The serendipity of getting to know coaches and players and their families along the way, at minimum, livens up lunchtime gossip. Godwin mentioned a bowl-week encounter that included taking a college linebacker to a local orthopedist after the player was hurt during practice.
Five years ago, ad agency executive Steve Luquire enlisted former bank executive Hugh McColl Jr. and former mayor Harvey Gantt to encourage business types to join the Leatherheads. The inspiration to start the football-themed group came from The Thunderbirds, started in Phoenix in 1937. The Thunderbirds are best known for turning the Waste Management Phoenix Open into the best-attended and loudest tournament on the PGA Tour.
Charlotte’s group started when the city landed a second annual college game, the ACC football championship, in 2010. The Belk Bowl started in 2002. Both are played at Bank of America Stadium, with the ACC game in early December and the bowl at the end of that month. The group is extra busy this year because the stadium is also hosting the college football season opener between North Carolina and South Carolina on Sept. 3. To date, 42,000 of the 74,000 seats have been sold.
In 2014, the bowl game started a new agreement with the Southeastern Conference, considered by many the most competitive college football league. And the one with the most dedicated — OK, deluded — fans. The ACC has been part of the bowl game from the start. Belk Inc., the ACC and the SEC are signed through 2019 to be part of the game.
For Leatherheads, perks include having a role in selecting the schools for the Belk Bowl. (All bowls work on a pecking order established by the conferences and the College Football Playoff committee.) During the regular season, Leatherheads members can scout on behalf of the bowl game, affording members press-box credentials and a chance to hobnob on the home fields of Georgia, Clemson, Miami and other familiar football stadiums across the two conferences.
“If you want to be involved in sports, it’s the place to be,” Godwin says, noting that the chance to attend team functions, practices and conference media days all add up to a series of experiences he and other Leatherheads would never be able to have otherwise. “You can’t buy this kind of access.”
On other occasions, members of the group have enjoyed a private lunch with South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, met with then-SEC Commissioner Mike Slive and enjoyed a football talk with Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera. On Sept. 2, the day before the Tar Heels play the Gamecocks, Leatherheads members will join sponsors and other VIPs for a reception at the City Club attended by the UNC and South Carolina athletic directors, among others.
Will Webb, head of the Charlotte Sports Foundation, which recruits and runs the college football games and other events, says the Leatherheads help in myriad ways, from creating enthusiasm to showcasing the city.
As a former lawyer, Webb says volunteers have always made him nervous. The Leatherheads are closely vetted and, he says, consistently win rave reviews from visiting teams, coaches and athletic department staffs.
And, of course, they can provide Christmas carols when necessary.
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