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Wednesday, July 10, 2002

By Gary Rotstein, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

The visitors from Baton Rouge, La., saw the youth soccer players scampering around Carnegie Mellon University's football field yesterday and tried to imagine people in their 70s pole-vaulting there instead.

John Harvey, athletic director at Carnegie Mellon University, points out highlights of the school's athletic facilities to representatives of the National Senior Games Association yesterday. Pittsburgh is being considered as a site for the 2005 or 2007 games. Flanking Harvey are Phil Adams, foreground, chairman of the association's games committee, and Greg Moore, director of national games for the association. (Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette)

On the broad lawn of Schenley Oval, they asked questions about handicapped-accessible bathrooms, the sun's path overhead and bleacher capacity as they pictured octogenarian archers lined up to shoot at targets.

And seated in the Pirates dugout at PNC Park, the men wearing polo shirts inscribed with National Senior Games Association took notes while envisioning thousands of older athletes parading across the outfield.

Those settings and more around Oakland and North Park were among the stops on a three-day tour designed to put Pittsburgh's best foot forward to attract the 2005 Senior Olympics -- and with them 12,000 athletes, 20,000 visitors and more than $30 million in spillover economic activity to the host city.

"It's making an excellent impression," said association President Bill Bankhead, who will also lead visits to competing cities Louisville, Ky., and Des Moines, Iowa, over the next five weeks.

The three finalists were selected from among 19 cities that submitted bids for 2005. A decision is planned by October on which one could host thousands of athletes, ages 50 and up, plus their spouses, children, grandchildren or other supporters.

The organization also plans simultaneously to choose one of the three cities as a 2007 host, although local organizers are pushing for the earlier year.

"From a facilities standpoint, Pittsburgh is probably 10 times better than Baton Rouge," Bankhead said. In addition to serving as the association's headquarters city, Baton Rouge was site of the last summer Senior Olympics in 2001. The 2003 games will be in Hampton Roads, Va.

Officials from UPMC Health System, the University of Pittsburgh, Greater Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau, City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County have joined forces to court the association.

The tour ends today, with marathoner Mayor Tom Murphy meeting the delegation. Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey, who was on the track teams at Louisiana State and Texas Christian universities, had dinner with them on Mount Washington Monday.

Lisa Ashbaugh, manager of convention host development for the visitors bureau, said the 32,000 people projected to attend the Senior Olympics could translate to 16,000 hotel-motel room nights over more than two weeks, and an estimated $36 million in economic impact.

The UPMC staff who have spearheaded the effort see the attraction as more than economic. They talk of being inspired by the athletes during a medical research project they conducted in Baton Rouge last year and of how stimulating the visitors' presence could be for the local area's many older adults.

"Some of us have a real passion for this event," said Dr. Peter Cohen, director of senior sports and fitness for UPMC's sports medicine program. "We have such a fit-fit relationship possible, with our interest in medicine and aging. And it's not only the athletic ability that's impressive about these people -- it's their whole attitude toward life."

Cohen has been co-chairman with Dr. Freddie Fu, director of UPMC's Center for Sports Medicine, of an informal committee that submitted the Pittsburgh bid for the event.

Dave Sherman, an administrator for the University of Pittsburgh's School of Medicine, said the local committee is about to file for formal status as a nonprofit corporation that can conduct fund raising.

If Pittsburgh is chosen, the local organizing committee would have to submit $25,000 to the national association on top of $5,000 already paid. It would also have to begin a fund-raising campaign to secure about $1.8 million from corporations and others to cover most of the cost of the games, Sherman said.

In addition, a paid executive director for the event would be hired and work would begin to recruit some 2,000 volunteers.

The local organizers envision Pitt's facilities high on its Oakland campus as the hub of activities. The Petersen Events Center would be the logistical and communications center, with nearby Fitzgerald Field House, Trees Hall and the Cost Center being key event sites for basketball, volleyball, swimming and more.

A transportation system would have to be devised to connect athletes with the Pitt facilities and other potential locations for the 18 events: Carnegie Mellon for track and field, Schenley Park for tennis and archery, North Park for golf and softball and other small venues.

Instead of the traditional opening and closing ceremonies of the International Olympics, the Senior Olympics has a celebratory ceremony midway through the competition, giving a chance for participation by athletes whose events fall either early or late in the schedule.

That ceremony is the one event considered for PNC Park, and Heinz Field is being viewed as the start or finish of long-distance running events.

The National Senior Games Association is climbing back from a period of upheaval. The past president was forced to resign last year and the budget and staff were slashed after huge debts accumulated and an audit revealed embezzlement by a past staff member.

Before the association board picked him as new president, Bankhead headed the local Baton Rouge committee that was credited with putting on the 2001 games effectively. He said the organization is leaner but more focused now. He is among only five paid staff, when once there were 24, but expects more to be added.

"We feel like we're back on solid footing," Bankhead said, noting the association is free of debt, with a budget exceeding $1 million.