At charity events this year, I saw folks throw footballs or
hit tennis balls to people. I heard wild stories about ballgames and
boxing matches. And I witnessed some moments of generosity and respect
worthy of the holiday season.
Regular readers of this blog may know that when I’m not lounging in
the palatial Fort Worth Weekly office suite, I do other creative work. A
good chunk of it involves adding to the presentation of events, and
especially sports-related charitable ones. Read on for some detail on
some event-related moments that left an impression.
Nancy Lieberman Charities Dream Ball
February, 2017
photo by Thomas GarzaFrom a sports content standpoint, it might not get better than this,
especially if you’re a boxing fan. At the end of the evening, a
roundtable discussion moderated by ESPN SportsCenter anchor Jay Harris
featured Sugar Ray Leonard, George Foreman, and Lonnie Ali (Muhammad’s
widow) talking about Muhammad Ali’s legacy. We streamed it via Facebook
Live and you can watch the panel, plus Lonnie Ali receiving an award, here.
Taste of the Cowboys May, 2017 photo by Lori Gunter FrenchThis event raises funds for the North Texas Food Bank, and the Dallas
Cowboys serve as the face of the event (especially the bearded face of
Travis Frederick and his fellow offensive linemen). They held this
year’s event at the team’s new practice facility, The Star. It features
prominent local chefs serving samples of signature dishes, so the food
is a highlight, but the most fun part might involve football. After the
live auction concludes, a bunch of current and former Cowboys players
take the stage. The auctioneer requests additional donations to the food
bank, and when an audience member raises his or her hand to contribute,
a player throws him or her a football. The completion percentage isn’t
terribly high, but you do see a few good catches interspersed. It’s a
cool spectacle and no doubt drives donations.
Behind the Masque Gala May, 2017
Former Stars goaltender Marty Turco runs a charity called C5 Youth Foundation of Texas, and they do amazing work
helping kids from challenging backgrounds navigate their teenage years
and get into college. They annually hold a masquerade ball as a
fundraiser, and this year the featured entertainment involved an
improvisational comedy troupe from the Hideout Theatre.
The comedians managed to lure the easygoing Turco on stage, where
they quizzed him about his day, which included hot yoga, picking up
spirits for the event, and playing nine holes of golf. They then made up
a song about his activities. In the middle of the routine, Turco
laughed so hard his chair broke. It couldn’t have been scripted any
better.
Talk of the Town July, 2017 photo by Carrie AdamsMaybe the most poignant moment of my year came at the Talk of the Town event. I’ve written in detail
about why, but the quick holiday summary involves a Skype appearance by
Dallas Stars announcer Dave Strader. Strader’s fight against cancer had
prevented him from being physically present at the event, but he wanted
to participate. So he joined his counterparts from the Mavericks,
Rangers, and Cowboys electronically and it lit up the room, especially
the table full of his Stars co-workers.
Nancy Lieberman Charities Celebrity Golf Classic September, 2017 image by Dave FrenchOne reason golfers play this tournament is the opportunity to rub
elbows and trade foot wedges with notables from the worlds of sports and
entertainment. It was nice seeing the likes of Seth Curry, Tony
Casillas, Jose Guzman, and others show up to the support the charity,
but one of the highlights was talking to comic actor Burton Gilliam near
the 10th tee. My work that day involved shooting video, and we got to
talking about camera technology. When he first got into the business,
there was no digital technology allowing you to see what you had just
shot as soon as you’ve done it. One shot movies on actual film, and you
didn’t know what you had until it had been developed. Burton told me
they once had to completely reshoot a scene when he was making Paper
Moon because of something they hadn’t seen the previous day. It gives
one an appreciation for all the scenes moviemakers did get right back in
the day. The main reason this one made the list though, is the scene at the end of this video. You’ll note Mr. Gilliam still has his acting chops.
Dirk Nowitzki Foundation Pro Celebrity Tennis Classic September, 2017 image by Dave FrenchDirk and Jessica Nowitzki have put on a celebrity tennis event
the last two falls at the SMU tennis center. The tennis was a lot of
fun, with a mix of world-class players like Donald Young and celebs from
other professions like Owen Wilson and J.J. Barea. The evening before,
they hold an exclusive VIP dinner
and a silent auction. My personal favorite moment came when a video we
had edited elicited tears from some audience members, but the best
overall moment came during the silent auction that followed. As bids
rose for various package, celebrities started stepping up. Former Dallas
Star Mike Modano offered to fly in for a dinner package that already
included Dirk, and other celebs joined. There were a number of cool
gestures made and a lot of generous bids made it a six-figure night for
the children’s causes helped by the Dirk Nowitzki Foundation.
Those are just a few highlights of the year in sports charity events, and I could name many more
great moments and events (and I do feel guilty for not mentioning every
single event I worked or attended in 2017 – they were all fantastic).
Sport can be a force in doing good things, and a lot of people
contributed a lot of time, energy, and money to improving people’s lives
this year. Here’s to more of that in 2018.
Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for
sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns,
television programs, and related creative projects for sports entities
through Rush Olson Creative & Sports, Mint Farm Films, and FourNine
Productions.
Donald Young, 28, won a tennis tournament Saturday. He and
doubles partner Justin Whitman triumphed in the final and received
trophies. Young has played on the ATP Tour since 2004 and won 115
professional matches, but this performance earned him no ranking points.
So why did one of the top American players – a man who’s been ranked as
high as 38th in the world – come to Dallas to play this event? He did
it for basketball and a good cause.
Saturday at SMU, the Dirk Nowitzki Foundation held its second annual
Pro Celebrity Tennis Classic. The fundraiser began with a dinner event
and auction the evening before and continued with the open-to-the-public
tennis tourney Sunday. A group of celebrities included non-tennis
professional athletes like J.J. Barea and Mike Modano; former tour
players like Mark Knowles, Andy Roddick, and Benjamin Becker; and, for
good measure, actor Owen Wilson (who has a decent forehand). A dozen
amateurs made sizable donations to the foundation for the privilege of
playing with and against those luminaries. Each amateur and pro
accumulated wristbands as they won tie-breakers with different partners,
with two of each with the most bands meeting in the final. Young and
Whitman defeated Barea and Jim McKinney in that last match.
In this video interview, Young talks about the whys and hows of
playing in such a setting, and also touches on what the U.S. women’s
showing at the recent U.S Open (four Americans reached the semi-finals)
means for the sport in this country.
Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for
sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns,
television programs, and related creative projects for sports entities
through Rush Olson Creative & Sports, Mint Farm Films, and FourNine
Productions.
The entire Dallas Mavericks roster hit the court in full uniform for
the first time Monday. I’m here to provide you some exclusive insight
into how their season will go based on what I saw. When you’re watching
games deep into April and beyond next year, you’ll think about what you
learned in this blog post.
Now, unfortunately, today’s insight doesn’t involve how well the
players shoot, dribble, pass, foul, dunk, travel, flop, move the ball,
defend the three, or draw illegal defense calls. It has to do with how
they did on their Fox Sports Southwest liner reading.
The work they performed Monday will indeed affect Mavs fans all
season. Having signed a multi-year deal with the franchise to carry most
of the team’s games, the network – unlike a player – can’t get traded
or placed on the inactive list. So count on seeing the recordings they
made of the Mavericks’ smiling, surprised, or dancing faces on the air
all season long.
Yes, I said dancing. Fox Sports Southwest producer Stephen Hill got
several of them to at least attempt a dance move or two. Their female
counterparts at the Wings seem to always be moving in rhythm. Hill told
Dirk Nowitzki of his teammates, “They all said they don’t dance.” The
Big German could only shrug. If Hill manages to put a promo together,
you can judge their shimmying acumen for yourself.
The day consisted of each member of the roster visiting various
stations around the American Airlines Center to get photographed or
interviewed. For the most part, the players at the Fox emplacement in
the Jack Daniels Old No. 7 Club needed to say lines to camera for
various creative video projects.
My crew’s gig involved setting up the green screen, lights, and video
cameras. The Barea-to-Mejri height variance of an NBA team makes for
certain challenges in camera placement. Director of Photography Dave
French came up with the idea of using a tall speaker stand and a robotic
camera control so that he could focus and pan at normal-person height
while the Panasonic cam remained level with the player’s face.
We started with the team broadcasters. Jeff “Skin” Wade showed up
with a change of clothes, avowing that he could not get out of his suit
fast enough. Skin was also relieved to discover said suit did not
contain any green that might make him green-screen unfriendly.
Wade, Mark Followill, and Derek Harper cruised through their liners
pretty quickly, because they’re, you know, professional broadcasters.
Most of the uniformed personnel, beginning with Justin Anderson and
concluding with Qunicy Acy, handled their scripts pretty well, too. I’ve
had colleagues from overseas tell me they believe American athletes are
better on camera than those from other countries, perhaps because more
of them have had at least some post-secondary education or because they
just get more chances. In this case, the players needed to inform
viewers about important facts like that FSSW is the TV home of Mavericks
basketball, that MFFL (Mavs Fan For Life) parties are the best, and
something about the network offering viewers a free Pomeranian puppy if
they watch a certain number of games (okay, I might have made the last
one up).
Anderson was especially animated and Andrew Bogut’s Australian
enunciation added a unique element. Devin Harris, a veteran, didn’t even
have to wait for Hill to finish giving him his “Only on Fox Sports
Southwest” line – he’d done these media days before. Rookie A.J.
Hammons, on the other hand, had a great smile but required a couple more
takes. He’ll be fine once he’s got a few more of these under his belt.
The best chance for self-expression came as the group did the promos
for streaming Mavs games via the Fox Sports Go app. The players needed
to hold a mobile device and pretend to watch a game on it. Harrison
Barnes pretended to exhort his teammate to “Make a shot, Dirk!,” while
Wesley Matthews added some self-serving play-by-play : “One more pass –
you don’t see Wesley open in the corner right now?!”
By the way, Dwight Powell delivered an emphatic “Get Fox Sports Go.”
line to camera. If you don’t have the app, you WILL immediately download
it after the big power forward instructs you to do so. The most ambitious shot of the day consisted of French perched on a
chair with a camera on a gimbal to get what will hopefully be a cool
angle on Nowitzki’s signature fadeaway. Actually, we already consider
the move a success since the DP didn’t fall off the chair.
So now you know the scoop on the 2016-17 Dallas Mavs. The advanced
stat geeks have yet to weigh in on whether a successful media day can
build momentum for a big season. But if the Mavericks go on a deep run,
we’ll happily take the credit – and watch these promos extend their
airdates for a few more weeks.
Disclosure : As you might have guessed, Fox Sports Southwest paid me to help with their production on Mavs Media Day Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for
sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns,
television programs, and related creative projects for sports entities
through Rush Olson Creative & Sports and FourNine Productions. RushOlson.com Linkedin.com/company/rush-olson-creative-&-sports Facebook.com/RushOlsonCreativeandSports
Charity sporting events seem to usually possess an interesting mix of
competitive energies and laid-back attitudes. One always wants to win,
and to play well, but the outcome usually falls lower on the priority
list than maintaining a chill vibe.
Sunday’s Dirk Nowitzki Pro Celebrity Tennis Classic offered donors a
chance to play doubles alongside pedigreed names from the worlds of
sport and entertainment. The mix felt just about right. The players
played hard, everyone laughed a lot, and the group left the SMU Tennis
Center as friends.
Nowitzki already counted many in the draw as buddies, but he hadn’t
met quite all of them in person before the event. His Mavericks
teammates Harrison Barnes and J.J. Barea played (and Dwight Powell, Rick
Carlisle, Donnie Nelson, and Michael Finley made non-playing
appearances). Actors Ben Stiller and Boris Kodjoe (the former a newcomer
to the game and the latter a former college player) represented the
entertainment sphere. The tennis world filled several slots, including
the top-ranked American man, John Isner, current tour players Benjamin
Becker and Mitchell Krueger, and the last American to win a singles
title in a Grand Slam tournament, Andy Roddick.
Stiller noted at the pre-match press conference that the “pro
celebrity” event seemed heavily weighted toward world-class athletes and
away from guys like him who had been in lots movies but only took up
the game at age 45. A handicap system aimed to address the potential
imbalances, and the team with a lower handicap could take a point or two
for themselves any time before match point in the 10-point tie-breakers
that made up the round-robin pools. Implementing that strategy usually
consisted of taking away a pro’s service point, because who wants to
return an Isner or Roddick serve if you don’t have to?
By the way, if I played against Isner in an event like this, I would
ask him to rip a serve at me full speed. I would want to know what it
felt like to try to return it (or maybe even just see it). Nowitzki jokingly called obviously “in” shots “out,” but perhaps the
best competitive, yet fun, element came via the non-serious trash talk
that cropped up every so often. Barea began it in the pre-event media
session when declared that he likes to come to his German teammate’s
home in the offseason and “whoop his butt” on the tennis court. In the
championship match, Kodjoe and Roddick engaged in some spirited banter.
Roddick told his partner not to take it easy on Kodjoe because he was
ugly (I’ve been informed by certain female experts in such things that
the [married] thespian is anything but unattractive). Kodjoe remarked
that Roddick’s partner, Tonya McKinney, might have difficulty seeing
around the former ATP star’s allegedly sizable posterior when he
crouched as she served. And when Kodjoe and his partner, Alberto
Lombardi, took their handicap point, Roddick incited the crowd to boo
because they would now be receiving “less tennis” for the price of their
donation.
Roddick’s team came out on top anyway and he will no doubt display
the plate he received next to his 2003 U.S. Open trophy. The event
wasn’t about winning, of course. It was about the charitable purpose
(raising money for the foundation Dirk and his wife Jessica administer)
and about having a really unique and fun experience. Even for the pro
tennis players, it wasn’t a typical hit-and-giggle, as they got to
mingle with NBA stars and other famous faces.
The biggest giggler was Dirk Nowitzki, who no doubt took great joy in
the combination of tennis playing, fundraising, and fellowship. The
Mavericks forward seemed perpetually jolly through the previous
evening’s pre-party and all the way through the day Sunday when he
stopped through the workroom to thank the event staff. Roddick commented
that “We’re all huge admirers of Dirk and what he has done for Dallas
and what he continues to do for Dallas.” Indeed the big German-now-Texan
deserved his weekend full of smiles.
Video
Mitchell Krueger interview – Fort Worth native Mitchell Krueger is a
pro tennis player looking to great into the upper echelon of the sport.
He got to participate in the Dirk Nowitzki Pro Celebrity Tennis Classic
and talks about his experience there and his goals for the rest of 2016.
Dirk Nowitzki Pro Celebrity Tennis Classic highlights – My company put
this together for the event with the help of Ludisian Legion
Entertainment.
The Event Pre-party – This is the only video of the event pre-party,
held at Dallas’ Joule Hotel. The elegant affair featured a performance
by Ben Harper and appearances by Nowitzki and some of his Mavs
colleagues, as well as Ben Stiller.
When you think about it, college football bowl
games are supposed to serve a lot of functions. They need to provide an
athletic experience for players, energize alumni, generate attention for
their host cities and sponsors, generate business for the local tourism
industry, and likely deliver on a whole host of other ambitious goals
enshrined in a prospectus somewhere.
One other responsibility every bowl takes on: raise monies for
charity. With the possible exception of Orlando’s AutoNation Cure Bowl,
no other game wears its charitable, um, heart in its title like the Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl.
An organization called the Heart of Dallas
works with ESPN to run the bowl, which is held at the Cotton Bowl
annually and this year will feature Washington against Southern
Mississippi on December 26th. As the “Heart of Dallas” name seems to
imply, the group of local sports and entertainment industry
professionals aims to donate bowl funds raised from sources like
sponsorships and broadcasting deals to area nonprofits.
“The mission of the Heart of Dallas is to use the power of sports and
entertainment to fuel bold social change in our community,” said Kern
Egan, Executive Vice President of Lagardère Sports and Chairman of the
Heart of Dallas Board of Directors.
North Texas has lots of worthy charities, so for a group not
affiliated with one particular cause, choosing where to allocate funds
can become a challenge. In 2015, it fell to the Heart of Dallas Young Professionals, a HoD section designed to engage under-40 sports and entertainment workers, to come up with an innovative solution.
“We had money to give away, which is a huge blessing, and we wanted
to be creative about it and do something unique,” explained Mallory
Martin, President of the Heart of Dallas Young Professionals. “When we
thought about how to do that, rather than just simply voting in a room
somewhere who is deserving, we wanted to have them pitch in a creative
way and have people do it with us.”
The HODYP wanted to do it in an entertaining way that would also
increase awareness among area nonprofits and young business
professionals. They came up with a “Shark Tank” for nonprofits idea.
Community groups would state their own cases in front of judges and a
live audience, with funds awarded to those who made the most compelling
cases. They would call it, in sporty fashion, the Fast Pitch.
They solicited applications from nonprofits across North Texas,
culling more than 50 submissions to eight finalists who would get to
make their pitches at the event itself. Judges would decide how to
divide the funds raised from the bowl game plus the event and its
sponsors (including a title sponsor, as the event became formally known
as the Heart of Dallas Inaugural Fast Pitch Event, presented by
Lagardère Sports). Those who made the best pitches would get the
largest shares, but nobody would walk away empty-handed.
“For an inaugural event to give away $100,000 is really amazing. And
the fact that all eight charities, who all had amazing missions, were
awarded a significant amount of money is really a unique experience that
added a lot of value,” said Jayda Batchelder of Education Open Doors,
one of the nonprofit finalists.
“I’ve never been to a fast pitch or a competition for social
entrepreneurs like this that gives every person a prize,” added Jackie
Anderson of Equal Heart.
Angela Field and Asija Woodson
In addition to the “regular shares” to be awarded by the judges, the
Fast Pitch had two special awards. The event’s attendees would get to
vote on a People’s Choice Award, which would see 5,000 additional
dollars awarded to the charity that most impressed the group of mostly
industry professionals and other nonprofits. They also added an award to
recognize an outstanding athlete making an impact on the field and a
positive difference off the field by enriching lives of others. The
honoree’s presence added something to the event as well, according to
Asija Woodson, a young participant in the Rae’s Hope program who had
come to help make her group’s case.
“What was fun about tonight was meeting all these new people and plus I got to see Dirk Nowitzki.” As the winner of the Community Excellence Award, presented by
Anheuser Busch, the Dirk Nowitzki Foundation received its own $10,000
grant to further the work it has done with children’s welfare since
2001.
Mike Leslie and Dirk Nowitzki
“If you live anywhere near here and have spent the last decade or so
getting to know him via what he does on the court or in the media or in
the community, it’s just you never hear a bad word about him,” explained
Egan of the selection of Nowitzki’s foundation for the honor. “Somebody
that high-profile that stays that grounded and is still that interested
in making sure he’s making an impact, not only where he’s from in
Germany, but also right here in Dallas across an ocean, is really
special.” Nowitzki explained why he and his wife Jessica (who serves as
executive director of the foundation) took the time to attend the event
in the midst of the basketball season.
“They (the Heart of Dallas) try to link sports with charities,
similar to what we do, because parts of my foundation have projects that
help with wellness of kids. So I thought it fit. The whole thing is a
fit for me as a person as well as for this organization.”
The presence of a future Hall-of-Famer added buzz to the event, and
the pitch phase added excitement. WFAA-TV’s Mike Leslie served as emcee
to bring each nonprofit to the downstairs stage at D.E.C on Dragon. All
the presentations started with a video about the cause in question of up
to 2:30 in length. The group then had three minutes for a spokesperson
to present its case, followed by 90 seconds of questions from the
five-judge panel.
“It was a great experience for us to get up here on stage to tell
about our organization, to see all the other wonderful organizations
explain what they do and the empowerment that we all have to help this
world make a better place,” said Rae’s Hope’s Angela Field about giving
her presentation, whose props included a bicycle.
Eight strong pitches meant eight tough choices for those dividing the available funds. There were a lot of compelling causes and great stories. They all
tugged at your heartstrings,” said Martin, who served as one of the
judges. “So at the end of the day, we just really looked at the work
that they were doing, the number of people that they could impact, (and)
does it tie in to what we’re trying to do as an organization, the Heart
of Dallas. So we just had to make our decision based on that.”
DJ Souljah
As the judges deliberated, 300 attendees grooved upstairs
with DJ Souljah and a professional violinista, then heard Leslie
interview Nowitzki before the Heart of Dallas Young Professionals
Steering Committee presented the checks to the recipients.
Every group walked away with at least $2500 and plans for how the funds would further its mission.
Jayda Batchelder
“It’s going to go to Education Opens Doors to help us expand our
program across the city this school year,” said Batchelder, whose
organization received the largest judges’ award of $25,000. “Our mission
is to enable students to purposefully navigate through high school to
college, and so we have a comprehensive program we implement in schools.
This money will go directly to support at least 500 more students this
year to have the yearlong life-changing program.”
“With this reward, we are going to buy a box truck that we have kind
of been racking our brains figuring out how to get. With this box truck,
we can pick up thousands of pounds of food to distribute to thousands
of individuals,” said Anderson, whose enterprise focuses on child hunger
remedies. Equal Heart’s executive director Keven Vicknair saw value in winning
the People’s Choice Award beyond the funds to purchase the new truck.
“It gave us validation that what we’re doing, people understand the
value,” she said. “They understand, and they get excited about it.”
We expect traveling fans of the Huskies and Golden Eagles to get
excited about what their team does on the field the day after Christmas.
They likely won’t realize the ways their ticket purchases and viewer
eyeballs affect the locals involved in the event. Egan, however, sees
the bigger picture. “We’re fortunate to have a bowl game with our name on it,” he said.
“What we really want to do is use those funds that ESPN provides us and
mobilize a very energetic group of young professionals in our industry
to see what they can do to network, and grow, and use their skills and
resources to make the most impact possible here.”
For the Heart of Dallas Young Professionals, the networking aspects
of their program intertwine with the charitable side. The youngest
presenter, Woodson, summarized the true beauty of such an arrangement.
“Those who have the patience and who take time out and do something
for the community just to give back, those are the ones who end up most
successful in life.”
All photos courtesy of Danny Bollinger.
Disclosure: The events company that spearheaded the execution of the
Fast Pitch event, Matchpoint Agency, hired me to produce some of its
audio-visual elements.
Heart of Dallas Inaugural Fast Pitch Event presented by Lagardère Sports charitable award winners :
Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for
sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns and
related creative projects for sports entities through his company, Rush
Olson Creative & Sports.
