Torch Relay Part 1

My interest in the Olympic torch relay can be traced back to 1984. I happened to be driving down Peachtree Street near Colony Square when I passed the very small torch relay convoy, headed toward the Los Angeles Olympics. Little did I know the level of my future involvement.

Before the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Coca-Cola took applications for what was to be the largest torch relay ever. I carefully read the rules, and sent in an application. Actually, several applications. I figured that since interest in the 96 Olympics were highest in Atlanta, my chances of being selected were better in other places. So I applied wherever I knew people. Besides Atlanta, I applied in Macon, Jefferson SC, Tarkio Missouri, Auburn Indiana, and Winston Salem, NC.

Quite fortuitously, I was selected TWICE: in northern Indiana to represent Ceil’s cousin Dic Dac Rollins’ Auburn residence, and near Wake Forest University in Winston Salem. Auburn jumped on the bandwagon, including my name in an article in the local paper.

GARY, INDIANA: In early June Ceil and I packed our three year old son Will into our car and hit the road past Indianapolis, and on up to Auburn. I was able to tour Dic Dac’s new steel mill, Steel Dynamics. We drove to Gary in two cars, and I reported for duty with the other torchbearers.

Interestingly, my small group of torchbearers included another employee from my company. Ryerson brought along a photographer to capture the action. Later photographs were published both in the Ryerson company newsletter and the southeastern Tull Today magazine. After some shots were taken of me with the other employee, and with Ceil, Will, and the Rollins, we boarded the bus and we were on our way.

The bus traveled through Gary and fell in place with the multi-vehicle relay. Several motorcycles, decked-out Chevys, a media truck, and two other torchbearer busses made up the parade. Advance vehicles passed out small flags and pennants. The first bus dropped off the torchbearers one at a time, and the second bus picked them up after their run. Day after day for one hundred days and ten thousand torchbearers…all highly organized.

The sun was setting, and the relay was bathed in the glow of streetlights, the lights from all the relay vehicles, and flashing police lights. I was amazed at all the people lining the streets of Gary, cheering and waving. At stops our guide encouraged us torchbearers to step out and greet the onlookers. This was quite fun.

Finally it was my turn. The bus pulled up to where Ceil and her gang stood. Dic and Debbie’s daughter Hillary waved the torch relay flag, marking the drop off point. I stepped off the bus, holding my torch. An exuberant black lady stepped in to greet me. The Ryerson photographer snapped away. The official torch expert hopped off the back of a motorcycle to make sure my torch was turned on, and working properly. Things were starting to happen faster.

All set, I looked back down the street and watched as the torchbearer before me approached. He took his job seriously, with buzz cut hair and the sleeves of his white torch relay shirt cut off (against the torch relay regulations). The guy ran his quarter-mile fast, taxing the endurance of the two hefty policeman/escort runners trying to keep up.

Showtime. I stepped out into the street, turned on my torch (by twisting the base), and held it outstretched in the air. As the big escort runners caught their breath, Buzz Cut lit my torch with his. I smiled, turned, and took off in a trot. The photographer snapped a picture that would later appear on the cover of Tull Today. Dic Dac captured the moment on our videocamera.

My quarter mile run was relatively uneventful. I remember all the lights, the media truck in front of me, my escorts appreciative of my slower pace. I could’ve run faster, but I wanted to enjoy the moment. A moment that seemed to pass all too quickly. I ran to the base of the interstate bridge and lit the next torchbearer’s torch, and it was over. The torch man drained the remaining fuel from my torch, and I boarded the torchbearer pickup bus.

The rest of the evening was anticlimactic. As the last bus of the evening, by the time we reached the Gary torch relay celebration stage, we had missed the ceremony. Former Olympic gymnasts Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner, now husband and wife, were honored. Ceil and the Rollins drove back to Auburn, and I checked into a nearby hotel. The next day I toured Ryerson’s Chicago plant, drove around Chicago a little, and stopped by the Notre Dame campus in South Bend on the way back to Auburn.