The Elizabeth City area’s efforts to become a sports tourism destination have taken another step forward, this time with the Harbor of Hospitality being named host of the North Carolina USA State Boxing Championship.

The championship, which is set for the weekend of Jan. 28-29, is particularly significant because this also is going to be qualifying event for the 2012 Olympics.

The competition will be at the Elizabeth City-Pasquotank County Police Athletic League Center, located in the former Elizabeth City Middle School building at Elizabeth and Road streets.

The purpose of PAL is to bring police officers and youths together in the same setting, where bonds can be built between the two. Police officers who participate in the program serve as mentors and guide the youths in sports activities and other enrichment programs.

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Teamwork and funds were the two key reasons for the local PAL securing the boxing championship.

Debbie Leete, who chairs PAL’s local board, and Elizabeth City police Lt. John Young, the executive director of PAL locally, had sought assistance from Charlotte Underwood, Elizabeth City area’s chief tourism official.

PAL locally bid $1,500 for

the rights to have the boxing championship. At least $1,000 came from tourism funds, while the rest was raised through PAL.

Leete said she sees the event as another venue in which PAL can engage youths.

“And I think it’s really exciting that it’s the Olympics,” she said. “I think it’ll be a main attraction.”

“This is great,” Young said. “It should help us out a lot.”

In addition to boxing matches, the PAL center already plays host to basketball, wrestling and volleyball, along with dances and social gatherings.

Also, PAL has added an education complex inside the former middle school. All the organization needs now is money to pay for air conditioning and heating equipment.

Young said he believes the Albemarle region has long needed a center for youths to go to and to have positive role models.

At the same time, Young said he hopes the boxing championship puts Elizabeth City on the boxing and the sports maps.

“There’s not really much boxing in northeastern North Carolina to speak of,” he said.

“We’re hoping to change that. A lot of kids don’t play football, baseball and basketball. To be honest, if you don’t do those three here in northeastern North Carolina, you’re just out of luck,” he said.

Willie Raynard James is enthusiastic about the potential for Elizabeth City to be known for having an amateur boxing presence.

James is head coach and founder of the Elizabeth City Boxing Club, which is under PAL.

He is a 1984 New York Golden Gloves finalist and was a possible hopeful for the Olympics that year until suffering a broken ankle.

James appears to have found quite a place as a boxing coach.

“And I love teaching it to kids and anyone that’s willing to learn,” he said.

Also, James said he is able to get participants into boxing matches far beyond Elizabeth City, with backing from the community.

He particularly recalled taking participants to the Ringside World Championships in Kansas City, Mo.

“It changed their lives,” he said. “It was a 21-hour drive, but we didn’t mind it.”

Underwood, meantime, is touting the North Carolina USA State Boxing Championship as part of the Elizabeth City area’s theme of “heads and beds,” that is, encouraging people to come the Harbor of Hospitality, stay at hotels and eat at restaurants.

The area received a shot in the arm in August with the dedication of the $1.7 million South Park outdoor sports complex off Weeksville Road and 2½ miles south of downtown.

Also, Underwood is upbeat about the timing of improvements to the former middle school building with the Elizabeth Street restoration project.

The project calls for renovating the driving surface of Elizabeth from Road to Water Street, replacing the eastbound drawbridge over the Pasquotank River and upgrading the westbound drawbridge.

Underwood was asked about future stars that could come out of the boxing event in Elizabeth City, given boxers George Foreman and Sugar Ray Leonard having first achieved fame as Olympians.

Underwood, with a laugh, recalled a story about her brother Si Seymour, who is currently a member of the East Carolina University basketball broadcast team.

Back when Seymour, of New Bern, was a basketball coach and was doing camps, he asked UNC-Chapel Hill, on a whim, for any help he could get for a camp.

“They sent this kid called Michael Jordan,” Underwood said, a reference to the days before Jordan became a Tar Heel icon and arguably the greatest professional basketball player ever.

“You never know who you’re going to see and what they’re going to turn into,” she said.

Those interested in learning more about PAL can phone Young at the Police Department at 335-4321.

Contact Bill West at bwest@dailyadvance.com