Community should have treasured Tiger Sharks

Community should have treasured Tiger Sharks June 23, 2001

By Ann Rowe

We should be ashamed. Why? Because we just lost the best thing this area's had in the past seven years.

For those of you who weren't fortunate enough to experience it, the Tallahassee Tiger Sharks hockey team has just been taken away - pulled out from under our feet. How did this happen? Some might say that the team was no good, that the organization was corrupt, that no one knew about the team because of poor marketing and promotion, or that the real owner came from another state and was not "hands on" in the day-to-day operations.

But we shouldn't be laying all the blame on the observations above. It doesn't need to rest anywhere but at our own feet. We allowed this to happen. We as a city, as a community, should have seen the warning signs and tried to more aggressively negotiate the purchase of the team ourselves. Our community should have been part of the solution. It shouldn't have passively allowed the problem of outside ownership to continue.

Yes, the owner and organization know about hockey, but we know about the residents of Tallahassee and surrounding areas; what their needs are and what it takes to be successful in sustaining a professional sports team in this town.

I understand that former Tiger Sharks general manager Larry Kish is back in town. Mr. Kish, this would be the perfect time to redeem yourself in the eyes of fans, and to work with us to obtain an East Coast Hockey League expansion team (and help to operate it above-board). Then, you can help us in the effort to buy the Tiger Sharks name outright from co-owner Dave Elmore. He obviously doesn't need it anymore.

I keep hearing the argument that hockey cannot survive in Tallahassee simply because we don't have enough "Northerners" in this area. Well, I've done some research with other hockey teams in the state, and although they do have a fair number of Northerners filling the seats, you'll be surprised to know that there are just as many or more native Floridians purchasing season tickets to watch this great sport.

We need an ice hockey rink/facility to be built. I believe someone broached the idea awhile back, but it was never accomplished. Why not? What was the holdup? (Something political in nature, I'm sure.) You cannot convince me that the money isn't in this town; I know it is. Try telling our youths who have become involved in hockey programs - there is a hockey program at Florida State University - and who attend the hockey games faithfully, that this city cannot find a way to get this done. Ultimately, they are the ones who are losing as a result of the recent sale of the team.

No offense to Civic Center Executive Director Ron Spencer, but the Civic Center seems more and more not to be part of the answer. If it is, now is the Civic Center's time to shine and really go to bat for us. We need investors and partners in what would be a long-standing business venture.

The ice-rink facility wouldn't just be a home for our pro and/or college hockey teams, but also a possible training facility for world-class athletes. We host the training of athletes for other sports at our universities and public facilities here in Tallahassee, so why not provide a facility to draw up-and-coming figure skaters, professional skaters and hockey players?

We have a community in-line skating rink, which is a great help, but ice would be nice. We were fortunate enough to have a winning team this past season, and a head coach who cared about our community and getting the players involved with the youth here. Too bad we had to lose such great assets just when we were beginning to get back on track.

I, along with others, will not rest until we have an East Coast Hockey League team or other league team - along with an ice rink facility - in Tallahassee. We owe it to the children and ourselves. The Tallahassee Tiger Sharks deserve to be here. They were our only community-based professional sports team.

So get ready, Mayor Maddox and those who control the decision-making process in Tallahassee and Leon County. I'll be on your office doorstep soon.