Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 4, 1991 TAG: 9103040087
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL HOWES BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Worse, the favored Atlantic Coast Conference will play its tournament the same weekend, drawing attention from the so-called "Rally in the Valley." Ticket sales are off. Bad weather in a region ill-equipped for it would sound the death knell.
John Clarke is afraid to check his Farmer's Almanac. It might say, "Snow."
But that wouldn't stop the Dominion Bank executive, whose deft culling of corporate sponsorships is already being called the savior of a tournament buffeted by forces beyond its control.
Many who know Clarke consider him an unparalleled salesman whose passions for Tech, the Roanoke Valley and Dominion Bank are driving him to sell corporate Western Virginia on a three-day sporting event that may never again happen here.
Consider the numbers: Last year's tournament in Biloxi, Miss., was buoyed by $83,000 in corporate sponsorships. In Roanoke, the sponsorships are nearly double - $150,000 - more than any single year in the tournament's 16-year history.
That's the way it ought to be, Clarke says. Negativism is a foreign concept, personal promotion and self-congratulation a trait in others. "I hate the word `I,' " he said, sidestepping praise for his fund-raising acumen.
Tournament saviors are Tech, the city of Roanoke and Dominion Bank, he insists. Of the fund-raising effort, he says: "If we haven't done anything else - the city of Roanoke, Roanoke County and the city of Salem are all corporate sponsors."
"I tried not to be guilty of any arm-twisting or calling in a chit for the bank," he said, visibly uncomfortable talking about himself. "I did use some persuasive lingo where necessary."
His technique, many say, is more gentle persuasion than brusque deal-making. "John has a special ability to appeal to people and to communicate with people," said Lu Merritt, a Dominion vice president in Blacksburg who also co-chairs the Metro '91 committee.
Clarke spreads the credit around. "So many of these [companies] stepped up early on and said, `How can we help?' That was before the big R word."
Recessions don't suppress his enthusiasm for an event he believes to be very important to the Roanoke Valley and his alma mater, Virginia Tech (Class of '57). He oozes conviction and commitment, works hard for the tournament because "this valley's been good to me."
"If you always empty out and you never put back, pretty soon you empty the biggest sack." That's what one of his fans calls a Clarkeism. The sayings, sometimes trite, reveal the man beneath the tweed jacket and white shirt.
"John doesn't tolerate ignorance, or mediocrity or negativeness very well," said Jess Newbern, Merritt's Metro committee co-chair. "He'll engage you shortly in a confrontation if you feel negatively about something he feels strongly about."
Merritt, who reports to Clarke at Dominion, agrees: "I think John has little patience for somebody who has not done the homework, was not prepared . . . whether it was job-related or the Metro tournament."
Clarke's hallmarks: hard work and discipline, kindliness and storytelling. This is a man who rises every day - except Sunday - at 4:30 a.m., breakfasts at 6 a.m. in Salem with a close group of successful valley business leaders, and is at his office in downtown Roanoke before 7.
There, he makes a point of talking to virtually everyone, asking after family members or offering words of encouragement. Often, a trademark story holds listeners spellbound. Few doubt his sincerity, describing "Big John" as genuinely friendly, outgoing, positive, energetic.
"It's not a fake or false friendliness," said Tech's Danny Monk, director of the Metro tournament. "He's been in the community so long that people have learned to trust him." So long that Mac and Bob's in Salem even serves a sandwich named for him.
Newbern, owner of Newbern-Trane Inc., a commercial air conditioning concern, calls corporate sponsorships "the saving grace" of the tournament. He credits Clarke with rallying the business community behind the event despite uncertain times.
For Clarke, the payoff is exposure, the chance to showcase Tech and the Roanoke Valley to other Metro schools and the NCAA. Other tournament cities may not have welcomed fans as well as they could, he says, but promises that Roanoke will. Reporters will get red-carpet treatment: continuous private shuttles, deli sandwiches after midnight, after deadline.
Metro Conference athletic directors who visited Roanoke last December in preparation for the tournament left feeling reassured that all would be made right before game time. They credit Clarke. After meeting the man one described as a pied piper, they knew peeling locker room walls would be repainted, arrangements would be cemented.
"Everywhere we walked in everybody knew him, everybody called him John," recalled Bill McLellan, athletic director at the University of Southern Mississippi. "He had a certain charisma. When John started to talk, everyone listened. The person that is the lead mule can make it happen."
by CNB