DeFrantz Cancels Meeting, Angers Group

About 20 track enthusiasts and representatives of local politicians vowed to unseat Anita DeFrantz as president of the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles on Tuesday after she canceled a meeting to discuss why she discontinued the AAF’s funding of the Los Angeles Invitational Indoor track meet.

The group became boisterous when denied entrance to the foundation’s headquarters and library at 2141 W. Adams, and several members tried to break past a security guard at the door. After being calmed by Conrad Freund, the AAF’s vice president for finance and administration, the participants dispersed--but not before saying their fight isn’t over.

“She’s not dealing with our private world. She’s dealing in the arena of public opinion now,” said Don Wilson, an aide to Rep. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles).

Said Clint Rosemond of the L.A. Track Nuts fan group: “It’s absolutely ridiculous. This woman is in a prominent position. She gives something like $800,000 to rowing and when we ask for $20,000 she says we don’t have enough Olympic exposure. There’s something untoward happening. Maybe we need to replace Anita DeFrantz. Maybe we need to replace the board.”

The AAF, endowed with surplus funds from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, awards grants to youth sports organizations throughout Southern California and organizes its own sports and coaching programs. It gave the L.A. Invitational $20,000 each of the past four years to sponsor the high school portion of the meet, which draws about 2,000 competitors.

Promoters Al and Don Franken have said the AAF’s decision jeopardized the future of the meet, whose 42nd edition is scheduled for Feb. 23 at the Sports Arena. The Frankens have worked on a shoestring budget since they lost their last major sponsor in 1995, leaving them unable to draw elite athletes who command high appearance fees. Her refusal to meet, Al Franken said, “sends out a red flag that Anita is trying to hide something.”

DeFrantz said she favors programs that promote teaching, learning and competing, aims she said would not be furthered on a long-term basis by funding the Invitational. She agreed to meet with a small opposition delegation but reversed course Monday after receiving a fax from Wilson that requested a grant of $100,000, asked her to account for the time she spent on International Olympic Committee business, and demanded she resign to “devote full-time to your IOC ambitions.”

DeFrantz was the first female vice president of the IOC and unsuccessfully ran for the IOC presidency last summer.

“This is about two guys [the Frankens] promoting a track meet,” she said. “It’s not a priority for the AAF to support next year. We have a lot of programs we need to fund for kids in a lot of sports. Those two men have a business. They’re promoters....

“We have to look at how we spend our funds next year. There’s so much that needs to be done and this one-day track meet is so far down on the list.”

Patrick Escobar, the AAF’s vice president for grants and programs, said the organization had funded many track programs for kids and had introduced them to new sports such as speedskating, cricket and rowing.

“It’s serving youth through sports, not serving youth through track and field,” he said of the AAF’s goal. “Not every kid has the skill to play basketball or participate in track and field.”