On May 29, 1984, approximately 3,500 people gathered around the Volunteer Statue in Circle Park to participate in the Torch-Run Rally and to witness the passing of the Olympic flame as it made its way from New York to Los Angeles, traversing 33 states and covering some nine thousand miles. UT was selected as a staging site because of the number of UT athletes and coaches who have participated in the Olympics and because of the symbolic setting of the Volunteer Statue. The InterVols Steel Band and the UT Pride of the Southland Band played, and Voice of the Vols John Ward emceed the ceremony, which included introductions of past and present UT athletes and coaches associated with the Olympics and a speech by Ralph Boston. The runner carrying the flame on the kilometer leg of the relay traversing the UT campus was Honey Alexander, wife of Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander. She handed off the torch to John Holmes, a student at Knoxville’s Webb School. Wally Houser, junior in education, coordinated campus fund-raising for the Los Angeles Olympic Committee, and campus organizations could sponsor a kilometer and provide a runner for it for $3,000. Most of the proceeds from fund-raising in connection with the Torch relay remained in the communities in which the funds were raised.