With mayor duties coming to a close, Rhodes has renewed focus on Beach Ball Classic

John Rhodes’ Beach Ball Classic office is centered by a desk cluttered with numerous items related to the tournament – tickets, checks, magazines, team rosters and notepads among them.

Resting against a wall are a few vestiges of his recent past – cardboard yard signs reading “Re-elect John Rhodes.”

“You keep things there to remind you of where you’ve been and what you did,” Rhodes said.

After 12 years serving as the mayor of Myrtle Beach, Rhodes, 74, was defeated in a runoff election last month by Brenda Bethune, who will be sworn in and take over mayoral duties on Jan. 9.

“I’m going to miss it because it has been a major part of my life for the past 12 years,” Rhodes said. “I love this city and what’s going to happen to this city down the road is always a concern. You don’t just walk away from that. But yet there is a certain amount of relief.”

So the items on the desk now take precedence for the Beach Ball Classic’s executive director on a year-round basis, and he believes the tournament can improve with his full focus.

“When you have more time to concentrate on what you’re doing and you don’t have outside interests to worry you, then you are able to enjoy the event,” Rhodes said. “I think I am more relaxed right now than I have been in 12 years at the tournament. I’m focused strictly on the tournament.”

Rhodes has two cell phones, but he’ll soon be down to one. One is a city phone, and one is his personal phone that he uses for Beach Ball business.

“A couple days after the election it was almost like I felt like my body went through a transformation. There was a relief of knowing I did not have to worry every day about what was going to happen within the city and that kind of stuff,” Rhodes said. “I guess you had pressure on you that you didn’t realize. Twelve years it’s a daily thing, and all of a sudden you don’t have that obligation. It’s crazy but it’s a different feeling.”

Rhodes said mayor-elect Bethune has been meeting with city staff and officials in preparation for taking office, and Rhodes said he will be available for consulting if politicians in Myrtle Beach seek advice.

On Tuesday morning, Rhodes was in his office going through emails and fielding calls concerning the 37th annual high school holiday basketball tournament, which has an impressive collection of talented teams and individuals. He said he gets about 30 to 40 calls per day and numerous other emails and messages regarding the tournament this time of year.

With more time to dedicate to the tournament and affiliated events, he intends to expand the girls’ tournament that precedes the Beach Ball – the Crescom Bank Holiday Invitational – and the women’s college basketball component associated with it.

He wants to expand the Crescom tournament to up to 32 teams as early as next year in two 16-team brackets, and he’s working on bringing eight collegiate teams that will compete over four days, with four teams playing per day on alternating days. He said North Carolina and South Carolina are among the schools that are interested.

“I’m excited about generating a whole different focus on what we’re going to be doing,” Rhodes said.

Rhodes is on the committees that vote on the McDonald’s High School All-America Teams and Morgan Wootten Award for boys and girls high school coaches.

Attending the annual McDonald’s All-America game has allowed Rhodes to meet and come to know more of the coaches of the top high school programs in the country.

He’ll now have more time to travel to scout and recruit teams.

“It helps you concentrate more on the quality of teams you’re trying to recruit. You don’t just recruit a team name,” Rhodes said. “In 12 years I have not been able to travel as much as I need to.”

He said he is working on an agreement now with four perennial power programs – two on the East Coast and two on the West Coast – that would come in alternating years to guarantee the Beach Ball two of the programs each year. “Now I’ve got time to look at that and work those deals. I’ve got time to focus on basketball,” Rhodes said.

He is also looking to create other sporting events for the Myrtle Beach area. He said the Beach Ball committee helped create the Myrtle Beach Volleyball Club traveling team a couple years ago that is headed by Teresa Van Epps and will host its own tournament during Presidents Day weekend in 2019.

“What’s out there that’s different, what’s out there that’s not being done that big right now?” Rhodes said. “We’ll look for anything we can do to bring teams and fans into the city.”

Rhodes has been president of the Beach Ball since 1982 and has been the executive director for the past 15 years.

Rhodes earns $50,000 annually for his positions with the Beach Ball, a non-profit that’s benefits to the community include ten $1,000 scholarships per year to students at each of the high schools in Horry County.

He was a restaurateur for 28 years before retiring from that profession and taking on the Beach Ball executive director duties. He was the managing partner of a Hooters restaurant in North Myrtle Beach and a steakhouse in Charlotte, North Carolina, and was a partner in a second Hooters in Garden City Beach and the now-closed Gullyfield Restaurant. The Gullyfield lease expired and he sold his stakes in the other restaurants.

“I got burned out,” Rhodes said. “I was going to work and I just said, ‘I’m not having fun anymore.’ About two miles down the road I said, ‘I’m going to quit. I’m quitting today.’ ”

So for three years he ran the Beach Ball without another job before becoming mayor, and at that time the girls component had just been added and a North Carolina-South Carolina all-star game was added.

“People don’t understand the amount of time it takes to run an event, especially one of this magnitude,” Rhodes said. “You’ve got to raise money, you’ve got to sell sponsorships, you’ve got to scout teams and find teams … and you’re competing against other tournaments throughout the country, some before Christmas and some after Christmas. Some teams can only take one trip.”

Rhodes has been delegating some of the tournament business to tournament committee member Chad Smith in recent years, and he’ll conceivably have more time to educate Smith on tournament details.

“I’m looking down the road and when you hit a certain age you never know what’s going to happen,” Rhodes said. “If something happens to me I want to see the tournament continue.

“It’s the 37th year, and I told one of the coaches I’m hoping to be running it until its 50th year. … At 87 I think I’d probably be ready to hang it up.

“Hell, I might run for mayor again when I’m about 85,” Rhodes joked.

This story was originally published December 27, 2017 at 2:08 AM with the headline "With mayor duties coming to a close, Rhodes has renewed focus on Beach Ball Classic."