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Florence May recalls the precise moment she fell in love — with Indianapolis, that is. Country flags flapped in the summer night air. Crowds overflowed the stands. Excitement electrified the air. Goose bumps stood on end over her skin. Standing under the blazing lights in the IUPUI Track and Field Stadium during the 1987 Pan American Games, May — a sport coordinator at the Indiana University Sports Center — experienced a "magical moment." That night "I knew I would call Indianapolis home," she reminisces.

That was a big step for a young woman who only a few years prior had declared "No way" to living in the cornfields of Indiana after growing up on military bases in Hawaii, Colorado, Virginia and Germany.

The Pan American Games not only ignited Indianapolis' transformation, but the international event also sparked May's passion for organizing tourism and entertainment projects.

As Indianapolis rises to a new level in international sports with the SAP United States Grand Prix on Sept. 24, so does May. With her company, Ad Ventures in Hospitality and Marketing, serving as the coordinator of the SAP United States Grand Prix Hospitality Committee, the 33-year-old combines her organizational skills, love of sports and passion for travel. May's committee manages all aspects of welcoming the race teams and fans, from working with customs and immigration to hanging banners along the streets.

Since the Pan Am Games, May has continued to coordinate special projects. "I'm always the person everyone comes to and asks, ÔI have all these pieces. How do I put them together?'," says May.

After her internship at Indiana Sports Corporation during the Pan Am Games, she worked as the marketing and public relations manager for the Indiana Division of Tourism under the Indiana Department of Commerce. Before starting Ad Ventures in Hospitality & Marketing, she managed the Tourism, International and Marketing Department for the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association.

But previous positions and USGP hospitality don't come close to her biggest special project: the Gulf War. She served as logistics officer of the 300th Combat Service Support Battalion in the Army during the war.

Following in the footsteps of her father, Col. (USA ret.) Michael Fleck, the air logistics officer spent seven years in the military, commanding air drop and parachuting missions in the 431st QM Detachment 1 (Airborne) unit. She served in Saudi Arabia, Korea and Germany.

As an officer during the war, she was responsible for commanding her battalion to supply and repair every item needed for 11 other companies — more than 1,000 people — to survive in the desert. For example, when her battalion began setting up tents in the neutral zone near the border of Kuwait, the troops were unable to hammer their tent pegs into the sand. Below the desert's surface, sand is compacted as tight as cement. So off May went to find a hardware store that sells 2-foot Rebar stakes to drill into the sand.

Her battalion had to support the needs of troops involved in everything from water and fuel supply to explosives to hospital care. In keeping her troops stocked, she worked with everyone from Saudi contractors to Sudanese bankers to Filipino workers. "We spent days searching for things," says May, whose war service trained her for the USGP. "It was a Ôcome-as-you-are war.' "

She sees similarities between the diverse war environment and the USGP. "We have 11 different teams, each with a different personality, culture, corporate culture and core language," explains May, who attended Formula One races in Germany as a child. "You've got Jaguar in the United Kingdom, and then you have Ferrari in Italy." According to May, Formula One refers to its group as a circus. Even though there aren't official events attached to the race like there are with the Indianapolis "500" and Brickyard 400, the F-1 circuit does bring groups that will hold huge social events. For example, the Ferrari Club of America plans to host a party for its members and city leaders. Even these unofficial events May must oversee.

Since the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's Formula One focus is on constructing the track, it needed a point person to handle all the details of hospitality. While working at the ICVA, May worked with the IMS. As a result, the IMS and ICVA thought May had the perfect combination of qualities to coordinate the multitude of details.

"She definitely gets things done," says Julia Watson, vice president of marketing and communications at Indianapolis Downtown Inc. and chair of the Look committee, Indianapolis Local Organizing Committee's group in charge of making visitors feel welcome in Indianapolis.

Beginning in December 1999, May put together a race team of city and nonprofit leaders. Many of her team members are already responsible for their duties throughout the city. For example, IDI is handling the look of the city, a regular responsibility of the nonprofit. Besides IDI, her pit crew includes the ICVA, the International Center of Indianapolis, Keeping Indianapolis Beautiful, the state's regional convention and visitors bureaus, and many others.

More than 150 people are working toward making F-1 feel welcome in Indianapolis. "Flory is great at fostering teamwork; it wouldn't work without all the partnerships she has facilitated," Watson reiterates.

May's lifeblood revolves around travel and relationships. She always finds a way to braid the two into a successful venture, as she has with the USGP. That combination affected her personal life 10 years ago. Traveling to Saudi Arabia to serve in the war resulted in meeting her husband.

An aeronautical engineer, Tony May was a communications chief in a nearby battalion. Although she knew him on a professional level, she didn't become involved with him romantically until after the war. "Everybody thinks war is romantic; it's not," she emphasizes. "You're filthy dirty all the time; you're always in uniform; and the sand is blowing all the time."

Throughout their stay in Saudi Arabia, they exchanged books, getting to know one another "person to person." Once they returned from the war — she to the Department of Commerce, he to Purdue University — they strengthened their relationship.

Even though she loved military travel, she wanted a place they could settle. "I wanted to create a home, know my neighbors," explains May, who had thought she would make the military a career, but realized anything after war and command would be anticlimactic.

She continued to travel after they married, but in a different mode. She traveled in Russia while husband Tony studied at the Moscow Aerospace Institute. "I love to travel. I thoroughly enjoyed everywhere I lived," admits May.

Now when she travels, she takes 4-year-old Kathryn and 1-year-old Elizabeth. "I want them to have the same appreciation for other cultures I had growing up," she says.

May attributes her successful lifestyle to her mother, Thea Fleck. What with working late, traveling and being on call constantly, May and her husband — who works at Rolls Royce Aerospace — couldn't manage their lives without Fleck. When May became pregnant with Kathryn, Fleck decided to retire from her career as a gerontology statistician. Since Kathryn's birth, Fleck has cared for the girls and prepared the family's evening meals. "I have it all. I know it, and I appreciate," May emphasizes. "It's all because of my family. My mom makes it possible."

Fleck, who lives 10 minutes away from May's Oaklandon home, says, "Flory has a way of making people feel they are doing more for her than she is doing for them. She's so well-coordinated, she always knows what's going on at home."

In a sense, working is a family endeavor. And May doesn't apologize for it. If she has to work late, her husband and daughters meet her for a quick dinner Downtown before she returns to her office. May remembers her father taking her to his office when he had to finish work. She does the same with Kathryn. "I grew up in a family of workaholics," she admits. "I like work; I enjoy what I do. To pretend otherwise would be a complete farce."

But when the family isn't working, they spend time touring The Children's Museum and Indianapolis Zoo. May and Kathryn retreat to Fort Benjamin Harrison State Park for moments of solitude. Mom walks the trails, while the preschooler rides her bike.

In rare time alone, May works out at the National Institute for Fitness and Sport two or three days a week. An avid athlete, she enjoys playing pick-up basketball games with her husband, brothers and brothers-in-law. Growing up, she ran track and cross-country and played basketball and volleyball. As a result of living near military rifle ranges, she is also a good shot. While in the U.S. Army, she ran in the U.S. Marine Corps Marathon. "I don't like watching sports, I like competing in them," she declares.

As much as she loves parachuting, she gave up jumping out of planes when Kathryn was born. However, "It's actually more dangerous to drive in rush hour traffic," she points out.

May says she received the same adrenaline rush of parachuting when she started Ad Ventures in Hospitality & Marketing with fellow ICVA colleague Chris Cleveland in April 1999. May compares creating her company to the feeling she has right before she drops from a plane. "There's a sense of excitement, and your heart is pounding, but there's also a fear of ÔIs this going to go all right? Are we going to land okay?'," she says.

She believes Ad Ventures in Hospitality & Marketing is on a long flight. Her husband is on that flight, too, serving support to the captain. When she talked to him about the plan, he replied, "What took you so long? I've been expecting this."

The USGP is an example of what May and the ICVA wanted to accomplish with Ad Ventures in Hospitality & Marketing: working on specific projects for the good of one client. While working at the ICVA, May always wanted to do more for her clients but the ICVA's goal is to focus on the good of the whole tourism community in Indianapolis, as opposed to focusing on a client's individual product.

Before starting the company, she discussed her plan with the ICVA, which provided guidance. "It was a win-win situation. I could still work with the people I love at the ICVA and Division of Tourism, but also look at the specific individual product," she explains. Her clients include St. Elmo's Steak House, Schahet Hotels, RCA Tennis Championships, the Indiana Division of Tourism, and more.

But right now all that matters to May is the USGP. "If the community welcomes people the way it did at the Pan Am Games, we will have met our goal," she believes.

May lent an able hand to the inauguration of Indianapolis' international sports fame in 1987; it's only right that she arrange the coronation of the city as a global sports leader in 2000.