Meeting |
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Report |
Meeting |
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Report |
June 12, 2001 |
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| President Don called the meeting to order and
recognized Doug Booth, who welcomed guests and visiting Rotarians. Curt Farmer
delivered the Health and Happiness report with updates on the health of Charlie Briley
and Jerry Grohowski, who was back with the Club but will be
retiring soon to Virginia Beach. Following the pledge of allegiance and a song led by
Ed Ellis, Dale LeCount gave the invocation. President Don recognized three Rotarians to introduce new members. Leland Park introduced Carol Walker-Jordon, who is the Library Director at Queens College. Don Haack introduced Tom Bartholomy, the incoming president of the Better Business Bureau, and also recognized Jerry Grohowski, the outgoing BBB president, for achieving his first Paul Harris. Hope Lanier introduced Erik Lindborg, director of External Affairs at BellSouth. President Don commended the Club for achievement of his goal of 300 members during his term as president, and recognized Theresa Evans for her outstanding service this year as the Club's Secretary-Treasurer. President Don then introduced the head table, which included Pete Sloan, John Scharer, Dale LeCount, Roger Sarow, John Morley and Julian AIdridge. President Don called on Julian Aldridge to introduce the guest speaker, Jerry Richardson. Julian introduced Richardson as a fellow churchman at Myers Park United Methodist and the owner and founder of the Carolina Panthers. He relayed Richardson's background growing up in eastern North Carolina and graduating from Fayetteville High School and then from Wofford College as an All-American wide receiver. Richardson played for the Baltimore Colts before founding Spartan Food Systems in the early 1960s and developing it into Flag-star Companies, from which he retired in 1995 to devote his full-time efforts to the Carolina Panthers. Culminating seven years of negotiations with the NFL, Richardson was awarded the 29th NFL franchise for the Carolina Panthers in 1993 and the rest, as they say, is history. Richardson began his remarks by recognizing Rotarians Pete Sloan and Jeff Triplette. Jeff is one of the outstanding officials in the NFL, and Richardson paid tribute to the importance of officials to the game and expressed appreciation for any favorable consideration that Jeff or his colleagues might provide the Panthers. Richardson referred to a "USA Today" article on the popularity of the NFL. According to surveys taken since the 1970s, the NFL has been the most popular sport in the United States and continues to be today. He cited statistics that 63% say the NFL is their favorite sport, with 7 out of 10 women and 7 out of 10 in the age range 18-29 claiming it as their favorite sport. So, why is the NFL so popular? Richardson offered several reasons starting with the three outstanding commissioners who have led the sport since the beginning. He particularly singled out Pete Rozelle who served as commissioner for over 30 years and the current commissioner, Paul Tagliabue, who is a great friend to the Carolina Panthers and to Richardson personally. Second, Richardson mentioned the extraordinary amount of revenue that the NFL receives from the television networks to broadcast the game and maintained that the NPL is the perfect sport for television coverage given the unique opportunity for replay and commentary at the end of every play. In some years that surveys have been taken, NFL popularity has been greater than Major League Baseball, the NBA and Nascar combined. Third, Richardson attributed the NFL popularity to the labor peace between owners and players and the revenue-sharing formula with players that has resulted in the salary cap. He also mentioned that 85% of all NFL revenues are shared among all the teams. Finally he mentioned the issue of free agency that allows teams the right to draft and keep key players for up to four years. Free agency is good for the owners and players initially if they make good decisions, though he cited the salary cap as the reason the Carolina Panthers were forced to make difficult decisions regarding two key players this year—Steve Beuerlein and Eric Davis. Richardson then addressed the new NFL realignment. A committee of owners met for over two years to come up with a new realignment plan, which was recently adopted by all the NFI. owners. Jerry Richardson served on the NFC West committee. Richardson's main concerns in any new realignment were the issue of pooling the visitor team's share of ticket sales so that teams don't get penalized and keeping the Carolina Panthers in the NFC. He successfully negotiated on both those issues. Richardson wanted to stay in the NFC because it covers 53% of the TV market compared to 47% for the AFC. In addition to realignment, Richardson has been very involved with the construction of NFL stadiums, serving as chairman of the Stadium Committee. Richardson closed by reminding the Club of the Panthers business proposition he had taken to the Charlotte Chamber many years ago, which included building a $200 million downtown stadium, employing 260 people with an annual payroll of $78 million, paying $144 million in taxes the first year and the fact that a merger or relocation is unlikely. That proposition describes the business of the Carolina Panthers, which was a good deal for the Charlotte community. Richardson indicated his continuing support for Charlotte by his decision to relocate here with his wife and all three of his children after living in South Carolina for over 30 years. Richardson stated, "Charlotte is a great city and we love being here," and then he opened the floor for questions. After a series of tough questions and diplomatic responses, Richardson called "time" at 1:30 p.m. * * * |
New Member
Joined 1985 Past Service The Virkler Company & Virkler
Realty Howard Virkler, also known as Biff, served as president of The Virkler Company for 25 years until his retirement in 2000. Currently he is chairman of Virkler's board of directors. Virkler is a specialty chemical manufacturer that until recently primarily served the textile industry. Now Virkler is offering its ISO 9001 certified chemical contract manufacturing and distribution services to foreign and domestic chemical manufacturing and marketing groups seeking to do business in this region. Virkler's customers now serve all types of industries such as computer disc and chip manufacturers, glass polishers, paper manufacturers, textiles, health and beauty products and industrial and home maintenance. Howard and his brother Craig built Virkler from humble beginnings to one of the finest specialty chemical manufacturing facilities in the world. Virkler won Mecklenburg County's first Environmental Excellence Award in 1993, a real coup for a chemical company, and scored a perfect "No Fault" on a surprise three-day OSHA audit the following year. Howard has served on many civic boards, including the boards of Spirit Square, Loaves and Fishes, and North Carolina Dance Theater. He was the coordinator of the Charlotte Crop Walk for five years and has served on that board for eighteen years. Howard is a Ducks Unlimited sponsor. He served on the board of Standard Holding Company and is a founding director and board member of First Commerce Bank. He is a senior member of the American Association of Chemists and Colorists and the National Association of Hosiery Manufacturers, and he currently serves on the board of the Southeastern Apparel and Textile Manufacturers Association (SEATM). Howard has served on the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce board of advisors and is a founding member of the Charlotte Chamber's Manufacturers Council. He is a member of Carmel Country Club. He has worked with and supported Republican politics and been a member of Christ Episcopal Church since 1970. Howard came to Charlotte from Philadelphia in 1969 immediately after his marriage to Susan Irish Virkler, who died of cancer in 1994. They raised two children, Drayton and Kathryn (now Kathryn Harris). In 1998 he married his wife Joanna, formerly Joanna Treadwell, who has four children, Justine, Philip, Arthur and Marie. His daughter Kathryn gave birth to twin boys on June 29, 2000, so Howard is now a proud grandfather. Howard, who lived in Greensboro, N.C., until age 12, is a graduate of the William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Army Artillery Officer's Candidate School in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He enjoys outdoor activities such as golf, tennis, gardening, bocci, hunting, hiking, hiking, snow skiing, sport fishing and fly fishing and boating. He and his family enjoy traveling. Welcome to Charlotte Rotary, Biff. * * * |
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