OK. Time to set the record straight. After ASLOK VI, Fish thought it would be better, due to attendance and airport convenience, to move the tourney to Cleveland. He figured I knew the area better than most and enlisted me to find a suitable spot. I asked him what the "budget" was for hotel procurance and he said he was a little tight and that $400.00 was the limit. I knew this was very low for a discounted block of rooms and conference area for a week. However, I diligently set out to find a sight. After getting laughed out of 6 or 7 venues, I came across the now infamous hotel on Brookpark Road, ten minutes from the airport. I was told it would be $1200.00 for the week. I told them that all we could afford was $400.00 but that the hotel would fill almost all the rooms and that if it worked out we would be returning for future years. The agreed to the $400.00 but would be booking a wedding in the adjoining conference room on Saturday to help make up the difference.
It wasn't until Fish was up visiting my brother in Lakewood about three weeks later that he let me know he was only joking about the $400.00 limit and was shocked when I got it for that price. (We had to up the ante the following year).
The main reason for the move back to Austintown, albeit briefly, was mainly due to the many whiners who were dissatisfied with the Cleveland neighborhood near the airport. Although, many didn't mind and those attendees have been close friends to this day. However, those two years served to increase the coffers and allow ASLOK to become the monster it is.
OK, now the record is straight. The Brookpark hotel site was the result of the ever amusing Bill Connor once again pulling my leg.
