Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 9, 1993 TAG: 9306090200
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
King will remain chairman at least through this summer's event, nost of which is scheduled for July 15-18.
King has been chairman of the board since its inception in February 1989, 16 months before the first Games were held. The 4-year-old event has drawn thousands of athletes to the Roanoke Valley and pumped millions of dollars into the area's economy.
Publicly, King may be remembered most for ousting the Games' creator and former executive director, Doug Fonder, in January 1992 for what King said were financial reasons.
King was criticized by some for that move, but the Games survived and are on surer financial footing. That done, King said, he will abdicate.
He may stay on as chairman until 1994 to work with his successor. The VAS board has formed a nominating committee to pick the new chairman.
"If we can set up some continuity of leadership, that's a nice legacy," King said Monday.
King's reign included a battle last year with Sports Virginia of Richmond, which stages its own state games and sought control over where the Commonwealth Games - the nationally sanctioned official event in Virginia - would be held. King was adamant that the Roanoke-based VAS would keep control of the Games, and they stayed in Roanoke.
Board member David Paxton, a Roanoke lawyer, said the new chairman may or may not continue King's position. But, he said, "the organization itself has had to fight too hard to get where it is and endured too much crap just to knuckle under."
Board member John Heil, a Roanoke physician, said the Games can survive front-office turnover in part because of the turmoil after Fonder left. At the time, Heil was skeptical of King's leadership.
"The board made it a point to get more actively involved and have a more personal connection with the Games," Heil said. "The real difference was the community support . . . when the community almost lost the Games.
"If we had had that before, Doug Fonder would still be running the Games. We didn't. But we have it now. And we have capable leadership."
by CNB