Taking a Break from Sarasota Real Estate

Remembering the 1996 Olympics

It's hard to believe that 12 years have passed so quickly. In the 1990s, I went to work at King & Spalding, one of Atlanta's premier law firms. My boss, Charlie Shaffer, was one of the 9 men responsible for all the hard work that preceded Atlanta winning the 1996 Olympic Games. Seeing all the television coverage of Beijing brings all the memories back. I'll be glued to the TV for the next three weeks pulling for our athletes and enjoying all the sites and venues of the 2008 Olympic Games. Sarasota real estate will be taking a break in the evenings.
Highlights from 1996:
King & Spalding represented corporate customers who passed out Olympic pins: UPS, Delta and Coke. I got a pin at Johnny Rockets, my favorite hamburger joint in Buckhead too. Pins were everywhere. I still have a little bag with a few I didn't give away.
My friend and Sarasota attorney, Stanley (Corky) Sergent, got permission from his wife, Connie, one of my best friends, to go solo to the Atlanta Games and stayed at my Atlanta home. We went to Olympic Park and checked out the bricks. Prior to the Olympics, you could buy a brick with your name engraved on it. Later the bricks were built into the walkways of Olympic Park. Corky and I left the park the night of his arrival and had dinner in Buckhead. Since I lived in the area on Lenox Road, I knew a little place that wouldn't be crowded with our international visitors.
Early the next morning, my mom called from Mississippi delighted to hear my voice on the phone. She told me about the bomb in Olympic Park and just knew that Corky and I were there. The bomb exploded about an hour after we left.
We were scheduled to see track competition the morning after the bomb. The security was very tight, and we waited for what seemed like hours under a tarp at the new Olympic stadium with other spectators as it was raining heavily. The mood of the crowd was uplifting!!!

Officials closed Olympic Park for several days after the bomb exploded while every newspaper in Atlanta pointed a finger at Richard Jewel -- poor guy, and law enforcement investigated the area. The park reopened with a ceremony featuring Billy Payne and Andrew Young. Charlie Shaffer, his daughter Emi and I attended a moving, tearful ceremony and once again the park was open for business.
The second week of the Olympics my friend and colleague, Gloria Blessing, from our office in Houston, TX arrived for a visit. Gymnastics and women's a men's basketball were on our Olympics agenda and The House of Blues! We lost Gloria shortly after the Olympics to cancer. She is missed and remembered.

Mary Anne Walser, a King & Spalding attorney, and I attended the final festivities of the 1996 compliments of Charlie Shaffer! Mary Anne is now a real estate agent with Keller Williams in Atlanta. I snapped this picture on closing night of Mary Anne with members of the Canadian team.
Mary Anne and I enjoyed these highlights: Charlie along with the original nine Atlanta Olympic organizers carrying the Olympic flag out of the stadium, rockn' to Little Richard, and enjoying the beautiful Georgia native Tricia Yearwood's performance. With flashing fireworks and a bright sign that said "Good Bye from Atlanta" -- it was over in a flash. Now it's 12 years later, and we're ready for Beijing. "Let the Games Begin."