THE FRONTMAN
Hamiltonian Teddy Katz talks about his journey to the job of Toronto2015 spokesperson
Someone from the international games community once said to him, “You will go by those buildings for decades afterward and say to yourself, ‘I played a small part in that.’”
Teddy Katz knew exactly what the person meant when he stood in his hometown and watched the ceremonial shovel turn the first dirt to begin what has become Tim Hortons Field and, more so, when he returned for a Pan Am function in the completed stadium.
“Being in that stadium for the first time I felt kind of a sense of pride of being part of it, and of being part of the community it’s in.”
Katz celebrates not only a significant birthday (50) this year, but also a significant time in sports history.
Two-and-a-half years of brutally long workdays ago, the Hamilton native took a leave from CBC, where he covers sports, to become the Pan Am Games director of media relations.
He’s also the chief spokesperson for the Games when Toronto2015 CEO Saad Rafi doesn’t speak to an issue. Most explanations about Games’ developments, good or bad, come from Katz.
“I speak Spanish, my wife (Fabiana) is from Argentina and grew up in Colombia,” Katz said of his decision to go to Pan Am.
“So when I heard Toronto was getting the Pan Am Games and knowing several people in the Spanish-speaking world and in the community here, I wanted to be involved.
“In addition, this is right up my alley in terms of what I was trying to do at CBC, promoting sport, promoting athletes. This was an event, the likes of which we hadn’t seen in Ontario in my lifetime. I thought, ‘This is too good an opportunity not to be a part of.’”
In 1992, after he had covered the Barcelona Games (a f antastic Olympics which included Canadian rower Silken Laumann returning from a terrible accident to win a bronze medal) he was one of the few who stayed for the Paralympics.
“Every single athlete at the Paralympics had a story equally as incredible in terms of coming back from obstacles — in many cases even more incredible — and nobody had ever heard of them. I was exposed to it early. I saw a lot of incredible stories no one was telling, and that became the thing I wanted to do.”
Another stor y ver y few people were telling was the decrepit, and sometimes non-existent, state of t he at hleti c f aci li t i es in Katz’s home province, especially in amateur-sport-tilted infrastructure, l i ke tracks, pools, pitches and velodromes.
During the Olympics, or Pan Am Games, he’d be doing stories on individual athletes for the CBC affiliate in their hometowns and “and for years it was hard to find Ontario-based athletes who were still based in Ontario. The picture you saw in front of you was terrible: people leaving the country to train at the velodrome in California. Donovan Bailey and his era of track athletes going to the U.S. to train.
“I think these Games will change that, and I wanted to be part of that change. (Canadian 2015 chef de mission) Curt Hartnett is right when he talks about these Games being a game-changer. I’ve started to see it already with the cycling.”
Katz’s grandfather, Sam, came to Canada and got into the auto parts business, eventually with all four of his sons including Katz’s f ather Jack.
He worked in the f amily business on Saturdays and in the summers, “went to watch the Hamilton Red Wings in the old barn and went to see the Fincups the year they went to the Memorial Cup. Now I like to stand back a bit, I don’t like to become too much of a fan.
“But I’m a huge f an of the Ticats,” he says.
And he’s a huge f an of how his hometown has handled the Pan Am Games so far.
“I’m happy to see Hamilton playing the part it is in these Games,” he says. “All 32 soccer games. I think people understand just how great a sports town Hamilton is and they’re also getting a community that is engaged.”
I thought, ‘This (the Pan Am Games) is too good an opportunity not to be a part of.’
TEDDY KATZ
DIRECTOR OF MEDIA RELATIONS