The Difference Maker

A Game 7 victory brought the Stanley Cup to Carolina and gave Larry Perkins an opportunity to hold the hallowed trophy. Photo courtesy of Gregg Forwerk

By R.V. Baugus

Tonight the Stanley Cup could runneth over with the flow of champagne if the Carolina Hurricanes can beat the Edmonton Oilers to close a 3-1 series lead on their home ice in Raleigh, N.C., and capture the prized trophy signifying the champions of the National Hockey League.

This morning, however, “floweth over” refers to the floods and more than seven inches of rain pounding Raleigh this June 14 as the remnants of Hurricane Alberto blow through the city. It’s not every day that a facility manager gets to work in his building with a potential world championship on the line. Then again, it’s not every day that the facility manager has to deal with the ramifications of a major storm while preparing for the game.

Larry Perkins, assistant general manager of the RBC Center, pulls his car into the parking lot of the facility to prepare for all the events about to unfold. Call it not-just-another-day in the life of a facility manager. Ready for the tour?

9 a.m. Perkins barely has time to settle into his office before fellow staffers are dropping by to report the latest weather forecasts for the day ahead. Outside, the wind is blasting away, and from the fourth floor looking down onto some tents outside the ferocity of the storm is visibly evident. The biggest of the tents has been set up throughout the playoffs for people to come to watch the game and be as close as possible to the electric atmosphere inside the arena. The latest estimate is that the rain will stay until at least 2 p.m., if not longer.

I’ve been getting calls from people wanting to know if they can come down to celebrate. Absolutely not! The tent is deep in water from the rains and we won’t be opening it. Everybody wants to be a part of it, and it’s a tough decision to make to keep it closed. But it’s just not safe.

9:25 a.m. Guest Services Coordinator April Keeley drops in to say that she received a call from the doctor who delivered her first baby five years ago. She had not seen or talked to the doctor since then, but darn if he didn’t surprise her with a call to ask for tickets. Perkins can only laugh as he listens to the story. You work long enough and you’ll get these calls. People you haven’t talked to in years act like they just talked to you yesterday.

10 a.m. The rain only intensifies and the dark skies more resemble 10 p.m. than 10 a.m. Perkins surveys the scene out of his window and looks across the street where renovations are ongoing at the stadium where North Carolina State University plays football. With the renovations comes mud — and lots of it, where vehicles will be parked tonight. Perkins places a call in anticipation of potential problems with the mud.

We are going to need two or three tow trucks to pull people out of the mud from the lots by Carter-Finley Stadium. Even if the rain stopped right now, we are going to have problems with people getting stuck tonight.

10:05 a.m. Perkins is briefed about a story in today’s local newspaper that encourages people to go to the RBC Center to celebrate what assuredly will be a Carolina Hurricanes victory.

This just means we will be getting more calls. We have to turn around and get the radio stations and television stations to not encourage people to come down. We are at capacity right now and with the weather ... it’s not a good situation.

10:10 a.m. Perkins places another call inquiring about the availability of golf carts for tonight. He also asks if there is enough rain gear for staff to wear who will be out in the elements at various times.

For a game like this we will have a lot of people who are here for the first time. We will also have a fair share of elderly people, and the golf carts will be able to go around and do pick-ups. We want to make sure that no one is stranded anywhere on the property.

I would say that probably 4,000 to 5,000 people will not get into the building on time to see the face-off because of the weather. Since the beginning of the playoffs, we have had “all hands on deck.” Everybody works the event so we put our best foot forward. This is only the second time since the playoffs started that is has rained, but it would be today!

10:30 a.m. There are pictures everywhere in the office that tell the career story of Larry Perkins. He has spent about 30 years in the public assembly facility industry and cut his teeth in 1976 at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, N.J. Perkins had been working for Pinkerton’s as a private investigator and was transferred over to the Meadowlands to head their security program. At the time, the Meadowlands outsourced quite a few contracts, and Pinkerton’s had the one for security. But ask Perkins where he really started his career and the answer is anything but the ordinary.

I believe it all started for me in the fields in Enfield, North Carolina, about 90 minutes from here. You know how in school the teacher asks what you want to be when you grow up? I wanted to fly a plane and I wanted to be an attorney. We worked in the fields close to the Air Force base and I would see the planes flying overhead and thought it was neat.

When I was nine I went to live with my dad, who was a sharecropper. I had lived with my grandfather before that, but when I was with my dad I knew that he got $17.50 every two weeks to buy groceries. At the end of some years the crops produced would not yield any kind of money and he would be in the hole. I remember going to the farm owner and saying that I would like to keep up the books and be able to see how we could better improve our income. The guy really got mad at me for even questioning. But my dad could not read or write and I wanted to be able to see how we could improve our yield.

I wanted to be more than what my dad was doing at that point. My career really started in the fields and has driven me to this day. My personal creed is duty, honor and tolerance. Those are three things I live by to this day. With duty you obviously need to give back; honor to work and the folks who have gone before me; and the tolerance to understand other people.

10:50 a.m. It is time to catch up on a few e-mails, which Perkins does. He has to order some celebration signs, deal with the issue of stage access and media check-in. Oh, and he gets a call to cancel the band that had been setting up on a stage outside and playing for the pre-game crowds. Perkins juggles all of the issues — some tedious and others a bit more exciting — with graceful aplomb. He is spot-on with the details and treats even the most seemingly minor issues with special importance.

The voluminous trophy case at the RBC
Center will now include the biggest of them all,
the Stanley Cup. Photo courtesy of Gregg Forwerk.

I received my security management degree from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City and got to be pretty good with details when I was a PI [private investigator]. When you got an assignment for the morning you couldn’t write anything down until the time you left to go to the hotel or wherever you were. That day you had to keep track of everything in your mind. After working all day you would then get back to the hotel and have to write a report and send it to a PO box.

11: 15 a.m. Keeley steps in to talk briefly with Perkins about a program they started where they visit with season-ticket holders during the game. It was an idea that Perkins had to thank the season-ticket holders and to let them know that he and any member of the staff is there to help in any way possible.

We want people to have memorable experiences when they are at our facility. If there is anything we can do as a staff to help create that experience, then we need to do it.

1 p.m. Representatives from the NHL meet with dozens of RBC Center staff to go over all of the plans for the game tonight. Discussion ranges from when the families will be allowed onto the ice to celebrate with the victorious Hurricanes, as well as staffing issues, locker room access for the media and a host of other details that must be addressed in the eventuality of a series-clinching win. There is even talk about how to handle rowdy fans who might try to scale the glass to get onto the ice. Perkins sits and nods, especially when the talk gets around to security. He is, after all, considered the industry’s foremost expert on crowd management.

The crowd management issue is an interesting one. I mean, when do you become an “expert” on the subject? I certainly never proclaimed that, but then all of a sudden I’m an “expert.” I think it came about in part because of my duties at the Meadowlands Sports Complex, where I was responsible for moving people, and whether it was physical security or psychological security. I had to concentrate on crowds, because we had 8.5 million people come through the complex (Giants Stadium, Continental Airlines Arena, Meadowlands Racetrack) every year. I did a lot of studying and a lot of surveys.

We did a segment here at the RBC Center in 2003 called “Get Out Alive.” That was prompted by people getting injured at a lot of events. We did a cast call and hired a local band and went through the process of what you do to protect yourself in large crowds. I still get calls about the program.

It is interesting to see how crowd control issues have changed over the years. It went from crowd control to crowd management to crowd engineering and to facility hardening. Control was always thought of as a police function with barricades and such. Management is what you do in advance, more of a psychological and scientific approach to crowds. We try to manage crowds and not control them. People do not want to be controlled.

Better late than never, Carolina got to celebrate a Game 7 win. Photo courtesy of Gregg Forwerk.

2:15 p.m. It is time to grab a sandwich for lunch and likely the last of any semblance of peace and quiet before the masses start descending on the facility in a few short hours. Perkins will be ready for the full house, just as he has been since the season started way back in October 2005. His calm will exude confidence and leadership in what could be the biggest night ever for the team and the city’s sports fans.

I tell my staff all the time when I hire someone that I think it is my responsibility to not only help you grow professionally but personally. That’s how I look at myself in the way of leading. There are so many people in IAAM that I have also learned from, people who are just great leaders and do it in different ways. I look at Frank Poe, Joe Floreano, Cliff Wallace, Ray Ward, Carol Wallace, Jimmy Earl and David Ross. They all have this quality about them. It is hard to put your finger on, but there is something about them. They are steadfast in their beliefs.

If I had to pick one word to describe them, it would be humanitarian. They give of themselves. It’s not about them being in the limelight, but about them giving back to this industry. Leaders are the ones who gain the most. They learn the most. When people come to me and I have to do research, I’m the one who’s really learning the most. So you are then giving back while learning at the same time. It’s the best of both worlds.

4 p.m. Perkins takes one last opportunity to sift through e-mails and messages for any last-minute details that might need to be addressed. There are a couple of well-wishes from fellow IAAM members about tonight’s game, but nothing urgent, which is really not too surprising. Oh, and the skies are clearing.

All the preparation is done way before now. If we are just now concerning ourselves about things that will happen tonight we are likely too late. We’re as ready as we can be.

5 p.m. The tent will not be used tonight, but a band has arrived and is working an early-arriving crowd into a pre-game frenzy. People heed the advice from media outlets and arrive well before the 8 p.m. game start. Many are throwing tailgate parties that would shame a five-star restaurant. Perkins walks the parking lot from one corner of the arena to the other. Along the way, many of the revelers call out Perkins’ name, and he acknowledges them with a handshake and a quick word.

Keep in mind that this is a close-knit community and many of the people who are here are people that I often see in various civic functions and around town. It’s not unusual for us to know each other on a first-name basis. Plus, many people are season ticket holders, and we get to know them from seeing them here throughout the season.

6:30 p.m. The doors open and thousands go through the magnetometers into the arena. It seems no one wants to miss soaking in this unique experience, including the one and only professional wrestler and long-time North Carolina resident “Nature Boy” Ric Flair. The grappler’s signature “Wooo!” call is echoed by the crowd every time Carolina scores a goal.

7 p.m. There is time for one last pre-game visit outside. While no one can locate the offender, it is being reported that a gentleman carrying a bag is walking up to the glass windows of the arena and showing a $100 bill to the fans inside the building, his way of hoping that someone will take the cash bribe and open a door to let him in. There are apparently no takers.

It hasn’t been bad at all … pretty smooth out here, actually. The fans from Edmonton are here in full force and there has been some good-natured talk going on, but overall things are going well. I think everyone is just ready for the game.

8:20:16 p.m. It took a whole 16 seconds into the game, but Edmonton just scored. But wait! Just 10 minutes later Carolina ties it on a power play goal. By the time the first period ends, it’s a 3-2 game in favor of Edmonton in a game that could be ulcer-inducing.

9:15 p.m. We stop at the Dos Banditos concession stand and take a quick bite back to Perkins’ office. It is difficult to not see all the IAAM logos and plaques in the office, and is a reminder that Perkins is about to embark upon his term as IAAM president.

I want to engage our members more through my theme of “Innovations Driving the Future.” I would like to have our members published more. I will look at an international steering committee. The world is getting smaller and I want to know how IAAM fits into that world. We will look at distance learning. What impact does it have? Will it mean our specialty meetings will not be attended as well, or will they be better attended as a result?

We are looking at enhancing chapter task forces. I believe strongly in a grassroots campaign and that those meetings should invite police officials, hospital administrators, fire departments and emergency management people. This will help brand IAAM better. Members can put a brand on their business cards stating they are members of IAAM. It shows you are not out in your community alone, but you have an organization behind you.

I am excited about the year, and I am fortunate to have such full support here from my supervisor, Dave Olsen, as well as the RBC Center, Carolina Hurricanes, Centennial Authority and the City of Raleigh.

11 p.m. What else would you expect but an overtime game? The teams are knotted at 3-3. Some 19,000 stomachs in the crowd are also knotted. But at 3:31 into the overtime period Edmonton scores on a shorthanded goal to win the game and send Game 6 back to Canada. That sound you just heard was a pin dropping somewhere in the arena as a stunned crowd files out the arena in what resembles a catatonic trance.

So much for the clever talk that the real hurricane was not Alberto but Carolina and that the hockey team didn’t care about Alberto but was ready to send the visitors back to Alberta. And the post-game plans that had to be made in case of a Carolina win? Well, those are, so to speak, put on ice for at least one more game. (Note: The series would indeed come back to Carolina for a Game 7 won by the Hurricanes.)

11:55 p.m. Perkins walks me to the elevator to say goodbye. My day ends but Perkins still has some business to tend to before he goes home.

We are all tired and really wanted to finish it tonight. Oh, well, if we don’t get them in Game 6 we still have another game to do it here.

Will the last one to leave please turn out the lights? Thank you, Larry.