Attorney Mark Ramsey of Spears, Moore, Rebman & Williams isn’t a litigator, so he doesn’t have much trial experience. And as a lawyer whose practice primarily involves estate planning, estate administration, conservatorships, guardianships, and elder planning, he rarely finds himself in an adversarial situation with another attorney.
Yet, he seems calm about his June 25 showdown against Wade Hinton, corporate counsel for Volkswagen Group of America. Perhaps that’s because the venue of their confrontation isn’t a courtroom, but the stage at Tivoli Theater.
Ramsey and Hinton are two of the eight local celebrities who will be competing in the Fourth Annual Dancing with the Stars Chattanooga. Over 800 people attended last year’s event to see six participants compete in a dance-off to win a trophy and raise money for Partnership for Families, Children and Adults. Alexis Bogo and Lynda Hood, the co-chairs of the 2011 event and the winners in 2010, selected the participants for this year’s gala.
Ramsey says the two women “dragooned” him into competing.
“I said ‘yes’ because I thought it would be fun. I’m not a ham, but I’m not shy about being in the spotlight, either. The thought of dancing in front of all of those people didn’t bother me,” he says. While Ramsey loves to dance, he’s never done any ballroom dancing outside of the Chattanooga Cotton Ball, for which he took two lessons, so he’s as ill prepared as the next guy or gal.
“I grew up in North Caro-lina, where I learned a form of dance called shag, a dance associated with the beaches and fraternities in that area. It’s not ballroom dancing.”
Each Dancing with the Stars Chattanooga celebrity is paired with a professional danc-er from the local Fred Astaire Dance Studio, where they rehearse their routine during 15, 40-minute dance lessons. Ram-sey has teamed up with Ashley Cuticchia, a physical therapist at Sports Medicine Group and instructor at Fred Astaire. Ramsey is pleased with how their routine is coming together.
“Ashley did the choreography and selected the music. She’s been very supportive. If there’s something I can’t do, she changes it. She doesn’t necessarily make it easier, just different so it’s something I feel comfortable doing.”
The only part of their performance that has Ramsey worried is the music: Wham’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go, Go,” which he calls “the cheesiest song in the world.”
“She said we couldn’t dance to any of the music I liked,” he says. Regardless of whether or not Ramsey likes Wham, the dance routine certainly does make him go, as he sweats more during his practices with Cuticchia than while working out. “It’s more challenging than exercising. There’s a lot of choreography and tricks in what we’re doing, so it’s demanding,” he says.
Ramsey just hopes he can keep up with his competitors, at 56, he’s one of the oldest of the eight celebrities. “It’s not something I can’t do. I’m having a ball,” he says.
In addition to trying to win the Dancing Champion trophy, dancers also collect votes to become the event’s Fan Fav-orite by asking people to make online donations in their name at the Dancing with the Stars Chattanooga Web site. The dancer who raises the most money will win the Fan Favorite trophy, and all of the proceeds for the evening will be designated to that dancer’s chosen program. Ramsey has selected Partnership’s elder services.
Long before Ramsey became a dancing celebrity, he attended the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill School of Law and then moved to Chattanooga in 1980 to work for Spears. He has practiced at the firm ever since. He’s also worked extensively in the Chattanooga community, to the point that his volunteer efforts could be considered a second career.
“Others have observed that since I don’t have a life outside of work or the community, those things are my life. That’s not entirely true, but Spears has fostered in its attorneys the philosophy that they need to give back to their community. And that’s my philosophy as well,” Ramsey says. Over the years, Ramsey has served on close to 40 boards and organizations. Once, he was on nine boards at the same time. Looking back, he says that was too many, and has pared back his commitments.
“I’m currently on the Hunter Museum board of trustees, I’m a trustee at Bright School, and I’m the past-president of the Friends of the Festival.”
Ramsey is also working with Memorial Hospital and the Children’s Foundation at Erlanger, and is on the planned giving advisory councils at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and the Tennessee Aquarium.
In addition, he’s previously served as a board member at Association for Visual Arts, Hospice of Chattanooga, the Arts & Education Council of Chattanooga, the American Lung Association, and the American Heart Association. He’s also chaired Siskin Children’s Institute StarNight, the Chattanooga Heart Ball, Spectrum, and more. Ramsey is on the Hamilton County draft board, which he considers an odd footnote to his community service résumé.
“If there’s ever a national emergency that would require the reinstatement of the draft, we’re in place to handle the requests for deferment. We’re in deep reserve, though. We have contact once every five years,” he says. Ramsey is thankful 2011 is not one of those years, as he needs to conserve his energy for his practices with Cuticchia. Unfortunately, due to the storms and scheduling issues, he missed three sessions in a row. With more choreography to learn and only four weeks until the big night, Ramsey has a lot of catching up to do and loads of work ahead of him.
“I’m not worried. I’ll get to make those sessions up,” he says.
Tickets for Dancing with the Stars Chattanooga are on sale now. VIP tickets are available as well. The VIP reception will take place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Mountain City Club, and the show will begin at 8 p.m. General dancing will follow. To purchase tickets, Google “Dancing with the Stars Chattanooga” and then click on the Partnership link at the top of the search results page.