Ben Barnhart can't run a race anymore. At 59, the Spring Hill resident suffers from an eye disease that has left him legally blind. Still, almost every day, he pulls on his sneakers and jogs 4 miles, at a pace so slow it takes him about an hour.

"I'm out and about and I'm vertical," Barnhart boasted recently.

His iron determination has earned Barnhart a rare honor. This weekend he will join a special education teacher from St. Petersburg, a Brandon amputee, a Valrico octogenarian and dozens of other Tampa Bay area residents in carrying the Olympic torch through Florida.

Although it's really just a 3-pound butane lighter, the torch is the universally recognized symbol of the Olympic Games and carries with it centuries of athletic tradition.

So when Salt Lake City's organizers asked for applications to carry the torch for just a few minutes on its 13,500-mile journey from Atlanta, scene of the 1996 Summer Olympics, to its new venue in Salt Lake City for the Winter Games, more than 200,000 people responded.

From that list of applicants, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee and two corporate sponsors winnowed the field to 11,500 torchbearers. Some were chosen at random by one corporate sponsor, Coca-Cola. Another sponsor, Chevrolet, formed a selection committee to pick its group. The Olympic committee relied on the judgment of 96 community groups around the country, who reviewed essays submitted by friends and family of the would-be runners.

Those winners were chosen "for how they embody the Olympic spirit and are an inspiration to others," said Olympic spokeswoman Christy Bolden.

Take Melinda Korte. At 47, the St. Petersburg resident has been a Tampa General Hospital nurse, co-founder of a camp for burned children and, for the past three years, a teacher of emotionally disturbed children at John M. Sexton Elementary in St. Petersburg.

Last summer she found out she had breast cancer. She underwent a double mastectomy followed by reconstructive surgery, as well as a lengthy course of chemotherapy. Yet she never missed a day of school.

"It was a struggle," she said. "But the type of children I work with need a consistent person in their lives. Most of them don't have a lot of consistency in their lives. Several don't even have families."

Korte doesn't do much running, so she plans to walk her two-tenths of a mile leg of the relay in Daytona Beach today.

Bill Kolar, 54, of Odessa said he had no idea he had even been nominated as a torch bearer until a package arrived notifying him he had been chosen.

"I was floored," said Kolar, co-owner of a computer equipment company who has competed in Iron Man contests around the globe. "My wife came in and was wondering why I was running around the kitchen with a broom stick."

Because he is worried about dropping the 33-inch-long metal torch, Kolar has also tried some practice runs while carrying a log.

Abby Grimm, 46, has some experience with carrying the torch. She has done it before, for the Atlanta Olympics. Once an Orlando bank guard, she lost a leg after being shot during a robbery. She has also battled cancer for more than 20 years.

Her sister Nancy Grimm nominated her to carry the torch again this year, with good reason. The sisters share a Brandon home with a pool. In 1997, Nancy Grimm was swimming when she apparently lost consciousness or had a seizure. Abby mustered the strength to swim to her and heave her to safety.

"Poor little thing, she was bald, only had one leg and very weak from the chemo," said Nancy Grimm, 56. "She didn't hesitate, just jumped in."

Abby Grimm will refuse help to roll her wheelchair for her segment of the torch run. She will hold the flame in her right hand, propelling herself with her left hand and her right foot.

"It's just important to me to know that I can do things myself," she said. "I like to hold on to the few things I can."

Scott Manas, a math teacher at Tampa Day School in Citrus Park, nominated himself. He applied through a promotion he found inside a 12-pack of Coca-Cola. He was so eager to see if he had been chosen that on the day the list was released over the Internet, he went to a store and bought an iMac.

"I brought it home, signed on, and there was my name," he said.

For the onetime high school track star, two-tenths of a mile isn't very far, so he envisions himself savoring the memory.

"I have to remind myself to jog slowly, wave to everybody and high-five the kids," he said.

No one should wonder what Al "Chopper" Davis thinks about being chosen to carry the torch. Every year Davis, 54, of New Port Richey puts together a float for the Christmas parade.

This year, his float has an Olympic theme: a giant torch. And Davis will also be on the float Saturday night, wearing his official white-and-purple Olympic running suit, holding the torch he carried.

Torchbearers may keep their torches, so long as they are willing to pay $335. Boxing legend Muhammad Ali started the relay Tuesday in Atlanta, passing the flame to figure-skating gold medalist Peggy Fleming. Other athletes and celebrities who will carry the torch include New York Yankees manager Joe Torre, baseball great Willie Mays, former NFL quarterback Steve Young, as well as Lyz Glick, wife of Jeremy Glick, a passenger aboard United Flight 93, which crashed Sept. 11 after passengers struggled with hijackers.

A Coast Guard cutter is bringing the torch to Jacksonville this morning from Charleston, S.C. From there the relay will take the flame down the state's Atlantic coast, with a short inland jog to Orlando, ending in Miami on Sunday. From there it will be flown to Mobile, Ala., for the next leg of the trip, which will end in Utah on Feb. 8.

Devon Rich, 17, did not find out until last week that she would be a torch bearer. She hasn't done any practicing for her leg of the relay in Winter Park, but the Seminole High track star is certain she won't set any speed records.

"I'm going to take it in a kind of a slow jog," she said. "I want this to last."

-- Times staff writers Babita Persaud, Kathryn Wexler, Kent Fischer, Jim Ross, Dong-Phuong Nguyen, Jennifer Farrell, Shannon Breen and Lorri Helfand contributed to this report, which contains information from the Associated Press.

Back to Tampa Bay area news
Back

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright

Special Links

Mary Jo Melone

Howard Troxler

Headlines
From the Times
local news desks