Tower flame kept secret until end
Casual comment sparked huge undertaking to create tallest Olympic flame
The following story has never been told, at least not formally, but it recounts the steps that were taken to make the Calgary Tower the highest Olympic flame in history.
On a Friday in the fall of 1985, I met an old friend, Gene Zadvorny, PR director of Canadian Western Natural Gas (CWNG, now ATCO Gas) for lunch. He wanted to discuss how the Calgary Olympic organizing was going as I’d been vice-president of communications for just about a year.
During the conversation I asked him what the capacity for natural gas was at the top of the tower to service the restaurant and how much it could be increased. The conversation then continued with a lot of serious discussion about putting an ignitable cauldron at the top of the tower.
The next day, Gene called and said that in discussing it with CWNG engineers, the project was “doable” and we could probably achieve a flame in the cauldron of 15 to 30 feet, which would be visible, particularly at night, throughout the city. Gene said he was proceeding with a more detailed study, and I took the opportunity of bouncing the idea off the OCO ’88 Executive Management Team. All concerned thought it was a great idea, if we could do it!
During the fall we moved ahead in relative secrecy, which was difficult because, in those days, anything OCO ’88 did was newsworthy it seemed. By the end of ’85, plans were in place, an artist’s conception was drawn, and the OCO ’88 board had approved it. The idea was to be presented for approval by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at a meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, in late January/early February ’86.
Also, as ATCO Ltd., CWNG’s parent company, was already a major Olympic partner/sponsor/supplier, the “flame tower” project became part of their participation. We would later announce that the ATCO/CWNG sponsorship would be increased to provide “stand on their own cauldrons” for each venue, another first for Calgary.
The proposal to the IOC was approved and we were off to the races. In fact, the “highest” Olympic flame in history received media coverage worldwide! One of my most lasting treasures is the cartoon Vance Rodewalt did for the Calgary Herald, Feb. 6, 1986, depicting OCO pitching the idea to IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch.
There were many obstacles to overcome, not the least of which was to design an insulated radio communications tower which would sit in the middle of the flame, rising above it, replacing a Taxi and Police communications tower.
Finally, in November 1987, a heavy-lift helicopter guided the cauldron, then the antenna, into position. This was done on a Sunday, allowing streets to be closed.
A few days later we planned the acid test — would it work? Ron Southern, ATCO president, invited his staff and some OCO staff to view the lighting from their 11th Avenue offices.
It was scheduled for 11 p.m. on a Sunday and was done with as much secrecy as we could muster. It worked and we let the flame burn for only 15 minutes, enough for engineers to get it set properly for its official lighting on Feb. 13.
That day arrived sunny, but windy. The sacred flame from Olympia, Greece, which had been carried in miners lamps, and the ’88 torches used on the historic, 16,000-kilometre Olympic Torch Relay arrived in Calgary. The last lap was run by former premier Peter Lougheed, who handed it to me at 11 a.m., on the PetroCanada Stage near Prince’s Island. I then handed over the torch (and the lamps) to OCO chairman Frank King’s people to hold until the torch was taken into McMahon Stadium in mid-afternoon. Frank was the only one who knew who would carry the torch into the stadium and who would light the official cauldron.
At approximately 3 p.m., before a capacity crowd of over 60,000 people, downhill skier Ken Read and speedskater Cathy Priestner, both former Olympians, entered McMahon Stadium. They circumnavigated the field to the enthusiastic applause of the thousands present. They stopped to greet Rick Hansen of “Man In Motion” fame before passing the torch to 12-year-old Robyn Perry, who climbed the stairs and lit the Official Olympic Cauldron.
Lighting of the Calgary Tower and the replica cauldrons at Nakiska, Canmore Nordic Centre, Canada Olympic Park, Olympic Oval, Stampede Park and Olympic Plaza took place at 8 p.m. that evening.
Armed with hand-held, bulky radios (no cellphones in the old days) all flames were lit by the sacred flame, simultaneously initiated with the lighting of the cauldron at Olympic Plaza.
I was in the roof of the tower dome with “Jungle” Jim Hunter, one of the Crazy Canuck skiers, along with our torch relay manager and Gene Zadvorny, representing the sponsor. Just before 8 p.m., Jim, who was rigged with all sorts of safety harnesses, climbed through the portal of the roof. He carried the burning Olympic Torch and proceeded to walk carefully to the centre of the top of the tower. Underneath the cauldron, through a special portal, he lit the highest Olympic flame in history!
Standing with the crowd in Olympic Plaza, Frank King di- rected Juan Antonio Samaranch, the IOC president, to look over his shoulder at the tower. Samaranch said “You did it!” in a tone that indicated he thought we never would. Calgary again proved, as we had many times in the past, that our word was as good as a contract.
The tower burned brightly 24 hours a day, for 16 wonderful days. It was extinguished at the same time the Official Flame went out at McMahon Stadium, during closing ceremonies. I will never forget the feeling of sadness as I drove into work early on Feb. 29, 1988, seeing no flame on the tower.
It was my most memorable event of the Games and the fact that the 1988 Olympic Torch resembled the tower is purely coincidental, but at least our torch’s meaning was obvious.