Disneyland Banquet for Olympic Stars

BY PAUL ZIMMERMAN
Times Sports Editor

The United States Olympic team of more than 350 athletes will be given a rousing sendoff this evening at an elaborate banquet in Disneyland with Bob Hope the master of ceremonies.

The spectacular event, staged by the Mayor Samuel W. Yorty's Olympic Host Committee, will come as a climax to a week of feverish activity for Uncle Sam's stars who depart for Tokyo beginning Monday.

A huge show to be staged in Frontierland, has been arranged by the committee headed by Times Publisher Otis Chandler.

Tonight's banquet comes on the heels of the team's parade, in sharp array, prior to the opening kickoff of the UCLA - Penn State football game Saturday night.

Smartly Garbed

In the squad's only local public appearance as a unit, the athletes and officials, smartly garbed in the resplendent blue uniforms they will wear at the Olympic opening ceremonies in Tokyo, marched into Memorial Coliseum through the west tunnel.

Standing in parade formation on the gridiron, the team listened as Rafer Johnson, former UCLA star and 1960 decathlon gold medal winner, stood on a flag-draped podium and recited the Olympic oath they will hear again in Japan.

Crowd Cheers

The crowd cheered as the team led by shot put star Dallas Long, carrying the American flag, marched in to the music of the Bruin band. It roared again after Johnson had intoned:

"We swear that will take part in the Olympic Games in loyal competition, representing the regulations which govern them and desirous of participating in them in true spirit of sportsmanship for the honor of our country and the glory of sport."

Between halves the Bruin rooting section honored the team with its stunts in lights.

The Coliseum, where the 1932 games were staged, becomes an Olympic scene again this afternoon when Johnson terminates a coast-to-coast torch run at the Ram-Vikings football game.

Jesse Owens, only Olympian to win four gold medals in one meet, started off from New York Sept. 1 on a cross-country fund raising caravan sponsored by the national Junior Chamber of Commerce and a shoe manufacturing company.

The torch, which was carried by 7,000 junior chamber members during its 3,155 mile "run for the money" trip, arrive a Los Angeles City Hall Saturday. USIC President Stan Ladley will turn a check for $1 million over to Art Lentz of the U.S. Olympic Committee at an International Airport ceremony prior to the departure of the first Tokyo-bound plane Monday night.

First Plane Monday

For the Disneyland festivities the athletes will board buses at their Biltmore Olympic headquarters shortly before 1 p.m. The athletes will stage a parade down Main Street in Disneyland at 2 before assembling at Frontierland a t 6 p.m. for the banquet and the ensuing star-studded show.

The first of four jets, chartered from Pan American and Northwest Orient airlines, will take off at 11:59 p.m. from International Airport Monday night carrying the track and field squad, plus the rowing, yachting and the boxing teams, and Olympic officials.

One plane load of athletes will depart at the same hour each of the next three days with the last of the squad leaving for Tokyo Thursday night.

Los Angeles Times, September 27, 1964

Exodus of Olympians Gets Under Way Today

BY PAUL ZIMMERMAN
Times Sports Editor

United States' Olympic party of approximately 500 athletes and officials starts a four-day exodus for the Orient tonight and the world games at Tokyo.

The vanguard takes off at 11:59 p.m. tonight on a deluxe Pan American Airways chartered jet after Sunday evening's huge banquet staged at Disneyland by Mayor Samuel W. Yorty's reception committee.

Members of the powerful men's track and field team, plus the boxing squad, rowing crews, yachtsmen and administrative personnel will comprise the party leaving from International Airport tonight.

Barbecue Tonight

One affair remains on the extensive entertainment schedule that interspersed final training and processing activities here over the last 10 days.

This will be a barbecue steak dinner for all the members of the aquatic teams at Helms Hall at 7 p.m. tonight. The Southern California Swimming Association, head by Dennis Devine, is honoring the men's and women's swimming and diving teams, water polo players, and coaches.

Tuesday night's flight, a Northwest Orient chartered jet, will take the men's and women's divers, part of the men's swimming team, the water polo players and the modern pentathlon squad.

Flights to Start

The Pan American flight Wednesday night will include our canoeing competitors, cyclists, fencers, equestrian team, women's swimmers, weight lifters, men's and women's volleyball squads and our marksmen.

The last contingent, flying in a Northwest Orient jet Thursday night, will include the basketball players, gymnasts, wrestlers, judo competitors and the remainder of the men's swimmers.

In all, the United States will have full representation in 20 Olympic events at the games, which open Oct. 10 and close Oct. 24. Soccer and field hockey are the only sports where the red, white and blue shield will not be displayed.

Los Angeles Times, September 28, 1964