One morning in January 1973, she left the hotel at Ronnanne Palace and her roommate, Sen. Ron Stafford, James (Bunny) Sheffield, took a photo of the Rotary International Convention location. (Photo provided – Howard Riley)
We all know the events and results of the 1980 Olympic Winter Games at Lake Placid.
It’s fun to remember the little things that happened along the way and behind the scenes.
Traveling as reporters with the Olympic bidding team, we were all on a train in Zurich, Switzerland, and set out for Lausanne when someone joked. “Why do you need to come on this trip when Ron Mackenzie leads a delegation?” Bernie’s answer, “I’ll just take care of Ron’s luggage.” The train is pulled out of the station at the same time that this conversation is taking place, and we are all looking at the train windows, and we are looking at the departures seen on the platform, so Ron’s two big red plaid suitcases. This cannot be compensated for. The pastor gained a considerable amount of rib cage, but the efficiency of the train and service was waiting for the luggage when he arrived at the next station.
There are three restaurants at the main German railway stations. The first floor is like a working man’s bar. The second floor is a lovely restaurant with a great menu, while the third floor is a gourmet restaurant. With the pastor, Dr. Robert Madden, we were dining one night at a gourmet restaurant (we didn’t know what we ordered after we arrived at the table, but we didn’t recognize it). Doc was somewhat known as a wine lover, but after taking a sip of the special wine he ordered, he turned away for some reason and Bernie poured a glass of water into the wine. Dock returns to his wine, takes a few sips, and Bernie asks. “Does the wine meet your standards?” Documentation Answers “That’s perfect!”
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James (Bunny) Sheffield was Lake Placid’s best PR man. His beauty and personality all said that.
It takes just over two hours to ride the train from Zurich to Lausanne. The car next to us was full of young men and women outing military service for six months. That service in Switzerland is mandatory for all men who are female volunteers.
Bunny spoke to all of those young people. He handed it out “Please follow me on the lake’s Placid.” Bumper stickers, calm pins on the lake, and spent the entire trip back to meet and talk to them “Children.”
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Luke Patnord and I were planning to go to Switzerland and Austria, but he had to delay the trip for a few days. He told me to go ahead and meet Angel Liberia in Montreal, who was at the Economic Development Bureau in Washington. Previously he was a staff member of the Puerto Rico governor and a former captain of the NYPD. Then, as a farewell shot, Luke adds, “And I really hate him (I use more polite language here) and I’m an Irishman.” Wow, thank you, Luke, I can’t wait to meet Angel.
Angel has become one of my best friends. We kept in touch after the game, including having dinner in town.
So, when he arrives, we meet Luke and the three of us have dinner before the meeting.
We were all about the same age as salt and pepper hair.
“Are you a popular singing trio in the 50s?”
After that, Luke had to leave us for another business and asked me to return our car to Munich. I left my hotel in Austria early in the morning, took a bus back and was back to the hotel by noon. Angel was all upset, saying he had lost his passport. I removed his passport from the dresser in the dark at 5am and crossed the border twice with the wrong passport. I’m sure someone thought we were similar.
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Last year before the game, all official reports were completed and I was assigned to Rayplatt, the head of all sporting events. I was his troubleshooter…it’s much better than Gopher. It was one of the few divisions and perhaps the most complicated, but not suffered from major Snafus. Ray was a local local, a former military officer, teacher and coach, and was the perfect person for the job. Eventually we joined in Ice Hockey’s miracle.
My companion, Lee Rickard, told me this. Ray tells her, “I think I’ll be out into town one night with Howard.” Ree reply, “I don’t know if that’s a good idea or not. It’s like a crow flying with the Eagles.”
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One morning, our couple was drinking coffee at a diner on the corner of Maine and McKinley (Loose?). We drove off and stopped the child driving the van. He returned to the car, the bumper was locked in some way, unknown to him, he was pulling it behind him. Was the car sitting from the gear? How can the bumper be locked? Don’t the driver feel that the van’s powertrain responds to the weight that it was pulling? It seems impossible, but I saw this happen. I called Jerry Struck to straighten the confusion.
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Lots of memories. The Command Center is set up and the game starts 24/7. The people who were with the game staff were protected by us, the longest-lasting. My only decision to remember creating a ticket involved. For example, people coming to hockey games from Albany. They held up in Keene’s parking lot, where they missed the game, and the trailer ticket staff are trying to think of a refund because it’s installed on Main Street, or what should they do? There were so many hockey games that we had to start our schedule two days before the opening ceremony. I suggested they give them tickets for another game.
The hockey game wasn’t even close to selling out. Visitors simply wanted to see the Olympic sporting events… they didn’t care what the team was playing. You know that the Japanese hockey team lost their first game 14-0.
