‘84 Olympics Grants Go to Youth Sports

Another $676,533 in grants from the 1984 Olympic surplus has been approved by the board of the Amateur Athletic Foundation for youth sports in Southern California, bringing to $9 million the amount that the foundation has awarded.

Among the grants approved Monday was $59,359 to the Boys Club of Hollywood, including $45,000 in matching funds to improve the club’s equipment and $14,359 as a straight grant for equipment for girls--recently admitted to the club for the first time--at the club’s Echo Park facility.

The 17-member board also gave its approval to a $2-million expansion of facilities at the foundation headquarters at 2141 W. Adams Blvd. Construction is expected to begin next summer on a library to house the group’s extensive collection of Olympic books and memorabilia and a pavilion housing multipurpose meeting rooms.

The board voted to name the new facility the Paul Ziffren Sports Resource Center after the foundation’s chairman.

The facilities, being designed by Charles Kober Associates, will allow the foundation to serve as a gathering place and resource center for amateur athletes and youth sports organizations from throughout Southern California, foundation President Stanton Wheeler said.

In another move, the board, which is headed by attorney Ziffren and includes Mayor Tom Bradley and former Los Angeles Olympic President Peter V. Ueberroth, approved an expansion of the foundation’s summer swim program, inaugurated this year.

The eight-week program of swimming instruction for 8- to 18-year-olds will be extended next summer from the 41 mainly South and Eastside city, county and YMCA facilities it served last summer to 95 sites. This will include all swimming pools in Los Angeles County operated by the county or Los Angeles city recreation departments.

Interest Income

Under the operating concepts of the foundation, most of the grants come from the interest income on Southern California’s share of the $230-million Olympic surplus.

Currently, according to Wheeler, the foundation has about $92 million in its accounts. It has made grants totaling more than $1 million at some of its quarterly meetings, but Wheeler said that lower interest rates in recent months have meant less money available to distribute this time.

The largest grant approved Monday was $115,000 to the Newport Aquatic Center in Orange County to provide equipment and additional staffing for a junior swimming program for youngsters 9 to 18 and an elite training center for potential Olympic athletes.