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| FightNight programs from over the years. |
It’s beyond appropriate that an industry as pugilistic and rough-and-tumble as commercial real estate would stake its most glamorous annual celebration around the squared circle where warriors face off in mortal combat. After all, this is a business with more ups and downs than a punch-drunk fighter holding on through the 14th round. It’s a trade with more comebacks and as much finesse and determination as Muhammad Ali in his heyday.
And that’s the way the real estate industry likes it. Over the past two decades, The Real Estate Council’s FightNight has grown to become the black-tie celebration that defines Dallas commercial real estate. The smell of fine cigars mingling with the aroma of success, the gorgeous red-carpet models, the sports-car giveaways—all the trappings of the good life are there to be savored. It’s not a night for moderation or modesty. If Dallas has an answer to the Academy Awards, this is it.
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| Two boxers spar. |
But it’s not all about hedonism and self-congratulations. Over the last 20 years—which included both fat and lean times for the commercial real estate world—the players at this yearly extravaganza have helped raise more than $16 million for the nonprofit Real Estate Council Foundation. The funds are leveraged with the council’s political clout and intellectual capital into local revitalization, economic development, and work-force housing initiatives. And that’s meant improving the quality of life for those most in need in North Texas, especially in the inner city.
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
In 1989, a year that saw the real estate market come a-crashing down, five members of The Real Estate Council—Jim Brownlow, Steve Crosson, Jeff Swope, Bob Kaminski, and the late Steve Means—came up with the concept for FightNight. It was as much a concept for a fundraiser as it was an over-the-top escape from the glum realities of the market.
“Commercial real estate in Dallas was in a full-scale depression,” says Crosson, chairman and CEO of Crosson Dannis Inc. “We hoped for 350 attendees. Demand was beyond all expectations. The event sold out.”
Kaminski, now president of Robert Kaminski Interests, invited the Temptations to sing the national anthem at the first FightNight—the singers performed nightly back then at the Fairmont Hotel’s Venetian Room—and they did, free of charge. That night, boxer John “Death Wish” Garner, who was as loud and boastful in the ring as he was unskilled, made such a spectacle that Roger Staubach and his group ended up piling Garner into their limo to party after the event.
Nearly 900 real estate professionals turned out that year at the Fairmont Hotel. The event raised somewhere around $175,000. Which, one wag noted, “was more than the combined net worth of everyone in the room.”
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| Muhammad Ali jokes with guests, including Drew Pearson (right). |
THE GOOD TIMES ROLL
FightNight grew regardless of how the market was doing, but when the market was on a roll, the event really took off. Over the years, the annual gala attracted a wide array of celebrities from all corners—from boxing legends like Ali, Joe Frazier, Sugar Ray Leonard, Riddick Bowe, and Lennox Lewis to political bigwigs like future President George W. Bush. A-list players for the Dallas Cowboys, Mavericks, and Stars are regularly spotted mingling with the commercial property industry’s movers and shakers.
In the ring, the quality of fighters has likewise improved. A number of FightNight fighters have gone on to win world titles and championship belts, including Ricardo “Finito” Lopez, Gene “Mad Dog” Hatcher, Quincy Taylor, Vassiliy Jirov, and Jesse Leija. The entertainment lineup has had a few rising stars, too. In 1995, Crosson recalls, an insistent stage mother brought her 12-year-old daughter to sing the national anthem.
“The kid was phenomenally good,” Crosson says. “Her name was LeAnn Rimes.”
Through the go-go days of the 1990s, FightNight gained notoriety for both its official and unofficial excesses, adding to the attraction and mystique. The infamous red-carpet reception line, with its sexily clad glamour girls, was a mainstay until the late 1990s. And players who won’t name names recall many a year—mainly in the mid-1990s—when the men’s rooms seemed overly crowded and many an attendee seemed to be suffering from a spring cold.
By 2000, when Carol Reed was selected chairman of the event, FightNight was growing up and recognizing the increasing number of power women in the business. Before long, the reception-line ladies were gone. “I miss it, and I’m amazed it offended anyone,” says Bill Jackson, the 2006 FightNight chairman. With or without the infamous reception line, however, the spirit of celebration and extravagance has lived on.
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| Lennox Lewis signs an autograph for guest Tina Stribling. |
GOING FORWARD
This year marks FightNight’s 20th anniversary. The affair will be sponsored by Chicago Title and Behringer Harvard and will benefit Dallas City Homes, Dallas Habitat for Humanity, Jubilee Community, and Uplift Education. More than 1,800 guests are expected to descend upon the Hilton Anatole on May 1 for the big event, and a VIP party will be held prior to the fights at the Ritz-Carlton.
Steve Modory, chairman of this year’s event and a co-managing partner for Champion Partners, says his people are working behind the scenes to make it a 20th-year celebration worth remembering.
“The Real Estate Council knows what they’re doing, and the sponsors committed without hesitation,” Modory says. “It’s great to be chairing an event my partner, Jeff Swope, [helped start] 20 years ago. It’s like it’s come full circle.”
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| The scene at the gala. |
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| Revelers show off a raffle prize you could drive off in. |
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| George W. Bush mingles with guests including high-powered spokeswoman Romone Bain. |
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| Former Dallas Cowboys coach Barry Switzer chats with Olympic sprinter Michael Johnson. |
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| Bullrider Ty Murray, Troy Aikman, and Sugar Ray Leonard pal around with a guest. |
