Gene Hallman: A lifetime in sports
When Gene Hallman was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame on May 7, it marked a milestone in a career of bringing big name events to the Birmingham metro area and beyond.
But it will not be the end. Hallman said he expects to continue attracting the attention of the media, sports fans and the international community for potentially years to come.
And if anybody knows the potential of this community to shine in hosting sporting events, it’s Hallman, the president and CEO of the Bruno Event Team. Just consider his (edited) resume:
For 30 years, he’s been behind the Regions Tradition golf tournament, a destination event since its early days as the Bruno’s Memorial Classic in Greystone.
Hallman was a major force in bringing the SEC and SWAC conference headquarters to Birmingham, not to mention building up the annual Magic City Classic face-off between rivals Alabama State and Alabama A&M and helping design the refreshed fan experience that has drawn more and more Crimson Tide devotees to the stadium in Tuscaloosa. The SEC baseball championship at the Hoover Met? That’s Hallman, too.
He has worked with Barber Motorsports at the Honda Indy Grand Prix, the Davis Cup golf tournament and Olympic soccer at Legion Field in 1996.
This year, he’s adding both the United States Football League, which will play all 40 of its nationally televised games at Protective Stadium, and a little international sports event called The World Games, including the softball competition which will be played at the Met.
All this from a guy from South Carolina who came for a short career step and found he couldn’t leave.
He lived in the U.S. 280 corridor for his first five years in metro Birmingham, then spent the next four in Homewood. Then he spent the last 19 years in Vestavia Hills, where he has raised his family.
Human connections
The reason he stayed? It’s the same reason big-time sports have come to work so well here: the people, Hallman said.
“When I think back over the past 30 years, that’s the one thing that comes to mind. It’s the people” Hallman said. “Literally hundreds and hundreds of people who’ve opened doors, extended a hand. Here’s this guy who had moved from South Carolina and didn’t know a soul, and they made me feel right at home immediately. And it's something I can't properly verbalize — the tremendous support and graciousness of so, so many people.”
Coming out of the pandemic, the metro area sports venues are gearing up to welcome the world — and a significant chunk of visitors from elsewhere in the United States.
“We’ve got some new activities, primarily the World Games and the United States Football League. But we’re also seeing tremendous spikes in interest for all our events,” he said. “Indy Car, SEC Baseball, the Regions Tradition. The ticket sales for all of those events are running 20, 30, 40 percent of where they were at the same point in time in 2019, pre-pandemic. I really thought we would see the spike more with our fall events, but clearly people were not ready to get back out in the fall. Now they are, and it is a great thing to see.”
How it began
In 1990, Hallman read an article in “Sports Illustrated” about the sports marketing industry and jumped into a new career. Then he heard about a new Senior PGA Tour event starting in Birmingham and left Columbia, South Carolina, for the Magic City. But while he was falling for the community, that first Bruno’s golf tournament had challenges.
“We announced the tournament at Greystone on Dec. 5, 1991, and Bruno’s supermarket was the title sponsor. And on Dec. 11, 1991, one of their corporate jets crashed and killed nine people, including the chairman of the board and the vice chairman of the board,” Hallman said. “And I truly didn’t know if the tournament would be canceled.”
But his partner in what would become the Bruno Event Team suggested not canceling, but making the event a tribute. “He wanted to call it the Bruno’s Memorial Classic,” Hallman said.
“And the outpouring of support because of the respect for the Bruno family, combined with the love of big events, that first event was a huge success in 1992.”
Eventually renamed the Regions Tradition, the tournament has attracted a who’s who of star players and celebrities, including Arnold Palmer, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Lee Trevino, Mia Hamm, Charles Barkley, Bo Jackson, Nick Saban, Michael Jordan and more. Over the years, the event has raised more than $20 million for charities including Children’s of Alabama and this year, On River Time, which serves children who have survived abuse and neglect through programming that includes fly fishing trips.
“But it’s really the human connections that have been created over the years,” Hallman said. “I’ve lost count of the number of people that have told me that their first date with their wife was at one of the tournaments. I remember on two occasions introducing a baby to its namesake, Ben Crenshaw. And then I introduced a young man who was in college to his namesake, Seve Ballesteros,” a well-known Spanish golf champion who played the tournament.
The Regions Tradition also has a strong volunteer legacy, Hallman said.
“We average around 800 volunteers a year, and there are nine volunteers who have done all 30 tournaments, which is absolutely astounding when you consider that the tournament has been moved all over the calendar from August to June to May to April,” he said. “Those nine people have done all 30. We recognize them every year.”
SEC Baseball
The SEC Baseball tournament has also been held in Hoover every year since 1996, with the exception of a one-year detour to Columbus, Georgia, Hallman said. The tourney has gone from drawing big crowds based on who is playing, to drawing big crowds no matter who is playing, he noted.
“All you have to say is we’re going to Hoover and people automatically know what you’re talking about,” he said. “And fans come out to watch great college baseball, clearly the best college baseball in the country given the number of national championships the conference has won. And they support it regardless, for the most part, of who’s playing.”
The reason for the SEC Baseball Tournament’s success lies largely with the city of Hoover, Hallman said.
“It’s just been a great thing and a phenomenal thing to watch, and there’s a couple of reasons for that success. But the primary reason is the city of Hoover. Their commitment to the tournament is second to none,” he said. “Frankly, we’ve worked all over the country for so many communities and sporting events, and Hoover’s support of that baseball tournament is one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen. Everything from the motor scouts for the team buses — baseball players normally don’t get motor scout police escorts. But they do here. So the student athlete experience is very special when they come. Of course, it helps that Hoover has grown its retail presence out toward the Met.”
The World Games
Another big event heading for Hoover is the softball competition of the upcoming World Games. Hallman’s team, working under the direction of The World Games staff, will manage the Met for international softball.
“The very same team that runs the SEC Baseball Tournament is going to run the softball competition for the World Games. So there’s going to be, obviously, a lot of shared learnings and best practices put into place, and softball should be one of the top two events in the World Games along with lacrosse,” he said.
Besides the potential grudge match between Japan and USA — Japan beat the United States in the summer Olympic Games — The World Games competition will have local players. “You’ve got seven players on Team USA from the Southeastern Conference, including two from the University of Alabama, Haylie McCleney and Montana Fouts, so there’s a real Bama connection on that team,” Hallman said. “It's going to be very special to see all those international flags waving over the top of the Hoover Met.”
When Hallman was inducted in the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame as the 2022 Distinguished American Sportsman, he said it would be “the most noteworthy professional recognition that I will receive in my career. You never know how you’re going to feel when something like this happens. But the word that pops to mind is humility. …
“It’s a very humbling thing. I’m very grateful that my mother will be able to attend and my children,” he said. “I’m glad that they’re able to see this and see that if you really are passionate about what you do no matter what you do, no matter what that vocation is that you choose, that good things can happen if you work hard and do the right thing and have a lot of support from a lot of people.”