Don Porter Is Working to Get Softball Admitted to Olympics

Throughout these Olympics, you’ll see basketballs, hockey balls, soccer balls, handballs, tennis balls, volleyballs, table tennis balls, bowling balls, basketballs and water polo balls.

But where are the softballs? Don Porter felt certain they would by now be a part of the Summer Games. They are not.

Porter, president of the International Softball Federation, has been working to get his sport into the Olympics for more than a decade. His best chance came a few years ago, when he was persuaded by the International Olympic Committee to join baseball on the same entry ticket.

Baseball became a demonstration sport in 1984 at Los Angeles, is back again this year and will become a medal sport in 1992 at Barcelona, Spain. Meanwhile, Porter still waits, and waits, for the first softball to be thrown.

“We received a promise that women’s softball would at least get in with baseball,” Porter said. “We were sure surprised when they got in and we didn’t.”

Porter, who lives in Oklahoma City, the home of the Softball Hall of Fame, came to the Summer Games and received another chance to plead his case with IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch.

The meeting lasted 10 minutes.

“It didn’t go real well,” Porter said. “He told me what we probably already knew. Barcelona is not available (to be a medal sport). There is still a possibility of being an exhibition sport. But it looks like the IOC is eliminating demonstration sports after 1992.

“He told me the door is still open, be patient. He said it took baseball 25 years to get in, and we’ve only been after it eight years. But actually it’s been more like 15.”

One problem is image. To many, softball is played by those too feeble for baseball. Some would say softball’s ultimate reward--a keg of beer after a sandlot game--should not be replaced by a gold medal.

Another obstacle is Vitaly Smirnov of the Soviet Union, head of the IOC’s Program Commission. His support would help Porter’s cause, but softball is not prominent in the Ukraine--even though it is played competitively in more than 50 countries by more than 60 million people.

Then there’s the enormity of the Olympics. At the 1972 Munich Games, there were 210 medals awarded; this year there are 237. Disciplines within the sports have swelled--there are 13 alone in shooting.

And the number of athletes has ballooned from 7,830 in Munich to almost 9,700 this year. Can the Olympics afford to get any larger?

At least two factors appear to be working in softball’s favor. Water skiing, parachuting, taekwondo and badminton are all competing for berths.

And the IOC is on record as stating it wants more women in the Olympics. What better way to do that than to invite women’s softball as a balance to baseball?

Even when pressed, Porter will not demean the other sports desiring Olympic entry. He will not criticize Samaranch or accuse him of a double-cross in regard to the baseball-softball issue.

“I have great respect for the IOC,” Porter said. “I think they have the greatest president they have ever had. But we have done everything asked of us, even more.

“But it’s not the end of the world. Softball will develop and continue to grow in other countries. I look at it as the Olympics’ loss and not softball’s loss. They’re missing out on a good thing.”

Porter, though, has missed what might have ranked with his greatest thrills.

“I was here as a 19-year-old during the Korean War,” he said. “I looked across the river and saw the tallest buildings only 4 and 5 feet high. It’s a real delight to see this city rebuild itself. Having softball here would have capped it all off for me.”