Creativity and the visualization of seemingly impossible endeavors seem to happen repeatedly with certain people and regions. I’ve often wondered why. Last week I was at such a place giving a NAIOP talk, the St. Louis Racquet Club.
The Racquet Club was where the Walker Cup, Davis Cup, Orteig Prize and X-Prize all originated. The Walker Cup, played on odd numbered years by amateur golfers in the U. S. vs. England, was named for George Herbert Walker, the grandfather of former president Bush and great-grandfather of our current president. The Davis Cup is a premier event in tennis, with teams from around the world competing for the prize. Last year 134 countries entered the competition.
The $25,000 Orteig Prize was put up by St. Louis hotelier Raymond Orteig and “Doc” Lambert (Lambert Field in St. Louis is named for him) in 1919 to the first person to fly from New York to Paris. Charles Lindberg collected the money at the Racquet Club in 1927 when he flew 33 straight hours and ignited an interest in aviation that continues today.
The X-Prize was a $10 million prize offered to the first non-government organization to launch a reusable manned spacecraft into space twice within two weeks. The prize was won on October 24, 2004, the 47th anniversary of the Sputnik launch, by the Tier One project. Tier One was funded by Paul Allen with a Burt Rutan designed spacecraft.
What causes one location to develop four such events of world-wide magnitude? I’m searching the country to try to understand and find other examples.
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