SEATTLE, Oct. 3, 2005 - Olympic boxing champ Sugar Ray Seales, skiing hall of famer Phil Mahre and UW rowing legends Roger Morris and Joe Rantz, whose University of Washington eight-oared crew won Olympic gold in front of Adolph Hitler at the 1936 Berlin Games, are among 20 Washington state Olympians and two governors attending the 12th annual Olympic Dream Golf Classic, Thursday, Oct. 6 at Rainier Golf and Country Club in Seattle.
The Olympians will be joined by Washington Govs. Albert D. Rosellini and Gary Locke at the classic, which is hosted by the Washington State United States Olympic Committee and benefits U.S. Olympic hopefuls and the Olympians for Olympians Relief Fund. Open to the public, the classic gets underway at noon with a dinner auction following at 6 pm. The public can register for either golf tournament or dinner by visiting www.nwolympics.org.
University of Washington rowing legends Morris of Maple Valley and Rantz of Redmond, will be on-hand to represent the United States eight-oared crew that overcame a last place start at the 1936 Berlin Games to win Olympic gold. Morris and Rantz, who never lost a race at the UW, are the two surviving members of the 1936 champion crew that helped usher in a long tradition of Olympic success for rowers from the University of Washington.
Other gold medalists include Washington State University's Paul Enquist of Edmonds who won gold in the double sculls at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, and former University of Washington coxswain Betsy Beard Stillings of Seattle, who at the 1984 Games helped the United States to its first ever women's eight-oared Olympic gold in rowing.
"Governor Locke and I are proud to support the long and rich tradition of Washingtonians at the Olympic Games," said Gov. Rosellini, 95, who since 1969 has served as the Washington state chairman of the United States Olympic Committee. "We look forward to the success of our states young men and women this winter in Torino and beyond at the Beijing and Vancouver Games."
Sponsored by KING TV and Regence Blue Shield, the Olympic Dream Golf Classic dinner includes a presentation by Allen Schauffler of NBC affiliate KING TV on his coverage of local athletes at the 2004 Athens Olympics. "We are thrilled we can help these young athletes realize their dream of representing our state in Olympic competition," said Lisa Thompson, Director of Community Relations & Station Communications with KING 5 Television.
The auction will include a number of memorable items from the Seattle sports community including 2005 Husky and Cougar Apple Cup packages, a Seattle Mariners package that includes a suite for a 2006 game at Safeco Field and a signed baseball by Mariners pitcher and Olympian Ryan Franklin, an authentic U.S. warm-up suit from the 1991 Pan American Games in Havana, Cuba and weekend vacations at the historic Hotel Elliott in Astoria, Oregon and British Columbia's Whistler-Blackcomb, site of the 2010 winter Olympic Games.
The day will conclude with a ceremonial hand-off of an authentic Olympic torch between Washington state members of the 2004 U.S. summer Olympic team and members of the 2006 U.S. winter Olympic team. The torch was used to carry the Olympic flame to Los Angeles for the Games of the XXIII Olympiad.
Since 1997 the golf classic has raised over $800,000 for American men and women competing in the Olympic and Pan American Games. Between 1997 and 2000, the USOC awarded over $1.4 million in 213 separate grants to athletes and coaches from the state of Washington to support their basic tuition, job and training needs as they prepare for Olympic competition. The Washington State United States Olympic Committee is one of the few citizen-based fundraising groups remaining in the United States that supports the USOC.
Attending gold medalists include Tacoma boxing legend Seales, who at 139 pounds became the only American fighter to win a gold medal at the 1972 Munich Games. The 6 -1 southpaw's 1972 Olympic victory as a light welterweight came at a time before a gold medal guaranteed a pot of gold upon turning pro. Instead of a TV premiere, Seales turned pro with an 8-round win in his Tacoma hometown. Seales went on to win his first 21 professional fights before dropping a close decision to Marvin Hagler in Boston. Seales later ended Hagler's string of 26 undefeated bouts by holding the durable middleweight champion to a draw in 1974.
Yakima's Phil Mahre, the first American alpine skier to be elected to the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, made three trips to the Olympic Games between 1976 and 1984. In 1980, Mahre became the first U.S. athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in men's skiing. He later won a silver at the 1984 Sarajevo Games.
Woodinville's Ruiz-Conforto is a three-time Olympic medalist in synchronized swimming. Following gold medal performances in the solo and duet synchro swim at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and a solo silver at the 1988 Seoul Games, the mother of two and NBC analyst received the International Swimming Hall of Fame Synchronized Swimmer of the Century Award and the International Womens Sports Foundation Hall of Fame Award in 2000.
To learn more visit www.nwolympics.org or call the Washington State United States Olympic Committee at 206.763.7110.
About the Washington State United States Olympic Committee
The Washington State United States Olympic Committee is a Washington State fundraising arm of the United States Olympic Committee made up of associate members of the USOC. As a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization, the Washington State United States Olympic Committee is dedicated to providing financial support to help train, transport, house and otherwise prepare the men and women who will represent the United States at the Olympic and Pan American Games. Since 1993 The Washington State USOC has sponsored the annual Olympic Dream Golf Classic, a state-wide golf tournament solely dedicated to funding Americas Olympic hopefuls. The committees website can be found at www.nwolympics.org
The 2005 Olympic Dream Golf Classic is sponsored by KING TV and Regence Blue Shield with support from Hilton Hotel and Conference Center Seattle Airport, Marler Clark, Malibu Corporation, ExoticMeats.com, Freddies Club, Big Foot Car Wash and Joseph King Designer.
Attending Washington Olympians
2004 Athens, Greece
Rowing: Anna Mickelson (Bellevue, Wash.) silver, Mary Whipple (Seattle, Wash.) silver, Emil Kossev (Seattle, Wash.) coach
2002 Salt Lake City, USA
Skiing: Scott Macartney (Redmond, Wash.)
2000 Sydney, Australia
Rowing: Conal Groom (Seattle, Wash.)
Soccer: Dr. Colleen Hacker (Tacoma, Wash.) coach 1996 gold, 2000 silver,
1996 Atlanta, USA
Track and Field: Brad Barquist (Seattle, Wash.)
1992 Barcelona, Spain
Diving: Ellen Owen (Sammamish, Wash.)
1988 Seoul, Korea
Synchronized Swimming: Tracie Ruiz-Conforto (Woodinville, Wash.) 1984 gold, 1988 silver
Rowing: Cris Marie Campbell (Seattle, Wash.)
1984 Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
Skiing: Phil Mahre (Yakima, Wash.) 1976, 1980 gold, 1984 silver
1984 Los Angeles, USA
Rowing: Paul Enquist, (Edmonds, Wash.) gold, Betsy Beard Stillings (Seattle, Wash.) gold, John Stillings (Seattle, Wash.) silver, Alan Forney (Seattle, Wash.) silver
1980 Moscow, USSR
Rowing: Tom Hull (Shoreline, Wash.)
1976 Montreal, Canada
Rowing: Mike Hess (Woodway, Wash.)
1972 Munich, Germany
Boxing: Sugar Ray Seales (Tacoma, Wash.) gold
Rowing: Chad Rudolph (Seattle, Wash.)
1968 Mexico City, Mexico
Gymnastics: Carolyn Pingatore Holmes (Seattle, Wash.)
1960 Rome, Italy
Rowing: Mike Yonker (Camano Island, Wash)
Swimming: Dr. Anna Ragaz (Seattle, Wash.) Czechoslovakia
1936 Berlin, Germany
Rowing: Roger Morris (Maple Valley, Wash.) gold , Joe Rantz (Redmond, Wash.) gold