Houston 2012 managed to stick around for almost four years, but when the U.S. Olympic Committee gave it the boot earlier this month the ninth floor offices of the Houston 2012 Foundation at the Astrodome became a giant garage sale and auction floor.
Houston 2012 president Susan Bandy said, “this isn’t the way we pictured ending it. We wanted to be here another 10 years”.
Bandy said, “when they put an (auction lot) sticker on my computer, I thought I was going to cry”.
Proceeds from the sale, as well as any other donations to Houston 2012, will go toward retiring a remaining debt of “less than $100,000” said Bandy. The rest would be contributed to other area sports-related charities, though Bandy said the group is only trying to break even.
Among the items for sale were many of the 1,000 Houston Olympic pins in the shape of space shuttles coloured like the Texas flag. The pins were actually aboard the shuttle Atlantis.
Other items included shirts, Frisbees, highway banners featuring Houstonians Carl Lewis and Mary Lou Retton, packets of paper, file cabinets, computer equipment, and even an artificial tree in the lobby.
Olympic enthusiasts were probably most interested in architectural models of the Reliant Park complex, the Astrodome reconfigured as a track and field stadium, (part of Houston’s plan), and three complete copies of Houston’s formal bid to the USOC.
