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INDIANAPOLIS ? Allison Melangton's perfect pitch during Super Bowl week has landed her another big job ? leading Indiana Sports Corp.
And maybe another shot at a Super Bowl.
The former host committee president will replace the retiring Susan Williams in September, the organization said Friday after its quarterly board meeting. The 66-year-old Williams is leaving after seven years in charge of an organization that has attracted a wide array of prominent sports events to the city including the Super Bowl and multiple Final Fours.
"The pressure, the pace, all that has been amazing really, but everyone needs to know when their time comes," Williams said during the downtown news conference. "This is the perfect time for a transition and we've been working on it for some time."
The decision should not have been a surprise to the board, which convinced Williams to continue working through February's Super Bowl rather than retire after the 2010 Final Four as she intended. Joe DeGroff, the chairman of the board, said he expects the transition to go smoothly.
Why not? Sports Corp. already knows what it has in Melangton.
Not only did she spend the past four years planning the Super Bowl events, but she also worked extensively with Williams and the organization in the lead up to February's game. The presentation of the biggest event ever hosted by the city received rave reviews nationally. Things went so well local leaders are now contemplating making a bid for a second Super Bowl.
Melangton moved to Indy in 1983, spent the next 12 years working with USA Gymnastics and assisted with events ranging from the Pan American Games to the gymnastics world championships. She's spent the last 14 years on Sports Corp.'s staff and has been a close friend of Williams for the last 18 years.
Her goal is to make sure Sports Corp. remains a national leader.
"Sports Corp. was the first of its kind and now there are 300 sports commissions in the country. All of them want to be like this one, and that was more evident than ever after the Super Bowl," Melangton said. "We've had a lot of sports commissions calling us the last couple of weeks, saying 'We still haven't figured out your secret to putting on great sporting events all the time.'"
Melangton already has big plans despite a calendar that is already pretty full for the next couple of years.
Among the events already booked are NCAA swimming championships each of the next five years, the BMW golf championship this fall, Big Ten football championship game through 2015, a men's basketball regional next spring, Big Ten men's and women's basketball championships in 2014 and 2016, the men's Final Four in 2015 and the women's Final Four in 2016.
But Melangton still hopes to host an Olympic Trials in 2016 and acknowledged the city would seriously consider making another Super Bowl bid.
"We're still tying up a lot of details and concluding a lot of reports and that's going to take a little more time," Melangton said. "My understanding, from the NFL, is the bid process for the next open date, which is 2016, will be next May, May of 2013, so we're going to take our time."
Before joining Sports Corp., Williams was executive director of the Indiana State Office Building Commission, which oversaw construction of the NCAA headquarters and other projects. She also spent 13 years on the Marion County City-County Council and was awarded with the state's most prestigious honor -- the Sagamore of the Wabash Award.
She also was a longtime volunteer with the organization, something she plans to continue despite leaving office.
"I've had a diverse career and had I've had to ask a lot from a lot of people," Williams said. "It is time for me to give back and this is what I plan to do."
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