Ziffren to Relinquish Olympic Reins

After 10 years as chairman of the board of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee and then of the foundation disseminating Southern California’s $93-million share of the 1984 Olympic surplus, attorney Paul Ziffren is relinquishing the Olympic reins in the city.

Television producer David Wolper will be named Thursday to succeed him, board members said.

Although it was Peter V. Ueberroth who as president of the Olympic committee won much of the praise for making the Los Angeles Games the most profitable in history, Ziffren played an important behind-the-scenes role, building political support and keeping the board united behind Ueberroth’s policies.

Looked ‘Like a Fiasco’

“At one time, it looked like the Olympics would be a fiasco,” Ziffren recalled in an interview this week at his Malibu home. “But they really electrified not only the city, but the country and a good part of the world.”

The Olympic committee’s successor, the Amateur Athletic Foundation, under Ziffren’s leadership and that of its president, Anita de Frantz, has spent $15 million to support youth sports in Southern California. The money has come mostly from interest income on the original principal, which still is intact.

Ten years ago this month, when Ziffren told a news conference that the 1984 Games would earn a profit of $100 million, few believed he was engaged in anything other than hyperbole. However, the final figures showed the Games made $222.7 million. Part of this money also went to the U.S. Olympic Committee and national amateur sports governing bodies.

Ziffren, who will be 75 next month, still practices law as a partner of the prestigious Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher firm. He has had many clients in the entertainment community.

He also retains a position of influence in Los Angeles’ Jewish community, long having been a leader of the Jewish Federation Council.

Politically, from 1953 through 1960 as Democratic national committeeman from California, he was a key figure in building the party’s fortunes in the state and became a friend of John and Robert Kennedy. He has long been a leading supporter of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley.

Ziffren will remain on the 17-member foundation board. Its new chairman, Wolper, produced the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1984 Games.

The foundation is building a sports resource center, to be named for Ziffren, on its West Adams Boulevard property, and continues to distribute hundreds of thousands of dollars every quarter in grants to independent youth sports groups.

In the interview, Ziffren expressed pride in what the Olympics had done for the city. He said one of the happiest Olympic moments for him was when it became apparent that the Olympic committee would be financially self-sustaining.

“Building a base for the Olympics here was a matter of establishing our financial credibility,” he said. “That was the biggest problem we had to face initially. There was a widespread fear in the community that the Games would leave a burden. . . .

‘Literally No Money’

“I remember when I was elected chairman and Peter (Ueberroth) was made president, we had no office and literally no money. We had to borrow $300,000 from the U.S. Olympic Committee to get started. We had no staff.”

Many of those associated with the Los Angeles Olympic effort have seen it become a springboard for other Olympic or sports positions.

Ueberroth since 1984 has been commissioner of baseball. De Frantz has been elected one of the two American members of the International Olympic Committee. LAOOC General Manager Harry L. Usher for a time headed the U.S. Football League.