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PHOTO/CURTIS WILSON

Elizabeth City State University cheerleaders pump up the Vikings women's basketball team Tuesday at the CIAA tournament at Time Warner Cable Arena. Fans from across the U.S. flock to the CIAA for basketball and a week of star-studded parties. Last year's tournament drew 180,000 visitors to Charlotte and pumped $38.2 million into the local economy.

Vic Spencer is traveling over 3,000 miles just to attend the CIAA tournament.

He’s flying from Sacramento, Calif., to Raleigh, then driving to Charlotte.

Greg Iyamah, who has driven to the tournament from Maryland the last two years, chose to fly to Charlotte this year from New York.

And Charles Holt is making the nine-hour drive from Philadelphia to make an appearance at his first tournament.

“This is the perfect getaway for February,” said Iyamah, a 2002 graduate of Bowie State University in Maryland. “The whole weekend is probably one of the most fun weekends and the most anticipated trip for us in the year. Even my boss comes and she didn’t even go to a CIAA school.”

This is the tournament’s fifth year in Charlotte. The CIAA is one of the most anticipated times for the city from a revenue perspective and for African Americans living in the city and for those who travel from afar to attend.

The 2009 tournament drew an estimated 180,000 visitors according to the Charlotte Regional Visitor’s Authority. Spending brought the city $38.2 million in revenue despite the recession.

Spencer is not a graduate of a CIAA school, but he became a fan as a high school student in 1959 when Winston-Salem hosted the tournament.

“That’s when Cleo Hill and Curly Neal played,” Spencer said. “That was the first time I went.”

But for the past 30 years, Spencer has gone to the CIAA quite frequently. Spencer is from Tarboro, N.C., where he still has relatives. He flies into Raleigh to spend time with family, and then on the Thursday during tournament week, he drives to Charlotte.

“For me, the CIAA is a high school reunion,” Spencer said. “I have so much fun.”

Iyamah says the tournament is like a guys’ weekend.

“When everybody got settled in their careers we started doing a guys’ trip and we get together,” Iyamah said. “Sometimes we’ll ask some of the young ladies we went to school with to join us. We just hang out and party all weekend.”

More importantly, Iyamah says, he appreciates the maturity of the people who show up at the CIAA.

“Everyone is in town to have a good time,” he said. “It’s not an immature crowd.”

Holt always wanted to go to the tournament, and is finally making his way to Charlotte this year. He’s not quite sure what to expect.

“I always wanted to come,” said Holt, who attended Charlotte's Johnson C. Smith University and Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. “I’m looking forward to just reconnecting with old friends, catching up and relieving our old days. And it’s my birthday weekend, too.”

Holt says he’s planning on going to the parties, but isn’t sure about the basketball games.

“We do plan on going to some games, but more so we’re attending the parties,” Holt said. I just want to catch up with people and see how everyone has grown up.”

Uptown Charlotte has changed since first hosting the tournament in 2006. There are new amenities, including the Harvey B. Gantt Center for Arts + Culture, additions at EpiCentre, a hot spot for eateries and entertainment, and new museums, theatres, restaurants and hotels, like the Ritz-Carlton.

That’s why Spencer prefers Charlotte: everything is centralized.

“There are a number of reasons why I like the tournament in Charlotte better,” Spencer says. “But I like it because the hotels are a block from the arena and that’s convenient.

“For the most part, unless I visit other places in Charlotte, I really don’t have to move my rental car. I can walk from one building to another. When it was in Raleigh, I had to drive quite a ways, but it was still OK. I like Charlotte the best.”

The CIAA is in Charlotte until 2011; however league Commissioner Leon Kerry is in negotiations with organizers to keep it in town for another three years.

Whatever city the tournament is in, Spencer will go.

“It doesn’t bother me a bit,” he said. “I have so much fun watching the games and socializing.”

Comments

I wonder how much of those millions of dollars ended up in the Black community?

Posted on March 3, 2010

Awesome atmosphere where we all can come together on a neutral ground and have a blast of fun sitting around just talking about old time in the new zone.

Posted on March 1, 2010