Not that long ago, the Boston 2024 Olympic bid was a non-issue. In fact, only a year ago it was more the exception rather than the rule to see any coverage of it. And in the bid’s inception, it wasn’t the elite interests or powerful politicians who initiated the idea of bringing the 2024 Games to Boston. It was partly just a local resident named Eric Reddy.

Along with Corey Dinopoulos, another young professional living in the Boston area, they were the impetus for the original iteration of Boston 2024.

“My background primarily was in the sports world,” said Reddy, who has worked at times for the Providence Bruins, the Springfield Armor and the Boston Blazers. Two years, ago, he had a thought about the impending Olympic bids. Specifically, he supposed that the United States was due to host the Summer Games, which haven’t been in the country since Atlanta in 1996.

“Hey, there’s probably going to be a city that’s bidding for 2024,” Reddy recalled thinking about his earliest recollection of Boston potentially bidding, “why not at least begin the conversation? Maybe it’s the right conversation, maybe it’s not. But at least have it about Boston maybe throwing its hat in the ring.”

As Adam Vacarro of Boston.com explained in a full account of the bid founders’ background, Reddy reached out to Boston City Hall (then still in the Menino administration). He was put in touch with Dinopoulos (who had himself reached out to City Hall), and the two formed a partnership that was the basis for what would become Boston 2024.

Eventually, State Senator Eileen Donohue’s involvement helped to propel the bid forward.

“That’s when I think it really got some legs to it,” Reddy remembered.

“We were working on it for about a year before the first USOC visit, said Reddy. “And I think it was in October of 2013. And it was in the weeks leading up to that that we really started to collaborate a lot more with Dan O’Connell and the Mass Competitive Partnership, which John Fish was a part of.”

The movement towards a bid flowed naturally, according to Reddy.

“It kind of just gelled together really nicely.”

And Reddy also remembers the first time he heard of No Boston Olympics, the first notable opposition group to the bid.

“You know I think it was more toward the fall of 2013, so about 18-20 months ago,” he recalled. Along with Dinopoulos, their initial reaction spoke more to simply how taken aback the two young professionals were that their idea had actually taken gone so far forward.

“It was like, wow, someone’s really paying attention to this.”

And as far as the opposition, Reddy continues to have an open mind. He only takes issue with one aspect of it.

“The only real piece that I don’t like is that sometimes there are personal attacks made out there,” he noted, in a continued refrain among those in the conversation to keep things as civil as possible amidst the ongoing debate.

With Boston 2024’s poll numbers still not where the USOC (or IOC) would like them, Reddy remains optimistic.

“I think we do have time,” said Reddy. “We just rolled out 2.0, and there’s going to be a 3.0 and a 4.0. This plan is going to continuously evolve and we’re going to get feedback from the community. And hopefully people are going to see the difference between what we told them as a concept and what we’ve got on the table right now has evolved.”

“I hope that as people become more educated on this that they’ll see it as an opportunity rather than a detriment.”

Reddy also maintains that contrary to the charges leveled at the bid periodically, Boston 2024 is rooted in the support of regular people. In this way, Reddy is himself one of the best examples.

“From the beginning when we started getting together, there were a lot of other regular men and regular women who were a part of the team,” he said. “Just people who go to work everyday and really believe in the city and believe that hey, this is a good idea.”

In this way, Reddy is very confident in what Boston has to offer.

“On the human capital side of things, I don’t think any city has what we have here.”

Ultimately, he’s perfectly content with the bid’s legacy if it can help shape the city in a positive way, even if that means no Olympics.

“I think if we’re having a conversation about the future, and the city and state can benefit from that, whether we win the Games or not, I think at the end of the day this is definitely a worthwhile exercise.

Of course, Reddy has the competitive spirit indicative of such a fan of the Olympics. And that, as it has been since the fledgling partnership was formed with Dinopoulos more than two years ago, remains his driving force.

“But make no bones about it, I really want to win.”

Image via Boston 2024