From the International Olympic Games to the Canning Olympics in the mountains of North Georgia might be a stretch for anyone but A.D. Frazier.
Yes, Billy Payne's former right hand man at the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) hosted his own games recently. The Canning Olympics was an idea Frazier had while moderating the daily call-in show, "Swap Shop." But instead of athletes bringing their A-games, participants brought Ball jars of sauerkraut and green beans.
And Frazier earned them, spurs, chaps, saddle and horse, while compiling an impressive resum?. He managed the 1977 inauguration of President Jimmy Carter and headed the team reorganizing the White House and Executive Office of the President, also under President Carter. He was the first chairman of Georgia Public Broadcasting after being asked by then-governor George Busbee to help merge two public television stations into one state agency.
Frazier was also chief operating officer for ACOG, Chairman and CEO of the Chicago Stock Exchange, Chairman of the Board at Gold Kist Inc., CEO of INVESCO and president and chief operating officer of Caremark Inc.
That he does. In 2002 a group of civic and business leaders from Atlanta visited Frazier in Chicago while on a LINK trip sponsored by the Atlanta Regional Commission. Frazier's blunt assessment of Atlanta's failings stung many members of the group; others felt there was more truth to what he said than they were comfortable admitting.