Roger Brigham's Jocktalk on San Francisco Honorary Life Members

EBAR Sports
Published 11/12/2009

by Roger Brigham
jocktalkroger@yahoo.com

[An] informal awards ceremony was held for the four Bay Area residents who were most recently honored as Honorary Lifetime Members by the Federation of Gay Games. FGG representative Doug Litwin introduced Golden Gate Wrestling President Gene Dermody, who has wrestled in every Gay Games, was one of the founding members of Team SF, and has been an active volunteer with the federation for more than a decade. Dermody then introduced his fellow honorees:

- Shawn Kelly, who was tennis coordinator for Gay Games I, executive director of Gay Games II, worked with Vancouver organizers to ensure the sports success of Gay Games III, and then helped the creation of the FGG to oversee future games.

- Erich Richter, who created an award-winning Web site for the federation and gave it the technology tools to conduct business and surveys while representing Wrestlers WithOut Borders.

- Roger Brigham (that's me), for the work I did to help the federation change its organizational structure, handle public relations in the wake of Montreal's decision not to host the 2006 Gay Games, and the creation of targeted newsletter and Web site content for participants.

What struck me about my fellow honorees was the degree to which their "real" contributions could not be adequately described in a 30-word summary on their award certificates. Kelly was a calm and stabilizing voice working in conjunction with Vancouver organizers in 1990. Dermody at the time was a brash, abrasive grappler who was focused on his own athletic career and the success of his team. Both had been thrust into leadership roles when AIDS had claimed the lives of the two men, Tom Waddell and Don Jung, who had brought each of them into the movement. They had very different views of what was important in 1990, they had some bitter fights, they both were right on different things – and because the event had the flexibility to embrace their diverse views and those of dozens of others as yet unrecognized men and women, the Gay Games were able to transition from a purely San Francisco product to a true cultural phenomenon on a life-changing global scale.

At which time Richter subtly and creatively crafted a marketing image of the Gay Games that said this was not just another rainbow-waving party: this was something amazing, something inspiring, that the world had never seen before.