THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 20, 1996 TAG: 9606180160
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 05 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT McCASKEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 58 lines
Friday will be a special day for two Norfolk residents selected as torchbearers for the Olympics.
Late Friday evening, Lonnie Blow and Nelson Slavin each will carry the torch about three-quarters of a mile in the Richmond leg of the Olympic torch relay.
``I found out I was selected in February, and the closer it gets the more excited I get,'' said Blow, a teacher/counselor and head basketball coach at Granby High School.
``I'm anxious,'' said Slavin, a retired civil servant. ``I just hope I can do justice for the people who selected me.''
Blow, 36, and Slavin, 83, were chosen for the honor as part of a national search conducted by the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games and the United Way's Community Heroes program. The United Way, through local chapters nationwide, helped select people who have made outstanding contributions to their communities.
``Lonnie rescued a 3-year-old girl from a fire in Portsmouth last year,'' said Connie Collins, director of marketing and communications for the United Way of South Hampton Roads. ``He's just one of those all-around great guys.''
Slavin has had a lifetime of volunteering efforts in the community, Collins said, including more than 40 years with local Masonic lodges. He is the chairman of the Sunshine Committee with Norfolk Masonic Lodge No. 1. The committee provides medical equipment such as wheelchairs, crutches and beds to area handicapped, and also assists the disabled with transportation needs.
Blow, a lifelong athlete, said that as a boy he always had dreamed of being in the Olympics, not in any particular event, just being in the Games in some way.
``Carrying the torch is my gold medal,'' said Blow, who lives in Sherwood Forest.
``I'm going to try to make the kilometer,'' said Slavin, who lives near DePaul Hospital. ``Things try to slow you down after you are 83 years young, but the Lord will be with me.''
Seven South Hampton Roads residents, five from Virginia Beach, were chosen to be community hero torchbearers.
About 10,000 torchbearers were selected nationwide: 5,500 community heroes, 2,500 runners from Coca-Cola's ``Share the Spirit'' campaign, and some 2,000 past Olympians, sponsors, dignitaries and celebrities.
The relay began in Los Angeles on April 27. The torch is scheduled to arrive in Richmond from Charlottesville about 8:30 Friday evening and will stay there overnight. On Saturday morning the flame will be run to Petersburg and on to South Hill before crossing the North Carolina border about 3:30 p.m. The torch will arrive in Atlanta July 19 for the opening ceremony of the 1996 Olympic Summer Games. ILLUSTRATION: Retired civil servant Nelson Slavin, left, and Granby
teacher, counselor and head basketball coach Lonnie Blow will carry
the Olympic torch.
Staff photos by, left, CHRISTOPHER REDDICK and, above, by MIKE
HEFFNER by CNB