Back in the days when almost nobody believed the 1996 Summer Olympic Games would really come to Atlanta, it was crucial to get the members of the International Olympic Committee to check out the city in person as a possible host site. If they didn’t come, there was no chance.
The members were scattered across countries all over the world and someone had to go meet them and sell them on the idea of a visit. One of the people who did that was Bobby Rearden.
Rearden died Saturday at 73 while undergoing treatment at Emory University Hospital for a recurrence of leukemia.
An Atlanta businessman, Rearden served as a member of the Atlanta Olympic Committee bid team that successfully brought the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games to Atlanta, and served on the board of directors of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games.
“The most important thing was bringing them to your city. Nobody knew about Atlanta,” recalled Charles Battle, who served as managing director for international relations of ACOG.
Rearden traveled to meet IOC members, convinced them to visit, and made sure they liked the area when they got here, Battle said.
“He never let down. He took a lot of trips. Really hit the road,” Battle said. “He was an invaluable member.”
When the small group of community leaders trying to attract the games was still young, Rearden expressed some interest in helping, Battle said, adding that he was, “the perfect guy to be involved in what we knew was the important aspect, which was building relationships. He never met a stranger.”
Rearden recalled his most memorable moment from his Olympics experience in 2006 in a story for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “When we were bidding [for the Games], I went to Sapporo for the Asian Winter Games,” he recalled. “I was sitting in a hotel dining room for breakfast, and an IOC member from Libya, Bashir Attarabulsi, was there. This was not too long before the U.S. bombed Libya. The only other people in the dining room were the IOC member from Taiwan, and the mainland China IOC delegate.
“At that time, those two nations had no diplomatic relations. I remember thinking, ‘How many other organizations in the world could prompt something like this, bring people together like this?’ After we finished, Attarabulsi and I went over to their table. I think it’s a great statement about the power of the Olympics.”
Rearden helped start the “I Train in LaGrange” program for foreign Olympians who worked out in the small city. Mostly African athletes participated in the training and cultural exchange program that preceded the games.
The program surprised many who remembered a South that was far less tolerant and welcoming.
Rearden, in a story in The New York Times, noted how Andrew Young was surprised when he learned of it.
“I think Andy is overwhelmed by this,” he said. “He told me once, ‘People in L.A. and New York will never believe this happens in the South.’ “
A native of Langdale, Ala., Rearden attended high school at The Westminster Schools in Atlanta and earned a Bachelors Degree and an MBA from the University of North Carolina. He earned a law degree from Emory University School of Law. He built up and later sold an insurance brokerage firm. At the time of his death, he was serving as a principal with Integro, a national insurance brokerage firm, and as chairman and CEO of Kestrel Communications, a media production company he founded in 1993.
He was a founding member of the advisory board of the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University and was active with many other local organizations.
He is survived by his wife, Dell, his two children, Alison Rearden Murrah (Patrick) and Robert Lee Rearden III (Ashley), and seven grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. this Wednesday at First Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. A reception will follow in Fifield Hall.
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