U.S. OLYMPIC FESTIVAL LOS ANGELES 1991 : NOTEBOOK

When U.S. talks: Don Porter, executive director of the U.S. Amateur Softball Assn., on the first time the United States invited Japan to participate in its softball national championships:.

“The U.S. used to call our national softball championships the world championship because, besides Canada, which used to send a team to our championships every year, the Americans were the only ones holding this tournament. It was a situation similar to the World Series.

“Anyway, in 1962, we invited Japan to compete. I’ll never forget it when the Japanese official in charge of the team questioned the format. He said, ‘Mr. Porter, how come if this is World Championships, there are 17 American teams and only one team from Canada and Japan?’ There was silence, and then someone--I can’t remember his name--said, ‘Because we won the war.’

“And that broke the ice. It busted everybody up.”