when original owner Charlie Morrow died from cancer. Amos knew nothing about hockey, but had a passion for the commu- nity. “I actually went out and bought a copy
of Hockey for Dummies,” she says, laugh- ing. “Our purpose for buying the team wasn’t just for love of the sport. We didn’t want Columbus to lose the team. Tey did a lot of work for charities, and that was something that was important to me.” Last season, the Cottonmouths donated
approximately $100,000 in tickets for char- ity, military and schools; raised $35,000 for charities and volunteered 300 hours of community service. “I didn’t know a lot about hockey,” Amos
said, “but I knew what it meant to care about your community, and that’s what the Cottonmouths are all about.” Te Cottonmouths share the Columbus
Civic Center with Columbus’ other profes- sional sports team, the Columbus Lions of the Professional Indoor Football League. But these teams have more than a home turf in common.
CHARACTER FIRST John Hargrove has always been a foot-
ball fan. In fact, he’s a fan of sports … period. “As my wife would say, I’ve never gotten
sports parenting out of my system,” Har- grove says. “It’s just a part of who I am and always will be.” With three children having played
sports in high school or college, Hargrove has spent a lifetime on the sidelines. Now, as managing partner of the Columbus Lions, Hargrove, who is among a group of six owners, has the same approach when it comes to building a winning football team. “I guess it was that parenting aspect that
really got me interested in this,” he says. “The Lions are a family, and that aspect of community involvement is what made it all worthwhile. And while we love to bring championships to the city every year, there are other measurements of success.” Te Lions have partnerships with
numerous organizations including Colum- bus State University, Columbus Regional Healthcare System and Fort Benning as well as with local schools through the Part- ners in Education program. After last season, the Lions donated
$1,400 from the Pack the House Night pro- motion to the Children’s Miracle Network. From this year’s Cancer Appreciation Night pink jersey auction, they donated $1,300 each to the John B. Amos Cancer Center and the AFLAC Cancer Center and Blood Disorders Service in Atlanta. “We bring value to the community,”
Hargrove says. “At the end of the day, you don’t really make money, so you try and bring pride and value to the community, while simply hoping to break even.” The challenge of making a profit—or as
Bechard says, “putting butts in the seats”— is a challenge for the Cottonmouths as well. He estimates that there are 2,500 “hardcore” hockey fans that attend most home games. And while that might sound good, it doesn’t pay the bills. “Everybody praises us for being the lon-
gest tenured team in Columbus, but we’re able to do that because we have great fans and great ownership who care about the community,” Bechard says. “We’ve been here for 16 years and maybe two of those years we’ve broken even. “We need 3,000-plus every game. So our
job is to go out there and find those miss- ing people.” Tami Neese was among the missing. Te
Hogansville native didn’t “care one thing about hockey” until three seasons ago when her daughter started going to games. Eventually, the entire family was making the hour-long drive to Columbus. But in the Cottonmouths, Neese found more than entertainment. “I’m always looking for a positive role
model for my son,” Neese says. “His father and I divorced when he was 1 and he’s been in the picture, but not nearly enough. So I saw these young guys as strong role mod- els. Tey’re super sweet, giving him pucks, spending time with him and really becom- ing friends. “It’s been an awesome experience for all
of us.” As event manager for the Columbus
Sports Council, David Boyd’s job is to lure sporting events, such as softball and base- ball tournaments, to the area. Te Lions and Cottonmouths, with their years of suc- cess and loyal fan base, are a good selling point for Columbus, he says. “It’s a two-part deal,” he explains. “On
the one hand we’ve got these two great, locally-owned sports teams who’ve sus- tained a great relationship with the city and can be looked to as an example of how popular sports are to this area. Also, I can package both of these teams as something to do, another means of entertainment. “It helps me in recruiting events because
the community has embraced them.” Te Cottonmouths and Lions both attri-
bute their success to local ownership, com- munity involvement and the recruitment of not only quality players, but quality human beings. “We’ve found that if you choose charac-
ter first,” Hargrove says, “everything else pretty much falls into place.” Anthony Merritt is one of those character
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