Aug. 2--Elvis Presley left Memphis a legacy showcasing his life and career at Graceland. 

Holiday Inns founder Kemmons Wilson will leave Memphis a legacy showcasing his life and storied business career in the Kemmons Wilson Gallery. 

That legacy is housed in the new 82-room Holiday Inn and Kemmons Wilson School of Hospitality and Resort Management at the University of Memphis at Central and Deloach. 

The gallery was unveiled as part of two days of ceremonies Wenesday night and Thursday marking the 50th anniversary of the founding of Holiday Inns hotels and the opening of the new hotel management facility. 

The Kemmons Wilson Gallery on the second level has glass-enclosed cases lining two walls. They are full of awards, plaques, pictures of Wilson and his family, business associates and friends. Magazine covers of Wilson, and enlarged Wilson quotations are displayed such as: "Put opportunity ahead of security." 

Holiday Inns, founded 50 years ago Thursday in Memphis, created thousands of jobs in Memphis. 

Even today it is the most widely recognized hotel brand and its still growing strong. 

The company's corporate offices moved to Atlanta from Memphis in 1991, after Bass Plc acquired the company in 1990. 

Bass changed its name about two years ago to Six Continents Hotels after Bass sold off much of its liquor and pubs businesses, said Stevan Porter, president of the Americas for Six Continents. 

Six Continents Hotels sent Porter and several of its top executives and staff to Memphis for the past two days to honor Wilson and commemorate the chain's 50th anniversary. 

Tom Oliver, chairman and chief executive of Six Continents Hotels, which has more than 3,200 hotels in almost 100 countries, also came. He is a former top executive with FedEx, and Porter previously was a top executive with Promus and Hilton. 

"This (anniversary celebration and recognition of the its founder) is a big deal for us," Oliver said. 

A number of early franchisees and business associates of Kemmons Wilson also came. Many of them went on to become wealthy businessmen. 

Among people attending events honoring Wilson were Marty Belz of Belz Enterprises, Pace Cooper of the Cooper Cos. and John Q. Hammons who heads his own hotel company. 

William Walton, Clyde Dixon and George Falls, all key people in the early days of Holiday Inns, gathered and recalled memories and shared stories. 

Also attending was Helmut Vogel, 85. He was a pastry chef at The Peabody when Kemmons Wilson hired him to manage the first Holiday Inn, which opened 50 years ago on Summer Avenue. 

When the third Holiday Inn opened, Vogel, a German Jewish immigrant, was made vice president of operations of Holiday Inns. 

Now, semi-retired in Scottsdale, Ariz., Vogel came back to Memphis to be with Wilson his mentor for the events. 

"It was great. So many of his friends are here," Vogel said. 

Vogel later left Holiday Inns, because his wife wanted to return to her hometown of Kansas City, Mo. He established a successful hotel and commercial real estate company in Kansas City, and owned the first Sheraton hotel franchised hotel. 

Hundreds of other friends and business associates came to the new hotel and management school Wednesday night and Thursday morning to honor Wilson, 89, and mark the formal opening of the new school of hotel management. 

"It was like a class reunion," Wilson said. 

Wilson's children re-enacted the ribbon-cutting pose they struck 50 years earlier when the first Holiday Inn opened on Summer Avenue. This time they were in front of the new $15 million building Wilson donated to the University of Memphis. 

Kemmons Wilson Jr., said his father stayed up later than he normally does Wednesday night to visit with his friends. 

"He held up pretty well, and loved it," he said. 

Dr. Shirley C. Raines, president of the University of Memphis, said the new school and hotel is a signature building. 

"It is a partnership of family, industry and the university," she said. 

It will function to invest in people, she said. 

She spoke during the breakfast meeting. 

Regarding the new hotel management school, Porter said: "This is a wonderful opportunity to extend Kemmons Wilson vision for the next 50 years and beyond." 

Six Continents Hotels (formerly Bass Plc.) owns the Holiday Inn brand. There are about 1,600 Holiday Inn hotels across the world. 

The global company that also has franchised more than 1,300 Holiday Inn Express properties has pledged $1.5 million to endow a chair of excellence at the new school of hospitality, and fund some scholarships, Porter said. 

Frank Flautt Jr., who joined Holiday Inns in 1963 in franchise sales, and went on to form his own company to develop and manage hotels, is heading a campaign to raise additional funding for scholarships and faculty for the resort management school. 

A core group of supporters have already committed to contribute more than $2.8 million for academic and scholarship support. 

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(c) 2002, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. SXC,