Lifting the Spirit and Passing It On

Samalj Floyd remembers well the telephone call that made him part of Olympic history. A spokesperson from the Atlanta Committee for the Games (ACOG) gave him the good news: He had been chosen to carry the symbolic torch along a two-mile stretch of the city towards the Olympic Ring.

"I couldn't believe it," said Floyd, an AFSCME Local 1644 member. "I thought, 'what a great once-in-a-lifetime honor.' I hollered a loud 'Yes' and hoisted up two thumbs. Then I bounded into the kitchen and told my family. They started yelling, too."

A longtime boxing trainer, his name was turned in to ACOG by representatives of his local and the Alpha Community Center.

Floyd -- a veteran community activist for nearly three decades -- developed training programs for underprivileged kids throughout the city that have kept them off the streets and into sports. His tutelage has produced three national amateur boxing champions.

At noon on July 19, in 93 degree heat, he jogged through downtown Atlanta carrying the torch in the spirit of peace and competitiveness for the 1996 Summer Olympics and passed the flame on to the next relay team member. Floyd got to keep his torch as a memento.

Floyd was one of some 10,000 torchbearers who carried the Olympic flame across America, including AFSCME Ohio Local 3058 (Council 8) member Rick George. George, nominated by his daughter and selected for his outstanding efforts on behalf of his union and community, carried the torch through the city of Eastlake, Ohio, in July.