Bert Whyte's

Miller

vriter Joe

rors

has a column in the AFL-

CIO) News which is worth re-

printing, so here it is in full:

Never underestimate the
power of a man who can write
letters, especially when he
writes 3,297 — yes, 3,297! —
letters.

This is the story of Al Neff
of Seattle, the prodigous let-
ter-writer, and how he has —
almost all by himself — pro-
moted what should turn out
to be, short of the Olympics,
the biggest international box-
ing tournament of all time.

The tourney, known offic-
ially as the International Dia-
mond Belt AAU Boxing’ Tour-
nament, will be staged at the
University of Washington in
Seattle, this August.

At writing, 12 nations — in-
cluding Rumania — have offi-
cially accepted and will send

s Some 41 other nations
sidering the invitation
with the backing of the
state department, many
public officials and organiza-
tons. Al Neff believes that
n r of them will send teams
to Seattle

Profits from the three-day
event will go to CARE and
other international goodwill
agencies, such. as. the UN’s
Children’s International Em-
ergency Fund. With many
groups, including Washington
state labor unions picking up
the tab for the tournmey’s ex-
penses, Neff is hopeful of
clearing upwards of $100,000
for the above agencies.

But this, as worthwhile as
it is, isn’t the factor that makes
1 Neff’s story important. It
nificant because it dem-
onstrates what one smal] man
can do with an idea if he dedi-
cates himself to it.

About two years ago Neff,
who operates a rug store in
Seattle, got what he now calls
a “wild idea” — an idea that
an international amateur box-
ing tournament might be a
good vehicle to promote a,
small piece of global goodwill.

Boxing is Neff’s lifetime pas-
sion. For years he’s been
known as the softest touch in
town for any pug or ex-pug
with a hard luck story.

Neff first broached the idea
to Seattle — and sports
leaders. Their response was

i away little

unan

man, <

Most men would have given
up after being dealt such total
rejection. But, as Neff says:
Tm not smart, but-[?m stub-
born, The more I got turned
down, the more the idea be-
came an obsession with me,”

Finally a handful of people
were brought around — after

a year of this — to agreeing
with the stocky rug man. Neff

brought them together at a

“scheme of things,

fancy luncheon (he picked up
the tab, of course) and they
formed something called the

“Seattle-Tacoma Athletic Com-

Now Neff moved his letter-
writting operation into high
gear. He hired a secretary and
whipped out letters as fast as
she could type them, to the
U.S. state department, to air-
lines, politicians and people
like Gene Tunney and Jack
Dempsey.

Amazingly enough, Neff’s
letters brough an almost uni-
formly favorable response.
Most countries, including Is-
rael and Egypt, for instance,
were enthusiastic; even So-
viet Russia wrote Al — on a
Russian script typewriter —
that it was considering send-
ing a team. “An interpreter
I had to.get yet to translate
it,” Al said.

Al, who has spent $3,600 of
his own money and Lord
knows how much in time, is
philosophic about his success.
“If everything comes too eas
it isn’t fun,” he said recently.
“But it’s a pleasure when you
finally get good results.”

Probably in the larger
Al Neff’s
tourney may not. count for
much. But perhaps a few In-
donesians, Pakistani, Ruman-
ians, Japanese, et al, will go
home with a better idea of the
USA — thanks to a tough
little rug man who wouldn’t
quit on a good idea.

There you have the story of
Al Neff and his plans to “pro-
mote a small piece of global
goodwill.” We hope every-
thing works out just fine. One
thing we know is this — when
the tournament takes place,
there’ll be a good contingent
of Vancouver. fans going to
Seattle to watch the amateurs
from many countries in action.

e

Canada’s top female ik Ernestine Russell of Windsor, demonstrates

Proposal to cut Olympic medals

SPORTLIGHT for

2)

gymnastics meets opposition

Olympic officials who are proposing to cut t he number of Olympic gold medals

awarded for gymnastics fin
gestion came first from American track

d themselves faced with a storm of opposition. The sug:
and field brass, smarting under the unofhcial

oints victory scored at Melbourne by the Soviet Union, which cleaned up most of
the medals for gymnastics

A sports parade in Moscow’s
Red Square, -with massed
contingents of athletes, is a
spectacle that never fails
to impress foreign visitors to
the Soviet capital.

Later World Sports, a Bri-
tish magazine usually noted
for its fairness, fell in with
the American idea on the
grounds that gymanstics are
“comparatively unfashion-
able’ and the heroes of Mel-
bourne were ‘track personali-
ties like Kuts, Morrow and
Cuthbert.

Taking the magazine to task

in a sharply-worded letter,
Frank Edmonds, "honorary
secretary of the Amateur

Gymnastics Association, had
this to say:

“One cannot but, believe .
your arguments are not ethi-
cal but journalistic.

‘Your comments. are also an
example of Anglo-Saxon in-
sularity which, is so exasperat-
ing even to Britain’s friends.
Let. us remember that .the
Games are universal, and not
staged merely for our bene-
fit; reconcile ourselves to the
fact that many nations which
have never heard of cricket
and ‘ruggah’ regard gymnas-
tics as a prominent sport; re-
call (painfully) the soccer
achievements of such gym-
nastically-minded people as
the Bulgarians,, Hungarians,
Swiss, Russians, Yugoslavs
and Swedes .

“Tn speaking of the 15 gym-
nastics gold medals, you over-
look the fast that only eight
are awarded to men. Does this
compare badly with the men’s
awards in other sports — ath-
letics (24) wrestling (16), box-
ing (10) canoeing (8), weight-
lifting, rowing, shooting and
swimming (7. each).”

Another letter-writer said:

“Your remarks about gym-
nastics appear. to be sheer

bias. To begrudge gymnasts
their gold medals is the most
unsportsmanlike remark 1!
ever heard.

“There were several sports
in the 1956 Games that did not
interest me personally, but to
their gold medal winners I
send my heartiest congratula-
tions. I hope they will be there
next time . . ...along with the
gymnasts.”

Would omit

nationalism

The Netherlands Olympic
Committee is suggesting to the
International Olympic Com-
mittee that the nationalistic
element should be eliminated
from future Olympiads.

In reply to a request from
the IOC who ‘had asked na-
tional committees for pro-
posals concerning the organ-
isation of-the Olympic Games,
the Netherlands Committee is
proposing:

That competitors should all
wear the same Olympic dress
during the opening and clos-
ing ceremonies.

They should march in
groups, according to the -var-
ious sports, and not in nationa
formations.

There should be no flag car-
ried in the parade.

The Olympic hymn should
be played instead of National
Anthems during the victory
ceremonies, and that the
Olympic flag and not national
colors should be hoisted to
honor victors.

“split balance.”

MAY 10, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNK—PAGE 14