THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 29, 1996 TAG: 9605290536
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GULFPORT, MISS. LENGTH: 99 lines
At times fighting back tears, Blake Cullen bade an emotional farewell Tuesday to the East Coast Hockey League.
``There's never a right time for something like this, but I felt like the franchise needed a shakeup,'' said Cullen after the ECHL's board of governors voted 19-0 to approve the sale of his Hampton Roads Admirals to Mark Garcea and Page Johnson.
``This was a difficult thing for me to do.''
Cullen, who brought the Admirals to Hampton Roads as an expansion franchise seven years ago, introduced Garcea and Johnson to the board and recommended them highly because they are Tidewater natives who own the Hampton Roads Mariners and have a minority interest in the Norfolk Tides.
Following the vote, Cullen was presented a plaque from league president Rick Adams. Then he and the new owners were accorded a standing ovation.
Cullen met briefly with the news media, then departed for a business meeting in New Orleans as Garcea assumed Cullen's seat at the boardroom table.
The price of the sale isn't known. Cullen had sought $2.8 million for the franchise he purchased for $25,000 in 1989, but it is believed the final price was lower.
Cullen, who plans to continue to live in downtown Norfolk, acknowledged that five weeks of grueling negotiations with Garcea and Johnson left him emotionally spent. Negotiations nearly broke down several times, and not until Sunday was the deal finalized.
``There was always a chance it wouldn't happen, and quite frankly, until very recently, I thought it wasn't going to happen,'' he said.
``(Disagreements during the negotiations) were all over technicalities. The deal overwhelmed me. I did not expect a 38-page document and I did not understand clauses such as `whereas paragraph 4.1 refers to 7.36'. But yet I wanted to see it through.
``It caused me a lot of anguish.''
Yet he praised Garcea and Johnson and pledged to help them.
His only advice was to ``lock (head coach) John Brophy up and turn it over to him like I did.''
Brophy, the team's only head coach, doesn't have a contract for next season. Garcea and Johnson are trying to set up an appointment with Brophy to discuss a contract.
Cullen, who was accompanied by Wayne Souza, the Virginia Beach attorney who negotiated the sale, said he wants to invest in other sports ventures, including baseball and hockey teams.
``I've got about seven projects I'm looking at in sports,'' he said. ``The whole purpose of (selling the Admirals) was to get out of the day-to-day running of one franchise. I think it's time to not stuff the programs and cook the hot dogs.
``I hope to get two, three or four franchises in various sports, hopefully get some bright young people who've worked for me in the past, put them into running it ... then, as Wayne says, we'll sell those off for $19 million.''
Cullen choked up when he spoke of the franchise's two ECHL championships and the team's followers.
``The fans have been the story of this franchise from day one,'' he said. ``Yes, the team won championships and we won 65 percent of our games, but it's the fans of Hampton Roads who made minor league hockey what it is today.
``Everybody stood up and took notice of us. Because of us Cincinnati came into the league, because of us Louisiana is in the league now. I don't think our fans realize the wide-reaching effects that they had in helping America rediscover hockey on the minor league level.''
He choked up again when asked to recount his best and worst memories with the Admirals, which, ironically, came five minutes apart.
``The greatest moment in my more than 30 years in sports was the night (in the fall of 1991) when we raised the banner from our first championship. The fans were so emotional, I was getting teary-eyed, the fans were screaming and yelling.
``Five minutes later that ---- from Columbus smashes Harry Mews in the jaw.''
A Columbus player sitting on the bench hit Mews with his stick as the Admirals player skated past. Mews had to undergo emergency surgery.
``I went from the happiest night of my life in sports to holding this young man's hand coming off the operating table after a life-threatening operation,'' he said.
Cullen's relationship with his ECHL brethren was stormy. He acknowledged that recent changes in the league hastened his exit. He was an outspoken opponent of the salary cap, and the rampant cheating on the cap by some teams. He also vehemently opposed the league's encroachment into novelty sales, team trademarks and advertising sales.
``Things have changed,'' he said with a sigh. ``Going over some things we did today ... if I were still (the Admirals owner), I'd be screaming and yelling.
``It was very simple when I was acting general manager of the (Chicago) Cubs for two years. I remember (Phil) Wrigley's advice to me about league meetings was to vote on everything like it's your own money. I'm not sure they (ECHL owners) do that now.''
Nonetheless, he will be missed, said Charlotte Checkers president Carl Scheer, one of several owners recruited to the ECHL by Cullen.
``It hurts like hell that we're going to lose him,'' Scheer said. ``He's a big league man who has done so much for us.
``His voice has been a strong voice. We didn't always take his advice, but we always listened. He challenged us, and will be missed.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Blake Cullen... by CNB