DATE: Wednesday, October 1, 1997            TAG: 9710010629

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   64 lines

AREA TO HOST AAU JUNIOR OLYMPICS NATIONAL EVENT IS EXPECTED TO BRING 12,000 ATHLETES.

Hampton Roads officials have bagged the biggest prize yet in their effort to turn the region into an amateur sports Mecca - the 1998 AAU Junior Olympic Games.

The 1998 games, to be held July 28-Aug. 8, will bring the region a minimum of 12,000 athletes in 22 sports and an estimated $40 million in economic impact, officials from seven area cities will say today at a 2 p.m. press conference at Norfolk State University's Dick Price Stadium.

The seven cities - Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Newport News and Hampton - made a joint pitch in July at AAU meetings in Orlando to snag the Junior Olympics. They have also agreed to jointly fund the estimated $1.5 million budget for the games.

Sources say Hampton Roads also has an option to host the AAU Junior Olympics in 2000, 2001 or 2002.

The Junior Olympics, for athletes aged 9-18, is the largest of a series of events attracted to the region by one or more cities in recent months.

In July, Norfolk officials announced the McDonald's All-American game, the nation's most prestigious high school all-star basketball game, will be played at Scope in March of 1998.

Norfolk officials announced earlier this month that the 1998 USA Track and Field Southeastern Regional meet will be held at Norfolk State. That will bring 3,000 competitors to the region July 8-12.

Virginia Beach officials also announced this month they will host the 1999 AAU National Basketball Tournament for girls ages 14. That will bring 2,500 players, coaches and visitors to the region.

Norfolk began hosting a nationally televised hydroplane race this summer, will host an NBA exhibition game Oct. 18 at Scope and beginning this fall will host host the Group AAA state high school championship games in football, boys and girls basketball and all spring sports.

Most events were attracted at least in part by Billy Mann, a former Old Dominion basketball player and a sales representative for the Norfolk Visitors and Convention Bureau.

Mann approached Norfolk officials in 1996 about bidding for the AAU Junior Olympics. After Norfolk Mayor Paul D. Fraim met with counterparts in other cities to receive their approval, Mann led a 7-person delegation to Orlando in July for the AAU meetings.

Hampton Roads marketed itself in Orlando as ``The Virginia Waterfront.'' Each AAU official received a glass dolphin encased in 22 karat gold.

The region asked for the 2001 games at the Orlando meeting, but the timetable was moved up when Norman, Okla., which was supposed to host the 1998 games, pulled out.

Paul Campbell, the site selection director for AAU, led a delegation to Hampton Roads last Thursday to inspect the region's facilites. Saying they were impressed with facilities and regional cooperation in Hampton Roads, Campbell and Bobby Dodd, the AAU's national director, offered the 1998 games early Thursday afternoon.

By 10:30 p.m., after a hastily-arranged meeting of regional officials, a deal had been struck.

Charlotte officials say the 1997 games had an economic impact was $30 million. The 1996 games in New Orleans drew 15,000 athletes and $35 million, New Orleans officials say. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

DRAWING POWER

[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]

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