RESIDUAL EFFECTS WITH AAF, WISHES CAN BE GRANTED.

Byline: Rich Hammond Staff Writer

The final medals of the Los Angeles Games were handed out Aug. 12, 1984, but kids born well after that date continually have benefited from the financial success of those Olympics.

Unprecedented revenue from sponsorships and television helped the 1984 Games generate a surplus of $232.5 million, 40 percent of which was earmarked to stay in Los Angeles. Organizers created the Amateur Athletic Foundation, and the Games continue to pay off for kids throughout Southern California.

Since then, the AAF has given out more than $62 million in grants directly to youth sports organizations and invested another $25 million in programs that assist youth sports and the building of facilities in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino, Imperial, Santa Barbara and San Diego counties.

Add to that a sports library in downtown Los Angeles, one that features almost 50,000 volumes and is touted as the best of its kind in the world, and various administrative costs, and all told, the foundation has invested more than $140 million to the sporting communities of Southern California.

``What could be better than serving youth through sports?'' said Anita DeFrantz, the AAF president.

DeFrantz, a member of the 1976 U.S. rowing team and a major player in the local organization of the 1984 Games, joined the AAF shortly after its inception and became its president in 1987. Since then, she has overseen the continuation of a dream first articulated 20 years ago.

Forty percent of the surplus went to the United States Olympic Committee and 20 percent went to other U.S. national governing bodies, which left the Games' organizers with a substantial sum. Since those Games were the first to be privately financed, the proceeds didn't have to be returned to the state's coffers.

``It wasn't set in the contract, but we believed all along that it should go to youth sports,'' DeFrantz said. ``I really believed in this wonderful opportunity to create access to good sports opportunities for all of the kids of Southern California.''

All it takes to apply for a loan is a letter of no more than three pages to the AAF. Of course, the applicant must be an organization, not an individual, and must present compelling evidence as to how the grant would assist youth sports. Through 2003, the AAF had given out 1,339 grants to 946 organizations.

The grants have been small ($1,200 to the Center for Human Interdependence in 1985) and huge ($1.3 million to the City of Los Angeles' Department of Recreation and Parks in 1987), but the majority fall in the range of $5,000 to $50,000.

Many recognizable groups - including Little League, Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCA and the Salvation Army - have benefited, but so have much smaller youth clubs and centers.

The AAF also has recently contributed to the improvement of the Exposition Park area. AAF grants helped in the $30 million refurbishment of the Olympic Swim Stadium, originally built for the 1932 Games. The stadium, renamed for the AAF and the late John Argue, a prominent 1984 Games organizer, now includes two pools, indoor basketball courts and workout facilities.

With a current endowment of more than $140 million, the foundation will thrive well into the future, and DeFrantz believes some of its goodwill will be rewarded.

``The organization is already an institution, and it's known throughout the world,'' DeFrantz said. ``I believe that, in the future, we will have an enormous amount of give-back from the kids who went through these programs. They will have a sense of responsibility to their communities and to their sport, and we need that. It's about having human capital, not just the financial surplus.''

Rich Hammond, [phone]

rich.hammond(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

AAF president Anita DeFrantz stands by a swimming pool that was refurbished with funds from grants by the organization.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer