yesterday morning, while awaiting a flight from Maui to Oahu, an email arrived from a colleague who noted the passing of Juan Antonio Samaranch, the former International Olympic Committee president. Sad news -- first read the initial headlines, then today's New York Times obituary for more details.

Samaranch is one Olympic V.I.P. who I always wanted to meet but never did. Probably the closest opportunity was in the Atlanta Olympic Village (we heard he was visiting, but we were not able to get to the area of Samaranch's arrival).

I first learned of J.A.S. during the late 1980s and early 1990s via a couple of TV documentaries regarding the I.O.C. Also, Peter Ueberroth's book on the 1984 Games delves into great detail about Samaranch, which established in my mind that the Spanish-born Olympic leader was a hero for the Olympic Movement for his willingness to take risks.

The day that changed my life and the lives of tens of thousands came in the fall of 1990, when Samaranch's accent proclaimed "AT-Lan-Tah" the host of the Centennial Games.

Inspired by the Barcelona Olympics of 1992, and some research of the Olympic bid process for the 2000 Sydney Games, in 1993 I wrote a letter to Samaranch at the IOC address, and to my surprise and delight, several weeks later, a response arrived in the form of a personalized J.A.S. business card and I.O.C. pin, which remain proudly displayed on my home office shelves.

It's been disappointing, thought not entirely surprising, to find few media reports about Samaranch that really delve into the vast ranch of influence and progress Samaranch helped bring to the Olympic Family. It will be interesting to see what becomes of Samaranch's Olympic collections (I understand his Olympic philately efforts were unsurpassed) and how the I.O.C. will honor and memorialize Samaranch in the near and distant future.

Photo via this blog

Gov. Arnold and the Olympics: Together Again!

I heard from several sources today that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is going to be a 2010 Olympic torchbearer on Friday, Feb. 12, in Vancouver's famed Stanley Park.

This is a curious selection on a number of fronts, but I have to wonder if Schwarzenegger is getting some overdue payback for his past connection to the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Village.

If you read VANOC's "defense" of selecting Schwarzenegger, it does not appear VANOC CEO John Furlong has any idea about Arnold Schwarzenegger's Olympic connections from 13 years ago.

During the summer of 1996, Atlanta's Olympic Village was the site of the world premiere of Arnold's film "Eraser" -- as an Olympic Village employee that summer, it was my understanding that Olympian Willie Banks, the entertainment manager for the Village, secured this entertainment offering that was screened with thousands of athletes viewing a big screen on the field at Georgia Tech's Bobby Dodd Stadium.

As a witness to Arnold's arrival and speech to the athletes (with "Eraser" co-star Vanessa Williams), it was surprising to learn (and I am certain those in attendance on Friday in Vancouver will concur) that Schwarzenegger is shorter than he appears in most of his films (at the moment, I don't believe sources that report Arnold at more than six feet tall). But he did share some inspiring remarks with the Olympians, who were thrilled to see him in person (it was pretty darn cool that he made time to meet the athletes that summer). Of course,

Schwarzenegger stated at the event, "I'll be back" -- maybe even then he knew something regarding planned or offered torchbearer activation?

"Eraser" turned out to be an utterly forgettable film, but it is remotely possible the IOC or other Olympic Torch Relay officials recalled Arnold's past Olympic ties and presented the honor of torchbearer duties to Mr. Olympia (oh, yeah, there's that Olympic connection, too).

Hopefully the only "juice" Schwarzenegger will take (for carrying the torch) will be some product from Atlanta's hometown beverage bottler (which happens to be a co-presenter of the Olympic Torch Relay).

See you at Stanley Park!

Photo via the Globe And Mail and Associated Press