THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 1, 1995 TAG: 9509290167
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Ida Kay's Portsmouth
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
Last Wednesday night was a real digression from my usual course of activities.
I went to the Tip-Off party of the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament (PIT), a spring basketball event that is now in its 44th year.
Usually I stay away from sports - for two very good reasons.
One, I don't know anything about them. My main interest is not very sporting: I just want to know who won - and only only then if it involves Wake Forest.
Two, Portsmouth Sports Editor Bill Leffler doesn't miss anything that has to do with sports in Portsmouth. He's a walking encyclopedia of personalities and events and he continues to keep up with it all.
But PIT has all sorts of angles, some that have nothing to do with basketball.
The Tip-Off party historically has been held at Obici House, which now is leased and out of the control of the city Parks and Recreation Department. The 44th annual edition was moved Downtown to the Children's Museum, one of the beneficiaries of previous PIT committee largesse.
Last year the committee gave away $19,000 to a variety of good causes, and it continued its scholarship project.
``It really is a good event,'' tournament chairman Mahlon Parker said. ``It is one of the good and successful things going on in Ports-mouth.''
Interestingly enough, Parker was part of the very first PIT, in 1952, when he was a Wilson High basketball player, and he's been involved ever since. Now he works for the Coast Guard in facilities design.
``The 1995 PIT was a good year, but we're going to make 1996 a better one,'' he told sponsors and supporters gathered at the Children's Museum. ``In 1994 the paid attendance was the greatest we've ever had, but there still were unsold seats, and we can do better.''
Although the tournament is not until April 3-6, Parker said supporters should ``get started'' to sell tickets.
For many years the PIT was attended by a sell-out crowd at the old Wilson High gym. Then it moved to Churchland, where the gym has 3,200 seats, over a thousand more than Wilson.
That gave the PIT committee an opportunity to make more money, but it also put the onus on its members to sell more tickets.
``We sell more every year, and this might be the year we get back to a sell-out,'' Parker said.
The PIT attracts some of the nation's best college basketball players, who play on teams sponsored by local businesses. Coaches and scouts from most professional teams come to look them over.
``Players come here with big dreams,'' Parker said, ``and many have realized their dreams here.''
For basketball fans, the PIT put Portsmouth on the map - and on television. Al Spradlin, a committee member and one-time public relations man for Virginia Chemicals, said Wednesday that he believes the tournament will be televised next spring.
``This really is a big-time tournament,'' he said.
The PIT really is a good thing for Portsmouth's image, and fortunately the committee stood its ground 10 or so years ago when there was pressure to move the tournament to Norfolk's Scope.
Had that happened, the tournament no longer would belong to Portsmouth and probably would not have continued as a volunteer effort with all of the support from local people. While the city's Parks and Recreation Department is involved, the volunteers basically control and run the show.
PIT is a wonderful example of a private-public partnership that pays off for Portsmouth.
And it really does pay off in a lot of ways.
``We've generated more than $300,000 for charitable causes over the years,'' Parker said. ``It affects a lot of people in different ways.''
City Councilman Jim Martin, who also has Wake Forest in his past, said this at the Tip-Off: ``It's a premier event. It generates publicity for Portsmouth that we couldn't buy even if we had the money.''
Which brings me to an important point: If you have friends in other cities who like basketball, use the PIT as a way to lure them to Portsmouth.
The more people who come see our city, the better. by CNB