When the Olympic games took place in Atlanta, Georgia, the torch passed through many communities in the state including Dunwoody. This blog post is about my experience seeing the torch pass through Dunwoody and memories others shared with me about the torch passing through their neighborhoods.
In the fall of 1995, newspapers across the country announced three ways to become one of 10,000 torch bearers in the 1996 Olympic Torch Relay, which was sponsored by Coca-Cola. 5,500 community heroes would be selected by United Way chapters.
The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games and the U.S. Olympic committee selected 2,000 present and former Olympians and other VIPs to complete the list of torch bearers. According to olympics.com the total number of torchbearers for the 1996 games reached 800 in Greece and 12,467 in the US.
The Olympic flame came from Greece to the U.S. on April 27, 1996, arriving at Los Angeles in a specially designed lamp. Dunwoody resident and CEO of the Atlanta Centennial Olympic Games Billy Payne took the lamp from the plane. At the Los Angeles Coliseum, the Olympic torch was lit. This was the beginning of a cross country 84-day journey.
This map appeared in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution.
The July 10, 1996 Crier newspaper, as it was known at the time, described the path of the torch through Dunwoody. The newspaper announced that the torch was expected to arrive at 5 pm on Thursday July 18. “Carried by a score of Dunwoody residents, the torch will pass around the city and around the clock before coming to rest at Atlanta City Hall prior to Opening Ceremonies.”
From Roswell, the torch came down Roswell Road, turning left on Pitts Road and right on Spalding Drive closer to 6 p.m. Skip Lehman ran the relay along Spalding Drive to Chamblee Dunwoody Road. The next torch bearers were Ann Stoer, Julie Guthrie, and Craig Ehlo.
Many people sat along Chamblee Dunwoody Road on July 18, including myself and my two young children, determined that they would be able to say they were there when the torch passed. All I remember it that is was a sweltering hot day, not surprising for July 18.
At Dunwoody Village Parkway Walter Sessoms continued the relay past the Cheek-Spruill House. Charles Coe carried the flame to the right at Mount Vernon Highway followed by Bill McNair and Bryan Langston along Ashford Dunwoody Road. (The Story of Dunwoody, “The Olympics Come to Atlanta and the Torch Comes Through Dunwoody”, Bill McCahan)
The torch relay turned right on Hammond Drive, crossing Peachtree Dunwoody Road and entering Sandy Springs. From there, a right turn at Barfield Road and a left turn at Abernathy Road brought the torch to Roswell Road where the relay continued towards Atlanta.
When I wrote about the 25th anniversary of the 1996 Olympics in 2021, others shared their memories.
Carol Mason said her family just missed being in Los Angeles for the Olympics. When the 1996 Olympics came to Atlanta she volunteered as a driver for North Korea. “I loved being part of the 1996 Olympics.” She and her family were standing in front of the Redfield Subdivision on Chamblee Dunwoody Road when the torch passed.
Suzanne Huff of Dunwoody was with her parents, Ken and Alta Birdsong and daughter Meagan. “I remember picking up Meagan from Children's World (now KinderCare) and taking her out to Chamblee-Dunwoody Road,” recalls Huff. High school and college friend Allyson Arnold Wagner and daughter Olivia joined the Huff family for the momentous occasion. “Seemed like we were waiting forever but it came and went quickly.”
Ann Nickerson was also watching on Chamblee Dunwoody Road. She remembers that Carlton Bruner, a Dunwoody High School graduate, made the Olympic swim team. “We were so proud of him in the Branches where he started, and the Dynamos!”
Nickerson’s daughter Denise was an interpreter for the French entourage and the Nickerson family hosted a French girl during the Olympics. The day of the bombing at Centennial Park was a time of panic because it took a while to receive a phone call from Denise and their guest who were at the park. Despite that tense evening, Nickerson remembers the event as “a once in a lifetime journey and I cherish all the memories,”
Faye and Michael Sklar were living on Harris Circle off Chamblee Dunwoody Road at the time and remember the day well. Their daughters, Joy Frazier and Joanna Frazier set up a lemonade stand along with their friend Amy. Faye Sklar said, “Who’d have expected the torch to come through our little neighborhood?”
Kathy and Tom Florence moved to Dunwoody less than a year before the Olympics came to Atlanta. They took their children and niece to the front of the Cheek-Spruill House to view the Olympic torch pass. Kathy recalls, “There was a huge crowd gathered to watch and I remember feeling extremely proud to be a part of this community.”
“This was our first experience at the Cheek-Spruill property and a poignant and special memory as it wasn’t long after that I became active in Dunwoody Preservation Trust. Tom and I served as presidents 2009-2011, during the years that the property was completely renovated.”