Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 19, 1991                   TAG: 9102190120
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

STATE GAMES HAS NEW NAME

The annual Olympic-style sports festival held in the Roanoke Valley has been renamed the Commonwealth Games of Virginia, following the loss of title sponsorship.

The second Games will be held June 27-July 7 as planned, said Ken King, chairman of the board of Virginia Amateur Sports Inc.

More than 6,000 athletes are expected to compete in an expanded schedule, with 36 sports.

The CorEast State Games lost the title sponsor Feb. 1 when the Resolution Trust Corp. placed CorEast Savings Bank in federal receivership. VAS, the non-profit organization that developed and runs the Games, had a three-year, $500,000 sponsorship contract with the thrift.

King, a Roanoke lawyer, said Monday that the RTC "has indicated that it will not be able to honor the balance of the CorEast obligation."

Doug Fonder, executive director of VAS and the director of the Commonwealth Games, met last week with Ronald Rizner, the RTC's managing agent for the renamed CorEast Federal Savings Bank. The RTC is the arm of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. that manages and tries to bring resolvency to troubled banks and thrifts.

Before the federal takeover, CorEast already had paid VAS $75,000 of the $150,000 sponsorship for the 1991 Games, including a check for $37,500 delivered only a couple of hours before the feds took control.

The $75,000 loss of potential CorEast money is about 20 percent of the VAS operating budget for 1991.

VAS, in recognition of the support and contributions of CorEast to get the Roanoke-based Games started, will continue to use many of the materials prepared in advance for the 1991 Games - material on which CorEast's name is printed.

Games director Bob Hartman said VAS still has about $25,000 or $30,000 inventory with CorEast's name, including medals and T-shirts.

King stressed that the Commonwealth Games "remain on track" and are sound financially and organizationally for the future. He said it is unlikely that VAS will find a title sponsor before the 1991 Games.

"Certainly we would welcome a major sponsor," King said. "We do have $100,000 or more committed to the Games already. What we have to do is find a way to replace some of the balance that we would have received from CorEast.

"We are counting on the generosity of businesses, communities and individuals. We were lucky enough that we had done some multiyear buying."

The renamed Commonwealth Games of Virginia are sanctioned as the "official state games" of Virginia by the National Congress of State Games and are endorsed by the Governor's Council on Sports and Fitness.

The Commonwealth Games, however, could not simply drop the "CorEast" from the event's title and use Virginia State Games. That title has been used by Richmond-based Sports Virginia Inc. for its summer games.

Fonder was unavailable for comment Monday. He is in Meridian, Miss., where the chamber of commerce invited the VAS director to advise the city in its plans to start the state games concept for 1992. The Roanoke-based Games have been recognized in the national congress for their start-up success.

Hartman said a logo for the the Commonwealth Games of Virginia is being prepared.