I will never forget meeting Walter Cronkite as he asked "Permission to come aboard, Captain?" to the Capt. of the Schooner AMERICA when it was docked in Savannah as the Ambassador Ship to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. RIP Mr. Cronkite. You were a good man.

A little bit of background: In the mid 90s, I was the Dir. of Mktg & PR for the Schooner AMERICA, a modern day recreation of the original 1851 low black schooner that beat the British at the 100 Guinea Cup, and therefore renamed the race to the America's Cup. The owner, "Mr. Ray" Giovannoni was a restaurateur from Old Town Alexandria, VA (The Fish Market), who built the yacht in 1995 to become an ambassador ship for the US. He has since died. And the AMERICA is now in San Diego - partially owned by the famous sailor Dennis Connor. One of AMERICA's proudest moments (and mine!) was when we sailed the Olympic Flame into the port of Savannah for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. It was at that time that we met and hosted Walter Cronkite aboard.