Board Overseeing Olympics Surplus Chooses New Leader : Athletics: Attorney John C. Argue, an organizer of 1984 L.A. Games, says foundation will continue to support youth programs.

A leading mover in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, attorney John C. Argue, was elected Monday as chairman of the board of the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles, which disseminates funds from the Olympic surplus to Southern California youth sports programs.

Over the past decade, the foundation has been an important funder of sports activities, contributing about $60 million in grants to outside groups and to its own programs.

Argue, 63, replaces television producer David Wolper, 67, who served seven years as chairman of the 19-member board. Wolper will remain on the board.

Maureen Kindel was elected secretary of the organization, replacing Argue. Kindel was president of the Los Angeles Board of Public Works during the Tom Bradley Administration and was a leader of the Olympic arts festival.

Argue was awarded the Olympic Order, the highest civil award of the International Olympic Committee, for helping to lead the fund-raising and organizing effort for Los Angeles’ second Olympic Games.

He said Monday that foundation policies will not change: “My emphasis, as was Wolper’s, will be to get the money out and to work for the kids.”

Anita L. DeFrantz, a member of the International Olympic Committee’s executive board, will continue as the foundation’s president.

The only other American member of the IOC, James L. Easton, also is a member of the foundation board.

The 1984 Games ended with a surplus of $222.7 million. Two-thirds of it went to the U.S. Olympic Committee and national sports federations and one-third to the foundation.

Of the $60 million spent so far, Wolper said, 90% has gone to Los Angeles County groups and projects, with 70% going “to people of color.”

Because of interest and investment income, the foundation actually has more money than when it was first funded, but if inflation is taken into account the value of its holdings has decreased, foundation Treasurer Conrad Freund said Monday.

A total of 106,407 boys and girls benefited from foundation grants and programs between early 1989 and late 1994, a recent study indicated. Their ethnic makeup closely paralleled the demographics of the area.

The board approved $404,978 in new grants Monday. The largest was $64,329 to the Los Angeles Sports Academy to implement an academic and sports program at El Sereno Middle School in East Los Angeles.

Another $50,000 went to the Aviva Center for construction of a sports center; $44,525 went to the Inner City Tennis Foundation to provide a free year-round tennis program for youngsters at several locations, and $41,734 went to California Handicapped Skiers to continue its program.

The foundation also continued its practice of giving mini-grants, usually $4,000 or $5,000, to sports programs throughout the Southland for sports equipment, uniforms or scholarships for needy participants.