Road to Rio

Competition concluded this weekend for the Powerade State Games of NC. Our home grown Olympic-style sports festival may not be a global spectacle like the Rio games in August, but this is where Olympic dreams take shape!

A total of 12,000 participants (770 teams) converged on the Triangle each weekend in June to compete in over 25 sports from swimming to BMX, from skateboarding to fencing. 

Capitol Broadcasting Co. was a sponsor, a commitment with deep roots. In 1986, we helped to found the first State Games of NC and Durham-based NC Amateur Sports. This year, Wool E. Bull was honored to light the Opening Ceremonies cauldron at the WRAL Soccer Center. Adam Gold of 99.9 The Fan was master of ceremonies.

In Durham, we hosted Disc Golf, Pickleball and Tack & Field. There were about 6400 participants and spectators at the Bull City venues.

Disc Golf aficionados designed a unique course at American Tobacco for about 90 participants who targeted parking garage decks, the Famous Bull and home plate at the DBAP. About 500 spectators followed the disc golfers around the campus.

Duke's Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center had never hosted a Pickleball competition before. There were 186 players.

Track & Field, Durham County Stadium. This year's competition had a Rio hallo. Manteo Mitchell, an Olympian from Shelby NC participated, prepping for his Olympic trials.

Of Zombies & Zealots

My friend DJ Mitsch has written a new book Zombies to Zealots, Reawaken the Human Spirit at Work! From the introduction:

The world's largest and most successfully traded companies are full of disengaged, cynical members who leave weekly meetings to mindlessly follow orders out of fear of consequences...

But the book isn't a screed. DJ's purpose: Call your spirit back into the work you do.

And that brings me to my colleagues at the Durham Bulls Baseball Club. Not a zombie to be found. Every last one a zealot!

Last Thursday we finished a mash-up of multiple Bulls home stands, Duke baseball games at the DBAP and the 15-game ACC Baseball Championship. That was a total of 39 games in 35 days. And I didn't bother to count the additional meetings and events hosted in the PNC Triangle Club. Our front office staff, operations department, grounds crew and F&B staff have been sorely tested. They have prevailed!

It's a privilege to work with this crew. They bring their spirit to work. (And thankfully, we don't have another game until June 20th.)

The ACC Baseball Championship Game on May 29th - emblematic of the 6th rainiest May in the Triangle since 1945. After eight hours and twenty minutes, including three rain delays, Clemson beat Florida State 18-13. The next day, Memorial Day, the Bulls began a seven-day home stand.

Citizen Clement

Howard Clement is remembered as a champion of civil rights and civic life. 

[June 6th Durham City Council Resolution | WRAL.com story]

I remember the City Councilman who loved baseball, who brought his grandson to Bulls games.

At Capitol Broadcasting Co. we remember "unfiltered" Howard. He seriously took our company to the woodshed in the late 1980s when we proposed a new ballpark near the airport. Amidst that major problem, he became part of the solution, and the Durham Bulls Athletic Park came to be.

CBC's Corporate Counsel in those days, Mike Hill, remembers Howard's admonishment "the ballpark has to be for all of Durham." So, Mike made sure local favorite Dillard's Barbecue was served at the new ball yard, and in the community, we kickstarted the Durham Bulls Youth Athletic League..."for all of Durham."

After the DBAP came the redevelopment of American Tobacco, and Howard helped to galvanize City and County support for the project that revived downtown Durham.

Then, I remember the Q&A at our annual First Pitch luncheon ten years ago in Bay 7 at American Tobacco. We had planted a few softball questions in the audience for the panel discussion. Howard stands up, veering off-script, and asks a Rays exec what the team was doing to develop African American players. A little awkward. And unfiltered. But authentic.

Howard Clement III (1934-2016) A man of many interests, dedicated to many causes and organizations. A true public servant. A baseball fan. We miss him at the DBAP.