Olympic enthusiast Carrow prefers intimacy of Winter Games
Posted February 17, 2022 6:19 p.m. EST
Updated February 18, 2022 6:18 p.m. EST
A sports tourism executive in the Triangle has attended 13 Olympic Games, and he has a lot to show for it. Hill Carrow's stash of souvenirs extends from sweatshirts to a cereal box.
In 1980, Carrow traveled from New York City to Lake Placid for the Winter Games. He rounded up some law school buddies from Columbia University for the road trip north.
"I was kind of hooked after that," he said, "I wanted to be wherever I could be to be involved in the Olympic movement."
Carrow has attended seven Winter Games and six Summer Games.
"We enjoy the winter sports, and I would say I kind of enjoy the Winter Games slightly more than the Summer Games," he said.
On display in his office are memorabilia from Winter Olympics he's attended through the decades: Sweaters and sweatshirts, neckties and knit caps, pins and posters and playthings, Olympic programs from Salt Lake City in '02 to Lake Placid in '80, even a Frosted Mini Wheats box with the U.S. bobsledding team on it.
As he sees it, the Winter Olympics have a certain intimacy about them.
"It's a little more, in one sense, compact. And there's a smaller number of athletes. You can get to more of the sports," he said.
Carrow has not only watched the Olympics, he's worked them. In Salt Lake City, for example, he helped secure sponsorships for the Games.
As for his favorite Winter Olympics experience, Carrow gives the nod to Lillehammer in '94.
"One of the reasons I say that is because the Norwegians love winter sports. They would literally sleep in the snow overnight. and they'd bring all their cowbells, and they'd all have their flags and backpacks," he said.
Another favorite memory came in Calgary in '88, when security wasn't quite as tight as it is now. Ski spectators made it back down the slopes on their backsides.
"Everybody slid on their butt all the way down to the bottom," he said. "It was so fun!"
Carrow's collection includes a tie from the first modern Winter Games, Chamonix 1924. His next trip: Milano Cortina in 2026.
In his day job, Carrow is a sports tourism executive and event recruiter, serving as CEO of the Triangle Sports Commission.
When the U.S. Figure Skating Championships came to Greensboro three times in a decade, much of that is credit to Carrow.
