Citius, Altius, Fortius

Photo from Wikipedia

In honor of the Superbowl I decided to research sports libraries (more fun than spilled beer and congealed chicken wings).  Every subject under the sun has books, photos, interviews and magazines and they have to live somewhere - right?  Right.  The easy winner was The Paul Ziffren Sports Resource Center, located at 2141 W. Adams Blvd - the largest sports research library in North America.  It was created and is now operated by LA84 Foundation (formerly the Amateur Athletic Association), an organization established in 1984 with surplus funds from the 1984 Olympic Games in L.A. - how cool is that?  I could barely get my head around the idea of ‘surplus funds’ let alone comprehend that they would be put to such wonderful use.  By previous agreement 60% of excess revenues went back the U.S. Olympic Committee and 40%, a cool $93 million, stayed in Southern California.  Maybe it’s time for another Olympics?

The foundation’s mission is to “serve youth through sport and to increase knowledge of sport and its impact on people’s lives”. They support a variety of youth sports in Southern California and run their own sports education program that’s modeled around the country.  The library’s collection is extensive:  40,000 printed volumes, 90,000 photos and 400 magazine titles and it is also becoming digitized.  The digital collection contains more than 300,000 pages of books, journals and photographs and can be downloaded free of charge.  I immediately thought of the boys in my classroom who love to write about their favorite teams and sports heroes - what a great way to hook reluctant readers and give them the chance to do some real research.  The boys would really like to get into the museum and get their hands on some treasures: track shoes worn by Jesse Owens, Olympic Medals from as early as 1896, a collection of Olympic relay torches and Babe Ruth’s uniform.

The current home of the foundation, the Eugene W. Britt House, was slated for demolition in the early 80s when Peter and Ginny Ueberroth stepped in to not only rescue the house but also find a home for Paul Helm’s collection of rare sports memorabilia.   After a $2 million renovation the house was opened as a sports museum in time for the Olympic Games and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  The 10,000 square foot Ziffren Library was built on the grounds of the Britt House in 1988.  In case you’re wondering...Paul Ziffren was not an famous athlete, he was a lawyer and the Chair of the 1984 Olympic Games.  Ueberroth and Ziffren were the Penn & Teller of the LA Games - Ueberroth out in front, making things happen, while Ziffren worked behind the scenes to secure corporate sponsorship and keep the money rolling in.  Their partnership led to the $250 million surplus that continues to support young athletes and a library haven for sports fans.  I’d call that Higher, Faster, Stronger, Smarter.