 MARK
RICHARDSON
President, Carolina Panthers
By
George MacBain
On this the first
Tuesday after the Katrina Hurricane disaster in the Gulf coastal
region, our meeting naturally had much information to deliver about
that subject and limited our speakers comments on one of our
favorite local topics, "The Panthers". Speaker Mark Richardson,
President of the Carolina Panthers, first treated us to a brief
video highlighting the Panthers and the start of their eleventh
season in Charlotte. Mark commented it is always better to speak the
week before the 1st game…..
It was obvious Julius Peppers received the most Ohhh's and Ahh's
from our crowd. Mark was recently with General Manager Marty Hurney
reviewing film of Julius Peppers' sack, fumble recovery, touchdown
and dunk over the N Y Giant goalpost. Mark asked Marty just how glad
he was to have chosen Julius Peppers over QB Chad Pennington in the
draft and how awful it would be to watch Julius making his
spectacular plays in another uniform. Marty said if that had
happened it wouldn't matter to him as he would be driving a taxi-cab
somewhere else by now!
Mark made us aware that 10 years ago they had third party vendors
handling nearly everything (food, entertainment, video production,
stadium operations, etc.) and now everything has been brought in
house. "Our team is in a unique position in that the stadium is our
home and wants their visitors to feel at home when visiting". The
PSL program was put in place because they did not want to have the
tax payer foot the bill for another rental place. The PSL effort
enabled them to seek limited public support and they run their own
stadium in a first class manner. Their goal is to operate a team and
stadium that will make the PSL owners very proud of their
investment.
Mark made the point that we are 11 years into the youth of our
community only knowing one football team compared to all of us in
the room having had a previous team to support. This will lead to
their children growing up to be Panther fans and he has seen this
exciting transition in other markets. We have a rich history in
front of us!
Mark opened up the remaining time for questions:
- Comment on the
professional sports team(s)challenge for a limited
amount of marketing money per household locally? Mark
constantly strives to put a quality product at a fair
value on the field for the fans.
- Super Bowl in
Charlotte's future? Not out of the question as domed
stadiums are in vogue yet he believes natural turf is
what it ought to be played on. To have a shot at a game,
we need more hotel rooms, more taxi's, more meeting
space and better public transportation. These are all
things we are working on now so….. Who knows?
- Sports Illustrated cover
notoriety? Mark said his kids loved it! "It just puts a
bigger target on our back". Before the season,
management has said this year's team could be something
very special…stay tuned!
- Pre game entry security
pat down?….just part of the world we live in and the NFL
wants everyone to feel secure and comfortable.
- What are the Panthers
and NFL doing to show care and concern to New Orleans?
NFL has given collectively $1mm, Commissioner is coming
to game this weekend in Charlotte, and first time ever
Panthers are allowing cash to be collected for a cause
(Katrina victims).
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Head Table:
Martin Walton, Paul Schmidt, Herb Harriss, Rick Jackson, Jeff
Triplette, Bob Carlson; Invocation: Ken Poe
Visitors &
Guests:
Carol Jordan; Health & Happiness: Leland Park; Song: David Erdman
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Support the
Rotary Foundation
$100 EVERY ROTARIAN/EVERY YEAR |
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Health &
Happiness Update: Mac Jackson
is back home after spending several weeks at Mercy Rehab and
is continuing to improve with each day. Keep up the good
work Mac! Alan Adler
thanked club members for the calls and support during his
Mother's hospitalization. Though still hospitalized, she is
showing slight improvement.
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Support the Rotary
Scholarship Golf Classic scheduled for Monday,
September 26th at Cedarwood Country Club. If you have items
for the auction or goody bags, if you'd like to play golf,
or support the tournament by your contribution or
sponsorship, contact Alan Adler or Chip Scholz. Remember -
the club will not meet on Tuesday, September 27th.
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If you can donate frequent flyer miles to help transport a
Hurricane victim to Charlotte for cancer treatments, please
contact Don Steger
immediately. (704-398-2914,
cdonsteger@carolina.rr.com). |
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HURRICANE
KATRINA
RELIEF EFFORT |
There are countless ways to
support victims of Hurricane Katrina. President Herb sent an
email to four Rotary Governors in the affected areas,
expressing his desire to assist financially with the relief
efforts. Amazingly, he received a reply from the Governor in
District 6200, which represents 50 clubs and 2607 members
throughout parts of Louisiana. Governor Don Chauvin's reply
is below:
'Thank you for your offer to help with the Katrina Relief
effort. Please excuse my response via email, but phone
communications are lacking right now and I am forced to
email all wishing to offer assistance. Our situation is
rather unique. Katrina destroyed towns, homes and families
as it passed through the eastern part of District 6200. One
of my clubs, the Rotary Club of Grand Isle located in Grand
Isle, LA finds their city underwater and there is great fear
that once sanity returns to this area, Grand Isle, LA may no
longer exist. Besides by boat, there was only one way to
reach Grand Isle. A bridge connected the island with the
mainland. That bridge is GONE! Compounding our relief effort
problems is the total lack of communication capabilities.
Our sister district, District 6840, is the home of all New
Orleans and Biloxi, MS Rotarians. All of these Rotarians are
now scattered all about the US as a result of mandatory
evacuation of the entire city, thus totally disabling that
district's ability to provide relief to themselves. For
these reasons, District 6200 is assuming the responsibility
of providing relief to District 6840 also. Our district
membership is intact and we are able to mobilize some 2500
Rotarians into action. Add to this number those volunteering
from District 6190 (northern part of LA) and neighboring
districts in Texas and you can quickly see that Rotary can
provide the humanitarian needs of Katrina's victims.
What do we need? We are asking first for monetary
contributions. Once highway access is restored, we will need
manpower to go into the areas destroyed by the winds and
assist in the clean up efforts. District 6200 has a
qualified 501(c)(3) corporation which we are using to
channel all contributed funds into. We are asking that
anyone wishing to use Rotary as the vehicle to make a
monetary contribution to please make their check payable to
Rotary International District 6200 Foundation, Inc. You may
rest assured that all of the money contributed will be used
in its entirety for the benefit of the thousands of Katrina
victims."
Members of Charlotte Rotary wishing to make a contribution
to help Rotarians in District 6200 may send a check payable
to Rotary Club of Charlotte. Collection efforts from
Tuesday's meeting total $4200 - a great start! Remember to
show Hurricane Katrina relief in the memo section, and mail
your check to the Rotary Office. |
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Rotary Club of Charlotte
841 Baxter Street, Suite 118, Charlotte 28202
chltrot@bellsouth.net 704-375-6816 |
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Attendance
Record |
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9/06/05 |
9/07/04 |
| visitors &
guests |
15 |
11 |
| club
members |
196 |
194 |
| total
attendance |
211 |
205 |
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New Members | Resignations |
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Wedding
Anniversaries |
13 Virginia and John Hart
14 Elsie and Will Barnhardt
14 MC and Tom Lane
16 Kaye and Lamar Thomas
18 Ann and Floyd Davis
18 Miriam and Mac Jackson |
| Birthdays and
Birthplaces |
15 Rich Campbell, Greensboro, NC
15 Katie Tyler, Eustis, FL
17 Fred Lowrance, Sumter, SC
17 Mark Norman, Alexandria, VA
17 Dal Shefte, Evanston, IL
19 Bob Alexy, Cleveland, OH |
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