ATLANTA, July 15, 2004 – (con't.)

“Dick Yarbrough wrote an extraordinary behind-the-scenes look at how this massive event was staged,” says Marc Jolley, director of Mercer Press.  “We thought it would be natural to have him examine what has happened to the City of Atlanta and to all who were a part of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games in the decade since the Games were held.  Where are the people today?  What is their opinion of the effort ten years later?  Did having the Olympic Games in Atlanta make a difference?  Would they do it again?  Dick Yarbrough is the perfect combination of writer and insider to capture answers to these questions.  His honest approach to reviewing Atlanta’s Olympic experiences will be required reading to any city that might bid for the Games in the future.”

Yarbrough says the new book will draw from first-hand interviews with many of the people who shaped the Games, from ACOG CEO Billy Payne and the organization’s chief operating officer, A.D. Frazier, to the original volunteers, key staff members, influential political figures, Olympic officials, athletes, spectators, members of the media and many of the special interest groups that tried to use the 1996 Games to highlight their issues.  Yarbrough also will explore the impact of the Games on communities like Gainesville, Savannah and Conyers that built facilities and hosted events, and on small towns like Ellijay and LaGrange that provided training facilities for athletes from around the world and whose families invited the athletes into their homes.

“Having had ten years to think about it,” Yarbrough said, “I am interested in what kind of legacy the Games left to our state.  I want to know what worked and what didn’t work and I want to hear it from those involved.  I want to revisit some of the issues, such as the Olympic Park bombing, the Olympics Out of Cobb campaign, and the City of Atlanta’s performance.”

Endorsing Yarbrough’s effort is Billy Payne, who spearheaded the effort to bring the 1996 Games to Atlanta.  “The Games vaulted Atlanta into a very elite group of cities, on a global scale,” says Payne, “Naturally, I think it was worth every minute and every dollar that we spent bringing them here and hosting the world, and I look forward to Dick’s assessment.”

“Billy Payne and his colleagues worked incredibly hard to bring the Games to Atlanta,” says Yarbrough.  “Now that we have some historical distance on the event, it is time to take a hard look at its true legacy – what it meant to the people of this state and the changes it left behind.  As for the title, I don’t know the answer yet.  That’s what is going to make this book so interesting to write.”

About Dick Yarbrough
Yarbrough, a long-time executive with BellSouth, spent the bulk of his career as a public relations advisor and was named “One of the 100 Most Influential Practitioners of the 20th Century” by PR Week magazine.  After retiring as vice president, Yarbrough was named managing director of communications and government relations for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG), distinguishing himself during the media blitz that followed the Centennial Park bombing in 1996.  Following his stint with ACOG, Yarbrough penned “And They Call Them Games,” a behind-the-scenes look at the ups and downs of the 1996 Olympic Games from the perspective of an insider, the only book of its kind on the largest peacetime event ever held.  The syndicated columnist, whose writings appear weekly in more than one million Georgia households, most recently published “Squirrels at the Birdfeeder,” a compilation of his most popular newspaper columns.