THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 4, 1996 TAG: 9602040074
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
Swelling financial support for the Babe Ruth World Series for teenage baseball players here next summer promises to make the weeklong show one of the most heavily sponsored events ever on the Outer Banks.
The nonprofit Babe Ruth tournament annually displays the skills of the top 16- to 18-year-old players in the nation.
``The Dare County Tourist Bureau recently contributed $120,000, and the town of Nags Head gave $5,000. And we expect this kind of generosity to be matched by several other communities,'' said Charles Hartig, a Dare County spokesman and member of the Babe Ruth World Series organizing committee.
So much money has come in that the full $200,000 previously offered by the Northeast North Carolina Economic Development Commission to help televise the games may not be needed, another Babe Ruth official said.
Commission Chairman Jimmy Dixon, a Pasquotank County commissioner, said last week that the pump-priming economic panel remains ready with all or part of the $200,000 pledged for Outer Banks baseball this summer.
``We have the money earmarked but, frankly, we'd like to use some of that $200,000 for another project - like helping to fix up the Currituck Whalehead Club in Corolla,'' Dixon said.
Months ago, the development commission agreed to pay for Babe Ruth television coverage on the theory that national display of the games on the Outer Banks would benefit all of northeastern North Carolina.
But Dixon and other commission members emphasized they would have to have some kind of a signed contract from the games' sponsors before the commission could put up the state-funneled money.
``If we get a TV contract and if our help is needed we'll go along as originally decided,'' Dixon said Friday.
Hartig credited the burgeoning support for the Babe Ruth World Series to the enthusiasm of the Dare County Board of Commissioners.
He singled out Commission Chairman Bobby Owens and Manteo businessman Ray Hollowell for generating ``remarkable statewide and national interest in the games.''
In Manteo, 4,000 new spectator seats and a completely refurbished playing field at the Manteo High School will greet the 162 players from nine national districts in the summer games, which will run from Aug. 17 to 24.
Two thousand seats will be permanent, and 2,000 will be temporary bleachers, Hartig said.
At the Trenton, N.J., headquarters of the Babe Ruth League Inc., Ronald Tellefsen, president of the league, said he expected the weeklong series in Manteo would bring from $1.5 million to $2 million to Dare County and the Albemarle.
``We've already reserved 300 hotel rooms for the families of the players,'' said Tellefsen. ``The players themselves will stay with host families in the Dare County area.''
Members of the 18-member Dare County ``host'' team will include eight top players from the Albemarle area and 10 players from Dare County.
``Family'' tickets to all 22 of the planned Babe Ruth games will sell for $50, said Hartig, and single tickets for all of the events will cost $35. by CNB