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Oh, this guy will fit right in,"he grew up in Princeville, N.C., the first town in the country incorporated by freed slaves, he said."
Monty Jones, the new general manager of Augusta's civic center complex, is so new on the job, most of the mementos that eventually will decorate his office are still in boxes.
Among them are photographs and trophies of the Little League team he coached that won the Super Bowl in Raleigh, N.C., five years ago. And there is the photograph of him and his grandmother all dressed up for prom night.
"I took my grandmother to my senior prom," he said. "My grandmother said she never went to her senior prom. My friend said his grandmother had said the same thing. So I said, 'Well, why don't we take our grandmothers to our senior prom?' We both had girlfriends, but they understood."
In the boxes there is also memorabilia from his days as a star athlete at Tarboro High School in Tarboro, N.C., where he lettered in football, basketball, baseball and track.
He's been too busy to unpack because he's been learning the ropes at James Brown Arena and Bell Auditorium with the help of Linda Roberts, who has served as interim general manager a half-dozen times at the facility.
He also has been planning to turn things around at the money-losing complex by building relationships in both the community and the entertainment industry.
"I'm looking to book some great shows to come here," said Mr. Jones, who was recommended for the job by Global Spectrum, the management company that took over civic center operations last month.
"It's all about relationships. Global Spectrum has great relationships with a lot of people. Once you build relationships, it's a continual base. It's a small world because somebody knows somebody that knows somebody else."
One of his immediate goals as manager of the day-to-day operations of the facility is to get the Augusta community more involved because it is there for them, he said.
"We want to utilize our meeting space," he said. "We could utilize it for weddings and wedding receptions, business and civic club meetings. It can actually be used for a lot of different things."
Mr. Jones said he had heard a lot about the Augusta civic center during three years as event coordinator and director of event services for Global Spectrum at the Colonial Center at the University of South Carolina. He was involved in opening the Convocation Center at the University of South Carolina Aiken, where he learned more about the Augusta facility, before leaving to become executive director at the Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center at Chicago State University.
After a year running the whole show in Chicago's cold climate, Mr. Jones jumped at the chance to go back to work for Global Spectrum in sunny Augusta.
"I love the South," he said. "Chicago's different. Growing up in the South, I had probably only seen snow a total of about 30 days of my 27 years, and I get to Chicago, and I see it for pretty much two to three months."
One vivid memory is the New York Giants and Green Bay Packers playing a football game when it was 30 degrees below zero.
Mr. Jones was born in Agana, Guam, when his father, a U.S. Marine, was stationed there, but he grew up in Princeville, N.C., the first town in the country incorporated by freed slaves, he said.
Reach Sylvia Cooper at (706) 823-3228 or sylvia.cooper@augustachronicle.com.
MONTY JONES
AGE: 28
EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree in parks, recreation, tourism and sports management from North Carolina State University in 2002
BACKGROUND: Director of operations for the Carolina Cobras, an arena football team out of Raleigh, N.C., during his senior year of college; director of event services for Global Spectrum at the Colonial Center at the University of South Carolina; executive director of the Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center at Chicago State University
FAMILY: Single
QUOTE: "I want to re-surge this building, because from hearing and just walking around and seeing the posters and a lot of things this building used to do ... Why can't it still do that?"
Comments
Oh, this guy will fit right in,"he grew up in Princeville, N.C., the first town in the country incorporated by freed slaves, he said."
Well he can't be any worse than his predecessors. I wish him well.
Do not knock North Carolina What it Buddy! after all the were it all got started.
Hitting the bottle a bit early this morning aren't you.
Monty sounds like he has the right attitude. I hope he can deal with a town where the slaves didn't (and don't) want to be freed.
What ever happened to that Julie lady that got fired before she started???
Well he has his work cut out for him. He better learn to micro manage and play the game of politics. He makes the right enemies he will be a marked man quickly. I hope he succeeds in bringing quality entertainment here. I really hope the citizens will buy tickets to these shows.
She took one look Reality and ran for the hills....:-) Good luck to you Mr. Jones...
Well I sure hope the narrowminded folks of this area will give him a chance. He seems like he has been doing positive things in other areas and I hope he will bring a fresh approach to running things differently around here. None of the same old same old. He is educated in his field obviouisly and I look forward to the new he will bring to our area. Global Spectrum seems to be doing a great job at the Convocation Center in Aiken. There is always something going on there and I feel confident they would not have recommended him for the job if they didn't feel he had the talent we needed. He will obviously have his work cut out for him with the locals but hopefully he will show them he is in charge and making the changes he sees fit for our arena.
At last, a young energetic person with the right education for the job. I hope he throws himself into the job. It looks like he has passion, drive, and ledership. It will take leadership to guide the venue through the changes needed to make it work again. I just hope he gets cooperation from the board and support from the community. Good Luck.
You guys just don't get it....It's not the people who give opinions in this paper he's got to worry about,it's the rest of that dysfunctual board and it's bevy of ignorant..uneducated morons who are going to give him a run for his money....bet he might want to jump ship after one of their "meetings"..anyway hope not... just hold on to your hat Mr. Jones!!
I wish Mr. Jones all the luck in the world. He is obviously going to need it. I also hope he has thick skin, and if he doesn't he will soon.
we need a larger civic center to bring in top acts
I want to give this guy the benefit of the doubt... and he does sound very energetic.. But one question.. why does it seem that every manager of this facility has to be of a particular skin color?
Its great to see an educated young man stepping out amid the morons to handle business. I wish him well. I hope he brings a fresh approach to a dead (elderly) group of people. We need clean fresh acts that attract many and not just one group of people. Maybe instead of having these entertainers at the club we can have them in the arena like other cities. We need a place the size of lake olmstead and have reall jazz music, lounge chairs, food from vendors, like atlanta does. It could also be on riverwalk. The candlelight jazz is great but we need more.
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