Marathon man.

William Burke, who developed the L.A. Marathon into a major civic event, is now looking to repeat that success with a Grand Prix race through downtown L.A.

Interview

William A. Burke

Position: President of L.A. Events and Chairman of the Air Quality Management District

Born: Zanesville, Ohio, 1939

Education: B.C., Miami University, Doctorate of Education, University of Massachusetts 

Hobbies: Deep sea fishing, collecting antique automobiles

Most Admired Person: His wife, Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke

Personal: Married; two daughters, Christine and Autumn

In 1977, William Burke graduated with a doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts. His aim was to teach classic history and literature.

Burke has yet to realize that goal, but he has attained some high-profile roles nonetheless. He is probably best known as founder of the Los Angeles Marathon, staged by his company, L.A. Events. On Labor Day Weekend, the company will be staging a new event: A Grand Prix vintage car race through the streets of downtown Los Angeles.

Burke also has a political side. Early this month, he was elected chair of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, and he serves on the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's board.

Burke, whose wife of 25 years is Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, says his family and relatives have taken over the day-to-day operations of most of his other business ventures, and he now mostly focuses on the Marathon, the Grand Prix and the AQMD.

Asked if he still plans on becoming a classics professor some day, he says, "Yes, if I'm lucky enough."

Question: Did the idea to stage an L.A. Marathon have something to do with athletics in your past?

A: I went to the University of Miami in Ohio on a tennis scholarship, and I was Tennis Commissioner at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Mainly, I enjoyed that experience so much that I wanted to continue it. As you can see I'm not now a marathon runner and wasn't, but about two years after the first race, I did train and run and complete the Marathon. It was a tremendous feeling of accomplishment.

Q: How long has the Grand Prix been in the works?

A: We had been talking off and on for seven or eight years about having a big grand prix race in downtown Los Angeles. (About) a year ago, (City Councilman) Richard Alatorre, who represents at least half of the downtown area, came into my office and said, "OK, you've talked about this long enough, let's do it." And we did it. It'll be on Labor Day weekend (Aug. 30-Sept. 1) and we expect a significant number of people to attend, though I don't know what significant means. We'd like to have 25,000 or 35,000. It will cost about $2.5 million to stage this race. We've raised all that money privately. A Formula One race (like the one held in Long Beach) would cost $7 million or $8 million; it's very different because you've got to do things like repave the streets and weld the manholes shut.

Q: Are the Marathon and the upcoming Grand Prix profit-making events?

A: These are family events. They were set up as for-profit corporations. Some have made a profit and some haven't. I think the reason we get so much credit for the Marathon is that for one day a year we turn the greater Los Angeles area into a community.

Q: How profitable have or haven't the L.A. Marathons been for your company?

A: We don't discuss that.

Q: City auditors were openly critical of the Marathon in its early years for being chronically late in paying bills for city services.

A: There has been untrue, false reporting about this. There is not one creditor that we haven't paid in all the years of the Marathon. The Marathon has excellent credit, which is not what you have with an organization that doesn't pay its bills. This is exactly the kind of off-handed innuendo that keeps good people from coming downtown to enjoy the Marathon.

Q: Does your company have other events in mind or in the works?

A: There are always ideas, and we think that this city could stand another PGA golf tournament. Since Tiger Woods is a driving force in golf today, and greater Los Angeles is his home, we would like to see another golf tournament here operated by minorities. So once we get this vintage car race out of the way for this year, I plan on getting in touch with the PGA to see if they would be interested in having something like that.

Q: How big is your antique car collection and how did you start?

A: My grandfather was a mechanic and so I was always interested in cars. I now have six cars in the collection, but I didn't start out to build a collection. I bought a 1955 T-Bird some years ago. and after a while I would see another car and say, "Oh, I really like that car," and would buy it and then couldn't let go of the one I had.

Q: Do you have your eye on a certain car these days?

A: No. Actually, I have been looking for a Lincoln Zephyr, which is the car my grandfather had when I was five years old. It was an unbelievable car.

Q: There are none of these cars left?

A: If I knew of one for sale I'd be talking to the owner right now instead of you.

Q: It's no secret that there has been a lot of infighting on the AQMD board lately. What are your plans to stop this?

A: I think change is always difficult. Change at the district was extraordinarily difficult, but I think we will rise above the political machinations that have been going on and come together and pursue this mission as a whole. In the week that I have been chair, I have received communications from other board members who were not on the same philosophical side of the issue that I was on. And they have basically told me that they are about cleaning up the air and that we have to put politics behind us and move forward to complete our mission.

Q: You have a lot on your plate. Is there time to do all of this effectively?

A: My partner at L.A. Events, Marie Patrick, keeps asking me the same question - that there's got to be a limit to the number of things you can do and be able to focus on them. But I think that if you have interests and motivations to do things, I think you do 'em. Between the Marathon and the Grand Prix and the Air Quality Management District there's enough time in my day and staff at my disposal to complete those three missions for sure. The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation doesn't take a great deal of my time and I don't think it's a factor.

Q: What's it like being married to an L.A. County Supervisor? Do you feel any envy at all the public attention your wife gets?

A: We were married 25 years ago, and early in our marriage I was known around town as Yvonne Burke's husband. Within 12 or 13 years after our daughter's birth I was known around town as Autumn Burke's father (Autumn is an award-winning dressage-style equestrienne). So, I'm used to being one or the other. Our other daughter, Christine Burke, is a school teacher, so she and I are the support team. Yvonne and Autumn are the ones out front.

Q: Do people accuse you of using your connections and your marriage to get ahead in business?

A: Every year, every day, all the time, and I get kind of tired of this. But this innuendo all falls flat on its face in the face of my successes with things like the Marathon. If I wanted to use my connections I'd be building skyscrapers and making some really big money.

Q: To what degree do you and your wife see eye to eye on political, social and business issues? Is there much household debate?

A: One thing that a lot of people don't understand is that she is a liberal Democrat and I am a very conservative Democrat. At my house I'm known as the bronze Archie Bunker. The two children kind of span in between Yvonne and I, so it makes for very interesting dinner conversation.

Q: Are there hot-button issues that always heat things up?

A: We talk about social issues. The mechanics of politics don't interest our children. There are aspects of practically all issues that we all disagree on. If there's a flashpoint, we discuss it and move on to positive aspects of the issue that we find common ground on.