14
IJIAA bAt>AklbALL lUUKNAMbNI
February 2006
Group effort secured Charlotte as host
By C. Jcnuil Horton
hOH THECHARtxrrrEmsT
Shoulder to shoulder, iirmed with a
modest dauntlessness and a presenta
tion for the ages, Chjirlottes sports
business dream team traipsed into
Norfolk, Va., imd dazzled the CIAA
Ikiard of Directors.
This was Nov. 15, 2004.
A triumvirate of com
munity leaders —
Patrick Cannon, Tim
Newmtui and Fkl Tap-
scott — had heim
charged with making
the trip and presenting
a bid to bring the popu-
hu" C/IAA Tbumament
to the Queen City.
Tapscott, president of the Charlotte
Bobcats, opened the prc*sentation that
day by informing the (’lAA about the
benefits of the new uptown arena,
which wasn’t set to open for several
months but, Tapscott assured, would
be the ideal venue for the tournament.
Newman, Chief Executive OffiaT of
the Charlotte liegional Visitors
Authority, served as “the banker,” lay
ing out the cit/s aimmitment to pn>-
Cannon
vide scholarship money — $1 million
per year - to the CIAA’s General Schol
arship Fund.
And Cannon, then mayor pn> tern,
sold the vision of Charlotte as a city,
detailing how upUiwn would trans
form into a “(’lAA Village” where
everything was in walking distance - a
first for the tournament — if the event
came here.
The Norfolk dream
team, backed by many
others here in Char
lotte, put together a
scenario the CIAA
aiuld not refuse.
CIAA Commissioner
Leon Kerry came here
on a “fact-finding mis
sion” three days after
the presentation. By mid-December,
Charlotte had wrested the CIAATbur-
nament away from Raleigh and been
awarded to play host to the nation’s
second-large*st aille^ge basketball tour
nament in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
For the vital rolc^ they playe*d in
landing the tournament. Cannon,
Newman and Tapscott have been
named The Charlotte Post’s 2005
Newsmakers of the Year.
Tapscott
“The aimmissioner has said. Until
you all came in luid made your pre
sentation, it was really a formality -
we were going to stay with Raleigh,
but you guys really opencKl our eyes in
that presentation,”’ Newman said
without bragging.
Sell hard, stay humble
While Cannon, Newman and Tap
scott were confident in
what Charlotte had to
offer the CIAA, neither
man was cocky as he
entered the presenta
tion. Johnson C. Smith
President Dorothy
Yancy playc*d a role in
making certain that
didn’t happen.
“Dr. Yancy has been
dying for this thing to come to Char
lotte for her entire 10 years at Smith,
and she was giving as her sense of it,”
Newman said. “She said, Tou’ve got to
go put on a real convincing show. Don’t
leave anything on the table. You’ve got
to really sell them on the vision of
Charlotte.’
“So we had a little bit of an underdog
feeling going in, which I think is
always good. And I said all through
Newman
the procc^ss, ^e’ve got to sell like we’re
in first place, but work like we're ir
last place.’ We couldn’t take anything
for granted. Be professioniil, be opti
mistic, but dig to make sure that wc
don’t leave anything on the table.”
Economic, scK'ial impact
The tournament begins Feb. 27
with the tip-off of the first women’ir
game, and concludes on March 4, with
the men’s and women’s finals.
The CIAA will be advantageous foi
Charlotte on many levels. Foi
starters, when the tournament was ir
Raleigh, it typically had an economi
impact of $12 million on that city each
year. Newman said Charlotte shoulc
expect to bring in that much — at £
minimum.
But the social ramifications are jusi
as critical as the economic impact.
“I certainly look at these studies thal
say, from a trust standpoint, from £
tolerance standpoint, there are areaf
we need to work on,” Newman said
“Well, we’re going to have what I thint
is the biggest African-American evenl
in the country, in many ways, here ir
town. That, I think, sends a positive
message.”
Please see GROUP on page 17
CIAA inducts five into McLendon Hall of Fame
Class ()f2(X)6 includes NFL great, D.C.
sports editor and women s volleyball pioneer
SPEC!At. m THE CHAfiUrtTE POST
HAMITON, Va. - The CIAA has
selected its 2006 ClAA McLendon
Hall of F'ame inductees who will be
formally installed at the John B.
Mclxmdon Hall of Fame Luncheon
Mtirch 3 at the Westin Hotel at 11 a.m.
• Hal Jackson, former sports editor
of the Afro-American Newspaper
(Washington, D.C.) is being honored
for his servit'e to the CIAA basketbtill
toumiiment dating back to its inau
gural year at TVimer Arena in Wash
ington, D.C. Jackson was the radio
pnimoter for the first t4)umament tmd
also served as announcer while it was
in Washington.
The former owner of the Washington
Bears was one of the first adv(x^aU«
for bniadciisting black collegia bowl
games on miyor networks. Jackson
has Ix?en on the radio since the kite
30s and currently serves as host and
executive pnxiucer of “Sunday Clas
sics” on New York’s 107.5.
• Winston-Salem State’s William
“Bill” English will join this class as the
CIAA’s single-game scoring record
holder with 77 points iigainst Fayet
teville State. *
A member of the WSSU Hall of
Fame and two-time All-America selec
tion in 1968 and 1969 and all-CIAA
and all-NAIA, this high scorer (2,113
points) ranks in WSSlTs history books
in scoring, free throws, field goals
made and rebounding.
• Pni F(X)tbiill Hall of Famer Art
Shell of Maryliind Eastern Shore led
the Oakland Raiders as head coach
fmm 1989-94, making him the first
African-Americiin head coach in the
NFL’s modem era.
DrafUKl fnim Maryland State-East
ern Shore, Shell hiid an outstanding
ciireer with the Riiiders as an offen
sive tackle from 1968-82. After his
playing career. Shell was the Raiders’
offensive line coach from 1983-89.
Earlier this month. Shell was again
muned Riiiders head coach.
• Mike Davis, an elite baskethiill
star fnim Virginia Union, spent three
seasons with the Pimthers.
As VUU’s all-time leading scorer
with 2,758 points, Davis earned all-
ainference honors each of his three
years and was named the 1969 CIAA
Player of the Year. He is ^e sec(^. all-
See FIVE on oaoe 20
Maryland
Eastern
Shore foot
ball standout
Art Shell was
inducted into
the CIAA
McLendon
Hall of Fame.
After his col
lege days,
Shell was a
standout
offensive
tackle with
the Oakland
Raiders, then
made history
as the first
African Amer
ican head
coach in
modern NFL
history. Earli
er this month,
he was hired
for a second
stint as
Raiders head
coach.
PHOTO/OAKLAND RAIDERS