College Sports Information Directors of America

EDITOR'S NOTE: Former Colorado Sports Information Director Mike Moran is calling it a career after leading the United States Olympic Committee's publicity efforts for over two decades. BY MICHAEL KELLY WORLD-HERALD COLUMNIST Omaha's longtime connection to the Olympics, Mike Moran, has pretty much seen it all - and now he sees it all coming to an end. He argued with Michael Jordan and Andre Agassi. He drove Flo-Jo to daily practice. He watched Bonnie Blair win her speed-skating medals, and later held her first child. He stood rinkside for the 1980 "Miracle on Ice." He gave legendary Jesse Owens a golf-cart tour of the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. He met six presidents. Not bad for a kid who grew up in Omaha wondering what he'd do with his life. "This has been far beyond anything I dreamed." But sometime after the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, he will walk away from his job as assistant executive director of the U.S. Olympic Committee. His retirement date isn't set, but he won't stick around for the 2004 Games in Athens, Greece, birthplace of the Olympics. "I turn 60 in January, and in everyone's life there is the matter of one more challenge," he said. "I'm negotiating to write a book. I plan to do public speaking." That in itself is an upset, compared to the painfully shy kid who grew up in Omaha, son of a print-shop owner. Moran will have plenty to write and talk about. When the "Dream Team" of basketball stars arrived at Barcelona in 1992, he helped set up a press conference - with cups from Olympic sponsor Coca-Cola on the table. Ah, but Michael Jordan said no. He and other players had Pepsi-Cola endorsement contracts. So the Coke cups were removed, though Moran says some were slipped back onto the table. Moran has endured many "backstage problems." For another press conference, tennis player Andre Agassi insisted on wearing Nike clothing instead of U.S. team togs. "That's one of the problems with the pros," Moran said. "I had a confrontation with Agassi backstage in Atlanta. I said, 'Good, I'll tell the press you don't want to be a member of the U.S. Olympic team and go by the rules like everybody else.' His agent cooled him down and he wore the team shirt." But Moran also made many friends, including track gold-medalist Florence Griffith Joyner. Flo-Jo and her husband stayed on the same hotel floor as Moran in Seoul, South Korea, and he drove them to practice every day. After she died at 37 of an epileptic seizure, Moran served as moderator of a memorial service. The 1980 U.S. hockey upset of the Soviet Union in Lake Placid, N.Y., "transcended sport," Moran said, and "took on dimensions no one would have believed." In 1994 in Norway, he answered questions for two hours in the wake of the Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan figure-skating controversy. Kerrigan had been struck in the leg with a metal baton at the national championships. Moran is used to controversy. The International Olympic Committee's recent selection of Beijing for the 2008 Games has caused criticism because of China's human-rights record - and received praise as a chance to make the country more open. Salt Lake City's selection resulted in a scandal, including bribery allegations. But the Olympics remain popular, with a record eight cities vying to become the U.S. candidate for the 2012 Games. Moran, who lives in Colorado Springs, has returned often to Omaha, where sister Terry Rauch lives. Last summer he attended his 40-year reunion at Westside High, where he was a 6-foot-4 forward on the basketball team. (The other forward was future movie star Nick Nolte.) Moran played two years at Omaha University and became its sports information director. He credits former KMTV sports director Dave Blackwell, now of Salt Lake City, with encouragement that led to a career. Moran was sports information director at Colorado U. before joining the U.S. Olympic Committee in 1979. As a KMTV intern, Moran met a young newscaster - Tom Brokaw. In 1996 in Atlanta, Moran introduced the NBC anchor, who emceed a "100 Golden Olympians" banquet. Brokaw reminisced about their days in Omaha. Feeling good after a May hip replacement, Moran is ready to run hard to his Olympic finish line.