Sunday, August 01, 1999

Flory's son next in line to run ATP

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BY MICHAEL PERRY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        Bruce Flory, 42, will eventually succeed his father as the head of the Great American Insurance ATP Championship. In title, he already is tournament director.

        While Paul Flory, who has run the tournament since late 1974, has no plans to retire, last fall he petitioned the ATP Tour to give his son the tournament director title while he became tournament chairman. The Tour needs to approve tournament director titles.

        Bruce Flory had been associate tournament director, primarily responsible for marketing and sponsors.

        “Obviously I want him, at some point, to take over everything,” Paul said. “It's the changing of the guard. He's already making a lot of decisions about how the tournament is run.”

        The son calls his new title “a misnomer.”

        “He's in charge until he doesn't want to be in charge,” Bruce said of his father. “His vote counts more than mine.”

        Bruce, a 1978 graduate of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, began working for the ATP Championship in 1993, following six years as marketing director for Industrial Developments International, a commercial real estate company.

        In April 1994, a benign tumor was removed from Bruce Flory's spine, and he is confined to a wheelchair.

        He continues to exercise, swim and play tennis. His constantly upbeat attitude has never wavered.

        “Nothing about that has changed,” he said. “You're the same person.”

        Said Paul: “I'm very proud of the way he treats it. He doesn't ask for anything special. ... I want him to (take over). I think he's capable of doing it, probably better than I am.”

       

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