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Event preparations already afoot for Pittsburgh's turn as host in 2005

Sunday, December 01, 2002

By Gary Rotstein, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Imagine this scene in June 2005:

Oakland converts for two weeks from one of the city's youngest neighborhoods to one of its oldest without losing any vibrancy. Thousands of people 50 and older fill hotels and dormitory rooms there and elsewhere and swarm restaurants with new gold medals worn proudly over their chests.

	Mel and Ella Zimmerman of Hopewell, husband and wife archers, have been to the past several Senior Olympics and are preparing to compete in the 2003 games in Hampton Roads, Va. The Senior Olympics will be held in Pittsburgh in 2005."It's very serious competition when you're competing, but when you're not, it's very festive," Ella Zimmerman said. (Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette)

They and younger relatives give tour buses, museums, shopping districts and the rest of the tourism industry a boost. Banners adorn the landscape as easy camaraderie on the streets mixes with intense competition on the courts, fields, pool and track of the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Schenley Park, North Park and other venues.

That is the picture that organizers of the 2005 Summer National Senior Games -- The Senior Olympics -- are painting.

The event will require extensive planning for the next 2 1/2 years.

There are at least 10 sites to arrange for 18 types of events, with $2.5 million to be raised and 4,000 volunteers to organize. That's if the Pittsburgh Local Organizing Committee wants to make the 10th Senior Olympics the best one ever, as officials proclaim.

"We're looking for corporations and business people to invest in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said Dr. Peter Cohen, director of the UPMC senior sports and fitness program, who has headed local organizing efforts.

The money will be needed to avoid the pitfalls experienced by organizers of the 2001 summer games in Baton Rouge, La., who ran several hundred thousand dollars short of budget goals. They had to cut back on transportation, entertainment, decorations and other areas, even after obtaining a last-minute $150,000 state grant.

"Baton Rouge is an awful small city, and there might not be a Fortune 500 company in the entire state, let alone Baton Rouge" to assist in fund raising, said Bill Bankhead, president of the National Senior Games Association, which puts on the summer games every two years.

National and local officials said Pittsburgh would have a major advantage in that category over Baton Rouge or the 2003 host, Hampton Roads, Va., which has yet to meet its $1.5 million fund-raising goal for the May-June event.

In 2001, Bankhead was director of the Baton Rouge Local Organizing Committee, which was credited with staging a successful event that ended with a small financial surplus despite the funding limitations.

Calming a controversy

A former officer with the International Special Olympics, Bankhead was picked to take the reins of the national association soon after the 2001 Senior Olympics ended.

His move came after the board of the Senior Olympics had forced the resignation in May 2001 of the prior president, David Hull, whose appointment had been urged by Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster.

The state of Louisiana committed $1.5 million to assist the association in 1997 if it would move its headquarters from St. Louis to Baton Rouge and stage the 2001 games in the state capital, which had hosted the 1993 Senior Olympics.

Hull's administration, however, rolled up a deficit of nearly a half-million dollars over several years. A lack of financial controls was blamed for enabling the group's fiscal officer and her boyfriend to embezzle about $200,000 from the organization. She was arrested and fired.

An overhaul of the organization has left it with a staff of five today, compared with 24 at its peak. But Bankhead said more efficient operation would have erased the deficit by year's end, and the association had retained the key people necessary to help the local committees put on successful Olympics.

The successful local bid for the Senior Olympics grew out of the mutual respect developed in 2001 between representatives of the association and a UPMC research team studying the athletes in Baton Rouge.

"We already knew, in the back of our minds, this was a quality program that deserved a close look," association Vice President Phil Godfrey said of UPMC. He said that view was confirmed with the attention to detail in the written proposal prepared by UPMC staff members, compared with entries from 18 other cities.

In many cases, it's a local government, public sports commission or a convention and visitors bureau that spearheads a Senior Olympics bid.

Here, the leaders are UPMC doctors and administrators, many of whom are also employed by the University of Pittsburgh. Eight of the 12 board members of the Pittsburgh Local Organizing Committee are UPMC-Pitt representatives, including the two orthopedic surgeons who serve as co-chairmen: Cohen and Dr. Freddie Fu, director of the UPMC Center for Sports Medicine.

Other board members are from the city and county governments and the Greater Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Fund-raising goals

The committee's goal is to have $2 million in cash donations and $500,000 worth of in-kind services pledged by the end of 2003, which would put Pittsburgh well ahead of the efforts in other recent host cities.

The committee will also organize about 50 recruits already solicited from the local business, government, athletic and education sectors to be the cornerstone of a broader committee structure in 2003, covering fund raising, finance, marketing, hospitality, competition, facilities and volunteers.

A phone line (412-605-3215) to accept offers from new volunteers received about 40 calls in its first day of operation last week, said David Sherman, the administrator of UPMC's Department of Orthopedic Surgery, who has been handling many of the details of the local committee's bid.

Jack Ankerson, executive director of both the sports commission and Senior Olympics organizing committee for the Hampton Roads, Va., event, said his region hosted two national Junior Olympics in recent years, each time generating at least $30 million for the local economy. He said even more impact was expected from the Senior Olympics, with an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 participants and 30,000 attendees overall.

National officials said Pittsburgh was well-suited to host the games for a variety of reasons: It provides a range of attractions for attendees, its location is an easy destination for many participants, the facilities will be as splendid as the games have ever had, including Pitt's new Petersen Events Center as a hub and PNC Park for the celebration of athletes held midway through the games.

And Pittsburgh's status as an elderly region, in comparison with other cities, was noted as a plus by both local and national officials. Among cities with a population above 300,000, only Honolulu and Miami have a higher percentage of residents 65 or older. Among counties with 1 million or more residents, Allegheny's 65-plus percentage trails only Palm Beach, Fla.

"Too often, we see that as a problem," Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey said, adding that, in this case, it's an advantage.

The Senior Olympics population is 50 and up, competing against one another within five-year increments, 50 to 54, 55 to 59 and so on, up to a 100-plus category. It is an age group known for being more frugal with its traveling dollars compared with convention-goers on expense accounts.

That won't prevent the event from having an impact, though, considering that only the National Baptist Convention of 1992 and American Veterinary Medical Association convention of 1995 have taken more room-nights of local lodging than the 16,480 projected for the Senior Olympics, said Lisa Ashbaugh, manager of convention host development for the Greater Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"Any time you have 32,000 people coming to town, you're going to make lots of money," said Ashbaugh, noting that many participants bring younger family members with them. She said those supporters might be so impressed with Pittsburgh that when they return home, they'll drum up more visitors and convention business for the city.

Surveys have also shown the athletes to be better educated and from more professional backgrounds than is typical of their age group.

Bankhead said their dedication to their sport made the Senior Olympics the major trip of the year for many.

"They don't throw money away, but they'll go to good restaurants, they'll buy nice things, they'll shop in your better stores," Bankhead said. "Most of them like to live in a good hotel, but you've got ones who'll come in their campers, too."

Mel and Ella Zimmerman of Hopewell, both national medalists in archery and competing again in Hampton Roads, prefer to stay with friends in suite-style hotels when they attend.

They've made friends with a variety of people from participating. Traveling to other cities is part of the pleasure, but with Pittsburgh hosting in 2005, they see it as one factor that could prompt more of their friends and neighbors their age to become more active.

"You meet a lot of people, and it really is enjoyable. It's very serious competition when you're competing, but when you're not, it's very festive," said Ella, 75. "It gives you a good feeling to know they're coming here, to show off where we live."