As we thrill to the 2024 Summer Olympics now going on in Paris, many of us are also looking back and celebrating the 40th anniversary of one of the most memorable Summer Games ever … those that took place in Los Angeles from July 28–Aug. 12, 1984. They are personally this author’s favorite Games, as I was 13 at the time, home from school on summer break, and halfway thinking, “Man, if I train now, I can be totally ready for the ’88 Games!”
Yeah, that didn’t happen. But what did happen was I and the rest of the world at the time bore witness to a historic two weeks in sports that saw gymnast Mary Lou Retton become the first gymnast outside Eastern Europe to win the gymnastics all-around competition; track star Carl Lewis equal the 1936 performance of Jesse Owens by winning four gold medals; and future Dream Team members Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullin — college stars at the time — lead USA Men’s Basketball to the gold.
It was the height of the ‘80s decade. The Olympics were being held in then-President Reagan’s home state, O.J. Simpson was among the celebrities who carried the Olympic torch and Lionel Richie performed a nine-minute version of his hit song “All Night Long” at the closing ceremonies.
Bob Graziano
Bob Graziano, currently Vice Chair at JPMorgan Chase, worked those LA Games as a Ticket Manager. He recalls, “Essentially, that meant I was a firefighter. I would get thrown at any pressing issue and try and address it.”
One of the biggest fires he had a hand in putting out? When the Games were boycotted by 14 Eastern Bloc countries, including the Soviet Union and East Germany. “We had this massive amount of returned ticket inventory that we had to figure out what to do with,” he says. “All of a sudden, we were concerned that we would have venues that weren’t full because these countries had turned in so many tickets. Back then, technology wasn’t what it is today. There was no contingency plan for all of those tickets coming back that late in the process, so we had to figure out how to fill all of those seats in a really fast, yet super-efficient way.”
So, what did he and his colleagues come up with? They made smart use of the Santa Anita Park [Thoroughbred] racetrack. “They had rows and rows and rows of betting windows!” he says. “So, we asked them if we could use their facility to essentially do a ticket fair and the answer was ‘Yes.’ We had a different window for every event and invited the public to come buy tickets. It was one of the most successful things we did!”
Debra Kay Duncan, former Director of Ticketing for the Los Angeles Dodgers for 13 years, also worked those 1984 LA Games. In fact, it was her first experience with the Olympics, and she has since helped ticket nearly a dozen more. But LA will always be her favorite.
“By far, Los Angeles was the most rewarding,” she states. “Maybe because it’s my home, but the circumstances surrounding Los Angeles made it incredible … After the financial catastrophes of Montreal and the boycott by the U.S. of the 1980 Russian games in Moscow, nobody wanted to touch organizing the Games. The only two biters were Los Angeles, who was to be privately funded, or Iran, which had been holding Americans hostage. We were awarded the Games, but begrudgingly. Mostly because we were to be privately financed.”
Peter Ueberroth and Debra Kay Duncan
It was very risky. But she credits “our president Peter Ueberroth and our general manager Harry Usher” for their leadership. “We really had no outside support,” she says. “Everyone thought we would fail. People were sure that smog, traffic and security [would spell] disaster for those Games. But a small group of staff came together about two years out and put on the best Olympics ever! We really thought we might be doomed on May 8, 1984, when Russia decided to boycott. But right about that time, the Olympic Torch Relay began coming across country and ignited the nation. Everyone got excited and supportive.”
She adds, “The whole experience is a perfect memory. Some of the highlights were the friendships that I made, especially that of Peter Ueberroth, a man I admire tremendously. In my opinion, Peter saved the Olympic movement. After Russia announced its boycott, we thought we were doomed.”
Still, the experience was not without its bumps. Graziano still delights in telling one particular story at cocktail parties and other gatherings: “We created the concept of remote ticketing while working the ’84 Olympics. Most of our ticketing was hard tickets, mainframes, etc. We decided we were going to set up 10 or 12 remote outlets in various shopping malls around Southern California. But the technology was so elementary that the way we had to do it was every morning we would download onto floppy disks the inventory that we could sell at the remote outlets. And every night, we would bring those floppy disks back to the ticket office and upload the inventory that still wasn’t sold. There was no cloud and really no Internet at the time.”
He continues, “The first day we did that, we had massive lines at all of the malls. People were anxious to buy tickets. So, we took the floppy disks to all of these malls and told everyone, ‘OK, at this time, start uploading the inventory.’ We went through the process, the inventory started loading alphabetically, and they upload archery ... and it stops! We’re like, ‘Holy $%^&!’ There was a bug in the program that only allowed us to upload archery. And we had to tell the hundreds of people in line, ‘OK, we can sell you archery tickets. But that is all we can sell you! You’ll have to come back tomorrow.’ After that, it settled down. We still thought we were so high-tech. But you tell the kids today about floppy disks, and they look at you like a dog that’s heard a strange noise.”
And to this day, working those Olympics four decades ago is still a tremendous source of pride for him. When he does share that past work experience at parties, he loves that people’s faces light up and they immediately reminisce about Mary Lou Retton’s perfect 10 or just the pride many still have that LA hosted such a successful Olympics. “People will tell you where they were, what events they went to. Some people even left town for those couple of weeks, and they still regret it!”
Even those ticketing professionals who didn’t work the LA Games beam when remembering them. Jennifer Staats Moore, Associate Director of Georgia State University’s Rialto Center for the Arts, recalls the feats of Lewis and Retton. She adds, “Another unforgettable moment was the opening ceremony, which featured the famous jet pack flight [Bill Suitor flew in using Bell Aerosystems’ rocket belt], capturing the imagination of millions around the world. The 1984 Games also marked a significant financial success, showcasing the effective management and commercial strategy that set a new standard for future Olympic Games.”
And as the Paris Games hurdle towards a close, the eyes of the world will once again start to focus on the 2028 Summer Olympics that will be held in … yup, Los Angeles! Graziano is still involved, noting, “I chair the board of the LA Sports and Entertainment Commission, and I am currently working on the World Cup that we’re hosting. We’re also hosting another Super Bowl in 2027. We’re working on a lot of different things. But one of the big things is making sure everything we are doing now is to make the 2028 Olympics successful!”
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