Roundup : Ticket Sales Are Brisk and Still on the Rise

OKLAHOMA CITY —  In territory where bullriding and college football are the biggest spectator sports, attendance at the U.S. Olympic Festival has at least met organizers’ expectations through the opening weekend.

“As far as I’m concerned, we’re right on track for our goals,” ticket manager Dick McDowell said Monday.

Attendance through the opening weekend of the 10-day festival was 161,900, about 20,000 behind the record pace set at the 1987 festival in North Carolina.

But McDowell, ticket manager at the last three festivals, says the comparison is misleading.

In North Carolina, 10 wrestling and two diving sessions already had been held by the end of the first weekend. In Oklahoma, diving hasn’t begun and only two wrestling sessions have been completed.

Besides, McDowell said, 5 1/2 million people live within a 150-mile radius of the Raleigh-Durham area. The population of Oklahoma is 3.2 million.

McDowell is confident the festival will reach its goal of $3 million in ticket revenue, which would equal the ticket sales of the 1987 event. He also thinks it’s still possible to exceed the Olympic Festival record attendance total of 464,423 set in North Carolina.

A violent thunderstorm forced cancellation of the last day of cycling--a non-ticketed event--and forced postponement of other events on Sunday, usually a strong day at the gate.

So far, advance ticket sales have been brisk, especially for tonight’s boxing finals and the gymnastics, which will begin Thursday.

A big closing ceremony crowd seems likely, given the festival and stadium record 76,014 who packed Owen Field in Norman for Friday night’s opening ceremony.

The closing ceremony features appearances by country singers Roy Clark and Crystal Gayle, and will include Ray Charles performing “America.”

McDowell said he’s been most surprised by the turnout for field hockey, where games usually are played in front of near-empty bleachers. But in Lawton, a town of 80,000 near Fort Sill some 90 miles southwest of Oklahoma City, 3,978 showed up for the opening of competition Sunday. The attendance was nearly five times the previous festival record for one session of field hockey.

Whatever the totals in Oklahoma, the festival has come a long way from the day about 3,000 people spread their blankets on a hillside to watch the first opening ceremonies 11 years ago in Colorado Springs.

David Butler, who won gold medals at festivals in 1985 and 1987, won a gold in Greco-Roman wrestling the easy way Monday when Darrell Gholar of Chicago failed to make weight.

Another Greco-Roman gold medalist was Soviet immigrant Gogi Parseghian, the nephew of former Notra Dame football coach Ara Parseghian, who beat 1988 Olympian Anthony Amado at 125.5 pounds.

Other gold winners were Mark Fuller, a three-time Olympian at 105.5 pounds, returning to 114.5; Andy Seras, an Olympian last year, at 149.5; Lewis Dorrance at 105.5; John Morgan at 180.5, and Buddy Lee of Woodbridge, Va., at 136.5.

Only Lee did not get a spot on the world championship team because top-seeded Ike Anderson withdrew with an injury and got an extension on the qualifying period.

Kenny Monday, the 1988 Olympic freestyle champion at 163 pounds, was lethargic in a 2-0 win over Joe Pantaleo after coasting through Sunday’s mini-tournament to qualify for the festival field. But he pinned Pantaleo at night.

Randy Lewis, the 1984 Olympic champion at 136.5 pounds, was eliminated by Michael Gomez of Midwest City, Okla.

Fast-pitch softball began with two no-hitters. Rick Plangger of Benton Harbor, Mich., had the first, striking out six, walking three and hitting a batter in leading the North to a 4-2 victory over the West. An error by third baseman Rick Pauly helped the West score its runs in the first inning.

At night, the first women’s fast pitch game also was a no-hitter as Lucy Casarez of Bonita, Calif., led the West over the North 3-0. She struck out seven and walked one.

In women’s basketball, the North moved into the gold medal game with an 86-75 victory over the West. The North, 2-1, was led by Eileen Shea of Michigan State with 14 points and nine rebounds and will meet the East for the title.

The East, which edged the South, 69-68, finished the round-robin unbeaten.

Kenny Anderson had 19 points and six assists as the West beat the North, 86-84, in men’s play. Anderson, of New York and headed for Georgia Tech, scored 12 total points in the West’s first two games, led his team to its first victory

Despite the loss, the North is in the gold medal game against the East, which beat the South, 94-75.