Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 10, 1995 TAG: 9503100068
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Two Roanoke-area boxing promoters are seeking to stage professional bouts on the historic building's third floor, the now-empty Star City Ballroom.
Roanoke natives Lewis ``Rick'' Hawkins and Melanie Steele are negotiating for a lease of the 5,000-square-foot ballroom with Fralin & Waldron, contract managers of the city-owned building.
Steelhawk Promotions, their corporation, would promote monthly professional fights as well as concerts, fashions shows and perhaps theater productions in the ballroom. Their scheme could even lead to outdoor boxing matches in Victory Stadium.
Meanwhile, Hawkins wants to start an amateur boxing program at a Roanoke gym.
The pair outlined their plans to the city Architectural Review Board on Thursday, where the issue was signs.
Steelhawk Promotions wants to put red neon signs on the signless market building to attract interest from guests at the soon-to-open Hotel Roanoke, pedestrians on a glitzy downtown walkway above Norfolk Southern railroad tracks, and motorists on Interstate 581.
The pair wants signs on the front and rear of the building, as well as directly above each doorway. The neon would be visible at night; during the day, the signs would appear as white letters over a hunter green background.
``Basically, what you've got now is a $7 million walkway drawing visitors into a no-name building,'' Hawkins said. ``We feel the entire City Market would benefit from the signs. We would benefit ... as far as building a business.''
After haggling over where the signs would go and a bit over the size, the board agreed conceptually with Steelhawk's plans. But formal approval must await submission of detailed drawings and mock-up of the sign Steelhawk wants to install.
``I think it's an excellent idea to put a sign on the building. I think it needs to be there,'' board member Kenneth Motley said.
But ``this is the one building where we don't want it to be inappropriate,'' said board member Tim Jamieson.
Pro boxing is nothing new either to Roanoke or the City Market building. The old Roanoke Auditorium at 9 E. Church Ave. was the scene of many pro bouts dating to the 1930s. After it burned down, the fights were moved to the City Market.
In the 1950s, the ballroom was a popular venue for intercollegiate boxing. It last held a ring in the 1970s, when it was a showcase for a local Junior Olympic team.
Even to this day, ``mention Roanoke, Virginia, in boxing circles, and it still rings a bell,'' Steele said.
As it is now, Hawkins estimates the ballroom could seat 450 patrons; with renovations, it could be expanded to seat 700.
``We want those fights to be as close as possible to the old-time smokers,'' Hawkins said.
Hawkins, who lives at Smith Mountain Lake, is a 1977 Fleming High School football star who lists former pro bass fisherman and stints in Wall Street and Beverly Hills, Calif., stock brokerages on his resume.
He made a splash in national news in 1994, when he alleged during a child custody hearing that his wife, Miss Virginia Lisa Aliff, had had an affair with Hollywood comedian and actor Dan Ackroyd.
They have since been divorced, and both Ackroyd and Aliff denied the allegations.
Steele, who graduated from Patrick Henry High School in 1980, has worked for the last five years as chief assistant for promotions for Rick Parker Presents Inc., an Orlando, Fla.-based boxing promoter.
by CNB