Salt Lake City was a booming little backwater when the Final Four catapulted it into the national spotlight in 1979.

In so doing, the NCAA's championship weekend played a role in luring the Jazz from New Orleans and figured into the city's ascent to the ultimate international stage -- hosting the 2002 Winter Games.

"There's no question it was a stage-setter for the Olympics," said Bruce Woodbury, whose 1972-2007 tenure in sports information at the University of Utah encompassed both events. "It was a big deal. People who weren't around then don't realize how big it was."

The Salt Lake Valley in 1979 was only about half the size it is today, numbering just over 600,000 residents. But the population grew by 35 percent between 1970 and 1980, and the state's economy was beginning to diversify and hum.

Salt Lake City also was changing.

Both the original Salt Palace Convention Center and the U. of U.'s Special Events Center opened in 1969. With these new facilities in place, university athletic director James "Bud" Jack and LaMar Williams of the Salt Lake County Development & Promotion Board led a Utah delegation to Colorado Springs in June 1974. There they convinced the NCAA to award the 1979 finals to Salt Lake City over Albuquerque and Los Angeles.

The bid was made with some trepidation, recalls Williams, now a fundraiser for Children's Miracle Network.

"We realized we were walking into a pretty large arena. I remember the discussions -- 'Are we biting off more than we can chew?' But we decided if you haven't chewed it, you don't know what the taste is," he said. "If we wanted to have an impact on our convention industry, we had to play ball with the big boys."

Two main concerns arose during the bid: Did Salt Lake City have enough hotel rooms? And did the city's airport offer enough daily flights?

Hoteliers rose to the occasion. The Hotel Utah, Little America, Hilton, Sheraton and Tri-Arc Travelodge accommodated the Final Four teams. And those hotels and others absorbed the largest news media congregation (300 writers) the state had seen and the NCAA coaches convention that always accompanies the Final Four.

"[Little America owners] Earl and Carol Holding were delivering food to the tables. They were carrying trays and making sure their banquet was a success," recalled Arnie Ferrin, who succeeded Jack as athletic director in 1976.

Transportation problems never surfaced either. Although Salt Lake City International Airport had only 116 departures daily in 1979 (one-third of current levels), the NCAA crowd was handled smoothly by the main airlines operating here in those pre-Delta days -- Western, United, Airwest and Frontier. Chevrolet dealers loaned four cars to each team. The Utah Transit Authority and private bus firms transported visitors between hotels and the U. of U.

Opinions differ about local enthusiasm for the tourney.

Seth Davis, who covered the finals for Michigan's Lansing State Journal, wrote in his new book, "When March Went Mad ," that "it was a fairly colorless week. I'm not sure Salt Lake City was a whole lot different than it would have been any other time." The Salt Lake Tribune reported that for Saturday semi-final games, scalpers got only face value for tickets advertised earlier for $150. And Greg Arata, owner of Junior's Tavern -- then and now -- observed "the beer distributors didn't even give us banners. Now they give you posters for anybody who's in town."

But that same Tribune story went on to say that U. of U. police caught "people trying to get in through the underground tunnels, impersonating vendors, trying to crawl through gratings." Ned Alger, Utah assistant athletic director and tourney organizer, easily got dozens of volunteer helpers. And Tribune sports columnist John Mooney judged that the friendly treatment afforded NCAA officials and the press would cause "thousands who visited Utah for the first time [to] give thoughts in the future to returning and spending more time."

One person who did was Jazz owner Sam Battistone.

He met shortly after the Final Four with Ferrin, who said "we talked about what kind of city it was and 'would people support athletics?' I said this may be one of the most competitive markets for sports. Fans can ski. They can hunt. They can fish. And the [LDS] church takes a big-time commitment. But if you have a good product, you'll find the city is absolutely great."

The Jazz relocated from New Orleans soon after.

Hosting the finals also proved invaluable to the Salt Lake Bid Committee, especially in convincing the U.S. Olympic Committee in 1989 to replace Anchorage with Salt Lake City as its candidate for upcoming Winter Games.

Since most USOC members were connected to summer sports, said bid leader Dave Johnson, "we looked at anything that showed our community had hosted a large event and that we could operate a transportation system, could manage a ticketing process."

In addition, Utah's athletic director was well known within the USOC crowd. He made introductions for Salt Lake bidders, advising them on how best to approach USOC members. "A lot of people thought Salt Lake couldn't get up to speed fast enough," Johnson said, "but Bud Jack and others convinced the USOC that the people in Salt Lake City were good people and the commitments they made could be trusted."

And so the Olympics finally came in 2002 -- with a big assist from the '79 Final Four.

mikeg@sltrib.com

The '79 Final Four: A stepping stone in SLC's road to the Olympics