Volunteering a little soul

Young Chang

Two years ago, one of the co-authors of the “Chicken Soup for the

Soul” series reached out to Margaret Buckingham and asked if she had

any nice volunteer stories to tell.

Buckingham had been the director of volunteers at the 1984

Olympics in Los Angeles. The Newport Beach resident admitted last

week, nothing really came to mind. She always assumed the “Chicken

Soup” books were “sort of schmaltzy,” as in heartwarming in a good

way.

Then she realized she was overlooking a volunteer quite close to

home, a volunteer who ended up helping to save the opening ceremony

of the Olympics at Los Angeles’ Memorial Coliseum that year.

So Buckingham, who is now the coordinator of volunteers at the

Environmental Nature Center, wrote about her dad.

Titled “Let the Games Begin!” the very short story in the recently

published “Chicken Soup for the Volunteer’s Soul” sheds light on a

non-incident that didn’t erupt into more because of her father, who

was an Olympics volunteer on the Opening Ceremony Committee for the

Torch and Ring.

Her story is one of 87 in the book, chosen from more than 5,000

submissions that “celebrate the spirit of courage, caring and

community.” The book landed in stores earlier this summer.

“I wasn’t surprised at all,” said Ed Buckingham, about learning he

was the star of his daughter’s work. “She’s always writing a story

about somebody.”

Weeks before the events began, a committee decided that the

Olympic torch spire and rings had to be redesigned to light up

properly. It was day 10 until the opening ceremony, and the committee

still didn’t have anyone tapped for the job.

Ed Buckingham was hired to do the job. He was a licensed engineer

and was experienced in flame-control and flame detection systems. He

said he was the technology manager at the Modern Pentathlon in Coto

de Caza at the time. For the Olympics, Buckingham designed a handful

of devices and some igniting options. Because he was already a

volunteer, he was easily cleared to begin his work, despite stringent

security measures surrounding the event.

Margaret Buckingham, as the director of volunteers, understood

just how many hoops her father was allowed to avoid in terms of

security clearance because of his volunteer status.

“They knew what his background was,” said the 53-year-old

Buckingham, who goes by Margie. “He’s very closed-mouthed about

anything that has an element of security.”

But on the morning of the Opening Ceremony, Ed Buckingham

discovered that all the wires for the torch had been removed.

Officials immediately suspected a bomb scare. The federal bomb squad

swarmed into the coliseum. Agents, including members of the Secret

Service, arrived and concluded that the area was bomb-free.

The ceremony began and Ed Buckingham, a very tall man, says his

daughter, remained hunched in the torch to make sure everything would

ignite.

“The tower is very small,” Margaret Buckingham said. “The visual

has a lot of humor in it too.”

Performers extended their shows and finally the torching-lighting

hour arrived. Ed Buckingham had fixed the problem by then and a ring

of flames and then the Olympic flame erupted.

Ed Buckingham said no-one officially knows what happened to the

original wires.

In a recent interview, his daughter said that everyone has a skill

or ability to contribute.

“And we should just take every opportunity we can,” said

Buckingham, who calls herself a perpetual volunteer and helps out

with groups including the National Charity League and the Newport

Beach Library Foundation. “We can make all the difference in some way

in the world. That’s [what it] was also with my dad. He was the right

person being in the right place at the right time. There virtually

wasn’t anyone that could do what he did.”