U.S. OLYMPIC FESTIVAL LOS ANGELES 1991 : Mr. Perseverance : Porter Wins Two Long Battles--One for Softball and One for His Life

Don Porter has lobbied the International Olympic Committee for 23 years to get women’s softball recognized as a medal sport.

He has spent hours riding elevators, hanging out in bars and coffee shops and sitting in hotel lobbies. “I could have gotten arrested for loitering,” he said.

Porter, 59, has been lobbying for so long that he remembers former IOC President Avery Brundage addressing him as “young man.”

“Both Brundage and President (Juan Antonio) Samaranch used to call me up to their rooms and say the same thing, ‘be patient ,’ ” said Porter, who has been executive director of the Amateur Softball Assn. since 1966.

Only one IOC president offered Porter no hope. “I couldn’t get through to Lord Killanin at all--he had no idea what softball was,” Porter said.

Then, finally, it happened.

At a news conference last month in Birmingham, England, it was announced that women’s softball would debut in Atlanta in 1996 as an official medal sport. The announcement was made by Vitaly Smirnov--a Soviet who is chairman of the IOC program committee--with whom Porter has had several run-ins.

“I wanted to throw up my hands and cheer, but there were all these press people around, so I just sat there,” Porter said. “Plus, Smirnov and I have gone at it several times over the years, and I didn’t want to do anything wrong. He might have reneged!”

Several times Porter thought softball was close to being recognized and then the bottom would fall out. In 1985, Porter said Samaranch told him that softball and baseball were “next,” a hope he hung onto.

Porter had been working with Robert Smith, president of the International Baseball Federation, to get softball recognized for women and baseball for men. When baseball became official in 1986, softball still hadn’t even made it as an exhibition sport.

“The night softball became official, we all went out to dinner to celebrate, and you feel like you should really celebrate big,” Porter said. “But after all the disappointments through the years and all we have been through, I was kind of worn out.”

But Porter had other reasons to be tired. Though his accomplishments for the sport of softball are great, they pale in comparison to another, more personal victory. Three years ago, Porter began fighting for his life, battling cancer.

This time, it was even more difficult to be patient.

Sitting in the lobby of the Los Angeles Hilton Sunday, Porter looks radiant against the muted colors of the downtown hotel. Dressed in red and white, his grey hair is shiny and neatly combed. His eyes are bright as he talks about his favorite subject, his work with softball and the Olympic Committee.

Besides being executive director of the Amateur Softball Assn., Porter is president of the International Softball Federation, chairman of the Oklahoma State Governor’s Council of Fitness and Sport--he lives in Oklahoma City--and chairman of the USOC Festival Committee. He even was an NFL referee for three years.

But when Porter tells his story about cancer, his voice drops a little. His manner becomes more matter-of-fact. And the word lucky is used often.

It was by chance that Porter learned that he had cancer. While in Seoul in 1988, he collided with another person while walking around a corner in a hotel lobby. He hurt his foot.

“When I got back home to Oklahoma City, I went to my doctor to check my foot,” Porter said. “In the process, he found a lump on my neck. It had been there for a couple of months, but I hadn’t really noticed it or thought anything about it.”

The biopsy revealed a lymphoma. The cancer had been detected early, and he was told that he had a 70% chance to survive by undergoing treatment.

In 1989, he started chemotherapy. He lost his hair, his energy and his healthy look. He almost lost his leg because of a blood clot that doctors believe resulted from the chemotherapy.

But Porter never lost hope. And he never stopped working.

“I was going to do anything I could to beat the disease, and I’m lucky because now I’m 100% in remission,” Porter said. “People wondered why I kept working, but it helped me keep my desire and will to live. I couldn’t give up, and my dream helped me stay alive. It gave me more energy.

“I would show up at the meetings and suddenly, to people who have known me for years, I was bald. Well, I’m not a vain man, so that was OK. But I know it was hard on my friends.”

Porter had grown up playing sports at San Fernando High and East Los Angeles College. At 10, he became a vegetarian, refusing--to his parents’ dismay--to eat red meat. He has remained active as an adult, playing sports and exercising whenever possible. And until 1989, he had never been sick.

“I really had to be careful not to let it overcome me,” Porter says. “I needed to stay positive.”

When doctors thought they might have to amputate Porter’s leg, they told his wife, Jean. The information was kept from him until he was out of danger.

“Jean and I were in Anchorage at a softball federation meeting when it happened,” Porter said. “I was in a meeting, and my leg was really hurting. I returned to my room and lost all the feeling in my leg. Then it turned blue. Jean got me to the emergency room at the closest hospital.

“They operated immediately, but I wasn’t out of danger.”

Porter was flown back to Oklahoma City on a special medically equipped jet. Two weeks later, he was finally out of danger. “The emergency room doctor in Anchorage specialized in the area of blood clotting, so he knew what was going on,” Porter said. “I was lucky.”

Lucky. There’s that word again.