Kevin Burns is a bit like the Rolexes he buys. His latest interest, and there always is one, is dragon boat racing.
By DENISE WATSON BATTS
Published April 30, 2004
CULBREATH BAYOU - Estate buyer Kevin Burns had traveled the world and thought he had seen it all. But two years ago in Canada, he came upon an amazing sight: a group of paddlers in a shallow boat, following the beat of a drummer at the bow.
A friend explained that it was dragon boat racing, a huge sport in Canada and around the world. Burns had never heard of it.
"But within five minutes, I had the overall vision of how to bring it back here," he said recently from his Kennedy Boulevard office. "I liked the Asian theme. I thought it would add to the diversity of our area."
And so the Greater Tampa Bay International Dragon Boat Festival debuts Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Friends aren't surprised that Burns, 47, could pull together an event around a little known sport, assembling about 40 teams and an expected turnout of thousands. He stepped foot into a dragon boat for the first time in January. Now he's training most of those who will compete on Saturday.
The friends also aren't surprised that he's organizing the race for charity.
That's Burns.
"Kevin is a driven individual," said friend Keith Greminger, who is also co-chairman of the event. "He is good at motivating and rallying people together."
The drive has always been there.
He was born in Patterson, N.J., and moved to Tampa around 1979. He had family here and had visited the area. Burns took a job selling jewelry, loved the work and moved into a management training program. By 1984, he had bought his own business and began appraising jewelry. Burns started an estate-buying business in 1987 and now owns Associated Watch & Jewelry Buyers. His business deals only with larger diamonds and fine jewelry such as Cartier and Rolex.
Burns enjoys the history involved, studying a piece and determining if it's Art Nouveau or Art Deco.
"You put yourself back in time," he said.
His is a very personal business. People come to him when they need to part with an item, sometimes because they need the money.
"When you're selling a piece of jewelry, it's an uncomfortable situation," Burns said. "We treat people with dignity and respect."
It goes beyond business. Burns works with a nonprofit group called Grapes for Humanity, which raises money through wine tastings and dinners to help land mine victims in Vietnam and Cambodia.
He was a volunteer coach for the Plant High School boys' soccer team this year. His son, Dylan, plays.
"I'm a big proponent of giving back," Burns said. "I feel that I'm real lucky. I feel like I'm still ahead of the game in what I have."
It was one of the draws of dragon boat racing, he said. Both he and Perminger believe in supporting downtown. They thought the races would make good use of the waterfront.
And while studying the sport, Burns heard inspiring tales of Canadian vessels piloted by cancer survivors. In 1996, a sports medicine research team challenged the notion that breast cancer survivors should restrict upper body exercise. There are now dozens of teams around the world.
Proceeds from the Tampa race will be split between the Florida Aquarium, which helped organize the event, and the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute. He hopes to raise at least $30,000.
His wife, Mabel, is accustomed to her husband's always having his hand, and heart, in some new idea. When he and his 16-year-old son learned that former NFL player turned Army Ranger Pat Tillman had been killed in combat in Afghanistan, they painted a tribute on a wall at the Channelside Beef "O' Brady's, where Burns is co-owner.
"Kevin said he was going to do it because we should, this guy is a hero," Mabel said.
