ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, June 18, 1996 TAG: 9606180059
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
JANET YORK will run with the flame for a few minutes when it passes through Charlottesville on Friday.
According to Andy Warhol's assertion that everyone would have 15 minutes of fame, Janet York could feel shortchanged.
Forget it. Her accomplishment and notoriety will be singular. York is the only Roanoker among the 5,500 Community Hero Torchbearers in toting the flame toward the Centennial Games in Atlanta. The remainder of the torchbearers are celebrities and contest winners, including other Roanoke Valley residents.
``I'm surprised, and really honored,'' said York, whose trip with the flame will last about three minutes and travel a few blocks on Friday evening in Charlottesville, as the torch leads for Richmond after a ceremony on The Lawn at the University of Virginia. ``It's been an exciting time for me.''
York, a legal assistant at Glenn, Feldmann, Darby and Goodlatte, came home from work on day this winter to find a UPS envelope at her home. She noticed the Atlanta return address, and then the word ``Olympics,'' and said she thought, ``Great, maybe somebody's sending me free tickets.''
She was stunned when she opened the letter to learn that she not only had been nominated to be a torchbearer, but also had been selected as one of a group known as the Community Hero Torchbearers. Ten thousand Community Hero Torchbearers will carry the flame for 84 days across the U.S.
York, 43 and a divorced mother of two, was nominated by Virginia Amateur Sports executive director Pete Lampman. York is the volunteer chairperson for the annual Commonwealth Games of Virginia, the Olympic-style sports festival staged primarily in the Roanoke Valley. She also is a volunteer with the Virginia Special Olympics.
``At first, it really didn't sink in what it meant,'' said York, a native Roanoker. ``As the day has gotten closer, it has. I've watched the items about the torch run on the news and kind of kept track of it.''
In Lampman's nomination, he said York ``continually gives a major part of her life back to the community.''
When first nominated, York was hoping she would be running with the flame in her hometown, and she's a bit unhappy the torch run won't come through Southwest Virginia.
York's run with the torch will come a few minutes after it leaves The Lawn. She will take the torch at the corner of Jefferson Park Avenue and Main Street, and run down Main to Ninth Street before handing off the 31/2-pound torch. Her tentative Friday run time is 6:56-6:59 p.m.
``I guess I can make it that far,'' York said, laughing. ``I'm not a runner, and I think a lot of people have the misunderstanding you have to be a runner to do this. I just don't want to drop the torch.''
York said she became intererested in running for fitness a few years ago and entered a couple of road races ``sort of as a challenge to myself, and I think I surprised myself just to finish,'' she said. York said she now gets most of her fitness miles by walking.
York's daughter, Lindsey, 16, and son, Tyler, 10, will accompany her to Charlottesville. A month from now, their mom will watch the Summer Games a bit closer because of her own involvement with the Olympics.
``I think I appreciate it a bit more now, because I see what goes on behind the scenes and what it takes just to put on an Olympic-style event like the Commonwealth Games and the Special Olympics,'' York said. ``I really appreciate this opportunity, and I know there are others who deserve it, people I've met who have given so much of their time, especially those who work with the Special Olympics. If you work with those once, you're sort of in for life. That's how special it is.''
York is getting new shoes to wear for her three minutes. The torch-run organizers have warned torchbearers not to display logos on the Atlanta Games T-shirt and shorts that each wears. Each torchbearer also may purchase the torch he or she carries for $275.
``I'm going to buy it,'' York said. ``I'll keep it as a momento.''
That, and the burning Olympic memories.
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: WAYNE DEEL Staff Janet York has been carrying a torchby CNBfor amateur athletics for years. color.