CAREER MEMORIES – #12  I FOUND A HOME IN SIOUX FALLS! 

HERE IS THE 12^th AND FINAL PIECE OF MY JOURNAL ON “CAREER MEMORIES” THAT SPANS 36 WONDERFUL YEARS (1977-2013) AND CAME TO AN END ON APRIL 12, 2013 IN SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA! ENJOY! …  JIM!

Soon after I made the decision to leave North Carolina, I phoned Ted Baer, who, at the time owned and operated the Omaha Lancers of the United States Junior Hockey League. I had done some consulting work for Ted many years back while I worked in Kansas City. My call was to let Ted know of my plans to return back to Junior Hockey. Within a few days of that conversation, a group representing Sioux Falls Sports in South Dakota - that was to be the ownership for this brand new expansion USHL team - phoned me in Raleigh. Shawn Teal was the group spokesman at the time. The conversation was to determine my interest in coming to South Dakota and running the franchise. It just seemed like a perfect fit, as everything I was hoping for was there for the taking …That was to run a franchise, get involved in corporate sales and help mentor/shape a staff!

It was decided that since most of the ownership members lived in the state of Minnesota, that we would meet in the Twin Cities for a collective interview with everyone present. This meeting would also be perfect for me as my wife’s family lived in Minneapolis. Just as we solidified these plans, our home in Raleigh sold and closed in record time so it allowed us all to drive back together to the Midwest. I must admit that I missed the beautiful mountain and ocean scenery that surrounded North Carolina as well as the beautiful (and rather tall) pine trees and flower beds that decorated many of the area highways once we drove away from the coastal area!

The meeting with the Sioux Falls Sports group went off beautifully and we were offered the job as team President for this still unnamed franchise within a few days afterwards. Wendy, the girls and I, took a trip into Sioux Falls to see our new city and to quickly find a place that we would call home? We were lucky to find a beautiful four bedroom home in quick fashion and made an offer to the home owner during our initial trip. They accepted and we were ready to grow some roots here in the Sioux Empire! Next up was finding a family member to go back to North Carolina with me and help pack up our home? My brother-in-law (Steve Sampson) was up for the sweaty job and distant drive with me. We would book a U-Haul in Raleigh and got everything out of the house and safely tucked away (although my lovely wife will dispute this claim!) and then Steve and I made the long journey back to South Dakota!

It was now September 1^st of 1998. Once we got everything settled into our new Sioux Falls home, I met up with Gary Weckwerth, one of the group owners, managing partner and CEO for the club. We met at Shrivers Square, a downtown building that would become home for our new hockey club. Similar to Kansas City, Gary (or ‘Weck’ as everyone in town called him) gave me the keys to the office space we would lease. Inside it was just one large blank room. We met with the Dunham Construction Company, who served as the building landlord, and worked out a design plan to build out three offices and several work positions for the club in addition to space for merchandise sales. At this time, I am the only employee but I did convince my wife to come in and join me to help with walk-in customers and answer phone calls. Our front office door faced a busy café that brought hundreds of people inside for lunch each day.

I was very busy walking the streets of downtown Sioux Falls for many months, knocking on doors and introducing myself to the business leaders. Once more, I reverted back to my Minnesota newspaper days and quickly got out in front of the city folks. During these informal meetings, we wanted to find out what the sports landscape looked like in Sioux Falls? Issues of any kind? We explained what our USHL would be like and the philosophy of our operation and commitment we would make to the community. And one other piece of information I was in need of finding out was who these business leaders felt were the city’s top sports marketing sponsors? Everyone had an opinion on this subject and shared their thoughts. I catalogued every company name and quickly devised a Top 10 list of must-see business sponsors.

Next up on the menu was to name the franchise and our hockey club was going to be known as the “Sioux Falls Stampede!” It was a powerful name and one that I felt fit a solid Midwestern town perfectly! Now that we had an identity and a buzz created around the city, it was time to take our business plan, tickets and sponsor packages out to the community! My philosophy right from the get-go was to transform the new hockey team into one of the premier franchises in Sioux Falls! In order to achieve that, we needed to have the area’s top sponsors putting their name on our club?

From my informal survey conducted upon arrival, I found the top sponsor to be Sioux Valley Hospital (now Sanford Health). We set up a meeting with their marketing department, which led to a second and third meeting that brought me to the top of the corporate ladder with the hospital CEO. On this day, we would present our team’s mission statement, bits about our league and personal philosophy we would take to the community. During this gathering, the Stampede secured a long-term deal with the hospital to become our official health care partner! It was a deal that would help solidify our standing with other businesses as well as our fortune to latch onto KELO-AM Radio as our new all-season home and away broadcast outlet. During my survey talks, I found that Sioux Falls was branded as KELO-LAND and this AM station had a strong following and reach. At this juncture, our Stampede franchise became the very first sports team to ever hit the airwaves and their 1320 dial position.

Securing the top sponsor in the area back then in 1998 and perhaps the most trusted name in Sioux Falls Radio without ever playing a game, definitely gave our club street credibility and increased our success rate with the other businesses! During this same timeline, we gathered a list of names that had called into the Sioux Falls USHL “Hockey Hotline” phone message center where Weck had kept track of a team priority list for season tickets. 

My wife and I phoned everyone and made contact with the list. It was such a special time! We were selling seats and memories to so many people but none of us – team and customer – knew then what truly was the best seat or how the sightlines were going to look for those buying season tickets? The Sioux Falls Arena, our future home for Stampede games, had never hosted a hockey game before in its history. So it was buyer beware for everyone but in a fun and understood way! We sold 700 season tickets in that first day they went on sale and before too long, over 50% of the arena seating capacity was now spoken! Because we were not set-up with a ticket based software system, Wendy and I recorded every sale on a Yellow Legal Pad! When I look back, I wouldn’t have done this any other way even if we were computer system-ready at the time? It was such a blast and Wendy kept such detailed records for us each day until we were able to transfer everything over to our new system in the weeks afterward!

Next, we started to interview and hire staffing while the Stampede ownership secured our first General Manager-Head Coach. That being Bob Motzko, who came to us from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he was the Assistant Head Coach. He was a former player and coach in the USHL and was mentored in coaching by the legendary Herb Brooks. Bob was the perfect coach for our franchise! He could recruit, teach, motivate and best of all, he understood public relations and really helped teach and engage the Sioux Falls media that first year! Taking an expansion team with no players on the roster, Bob would ultimately compile a 77-31-6 (W-L-T) record for the Stampede during his first – and only – two seasons for the franchise!

Speeding things through, I was most proud of the fact that we over-delivered with our promise to be “teammates in the community” of Sioux Falls! We made it mandatory that every player suiting up for our club would be involved in a team fundraising project once each month during the hockey season. Credit to Bob and the players because we put them through so many projects and appearances. During our first ten seasons of operations, as an example, the Stampede had contributed just over $500,000 in cash donations or foundation grants to the Sioux Falls community! That statistic, more than anything I was responsible for during my time with the Stampede, meant the most to me! I knew then – and today – that we made a difference to so many people’s lives and the players did indeed do this all with a SMILE!  I used to just smile myself when a player’s parent would phone me after a season ending to let me know how much their son had grown up and became more of a “man” than a teenager (which they were in age!) because of these life’s lessons they would undertake. That to me was a “victory” and singularly the reason why I opted to leave the Big Leagues and return to Junior Hockey because I knew the impact we could make and or have in the lives of our players and community!

Those who know me are well aware that I am one that is not into personal accolades. I’ve always spoke in WE terms rather than I. To wrap up my time with the Sioux Falls Stampede organization, I was most proud of the fact that our Argus Leader Newspaper ran a few reader polls during our early years and three times chose the Stampede as “Best in Business for Community Outreach”; our USHL voted the Stampede twice as the league’s “Organization-of-the-Year” and our South Dakota State Chamber of Commerce in Pierre, nominated the Stampede for a “Business Excellence Award”, something we would later find out that no other sports franchise in the past 50 years had ever been recognized?

I cannot thank you fans enough for accepting my family into your Sioux Falls’ homes! Normally my career path was to arrive, build and leave a franchise once the roof was secure on top and the lights were turned on inside. Usually that took about 4-5 years on average. Never in my 36 years of working in sports team management had I stayed on the job for 15 SEASONS! That is a credit to this amazing community that my heart could just never leave! This became my home and for my wife and three daughters. Two of my now grown-up girls have even rooted themselves here in Sioux Falls while living out their adult lives!

THANK YOU SIOUX FALLS FOR ADOPTING ME AS ONE OF YOUR NATIVE SONS! IT HAS BEEN MY PLEASURE TO SERVE YOU THESE LAST 15 YEARS!!

For those of you that have been reading my lengthy journal on career memories these past 11 days, NOW YOU KNOW THE WHOLE STORY!

###

PS My next chapter in life starts today – Monday, April 15, 2013 – where I am proud to say I have become a new team member of the Sioux Falls Ford-Lincoln Dealership. Just as we did for the Stampede, I would be honored to be your service representative when you consider shopping for your next vehicle! You are welcome to call me (605.610.5902) anytime or e-mail me direct at jimloria0309@gmail.com.