Olympic Gold Medal Winners
Gala Celebration

Olympic gold medalists set for reunion

ATLANTIC CITY - Four women who won gold medals on the 400-meter relay team in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin will meet face-to-face for the first time since that memorable occasion when Resorts International plays host to the Olympic Gold Medal Winners Gala Celebration Saturday, Oct. 27.

Harriet Bland Green, Annette Rogers Kelly Betty Robinson Schwartz and Helen Stephens are among the 180 Gold Medal Winners who have already accepted invitations to the $500-a-plate, black-tie event, in which Resorts will attempt to raise New Jersey's 1980 Olympic quota of $225,000 in one night.

Bob Kurland heads a collection of well-known basketball Olympians who will also be on hand. The seven-foot center helped American teams win gold medals in the 1948 and 1952 games. He starred at Oklahoma A&M, before going on to lead the Phillips Oilers to several National AAU crowns. Kurland remained an amateur, declining all offers to turn professional.

Ray Lumpp, Gordon Carpenter, Vince Boryla, Victor Glasgow, Jay Arnette, Burdie Haldorsen, Sam Balter, Art Mollner, Frank Lubin, Joe Fortenberry and William Wheatly are other noted hoopsters who will be in attendcance.

The Courier-Post, Camden, New Jersey, Friday, October 19, 1979, Page 8B

Resorts plans Olympic benefit

ATLANTIC CITY (AP) - American Olympic gold medal winners from as far back as 1920 are expected on the Boardwalk this weekend for a fund-raising event to benefit the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Resorts International Hotel Casino officials say more than 180 of the 350 living American Olympic gold medal winners will attend a three-day weekend highlighted by a $500-a-plate black tie dinner tomorrow night. Singer Frank Sinatra, who is appearing at the casino hotel, will be the toastmaster.

Resorts International is sponsoring the event as publicity gimmick to reach New Jersey's quota of $225,000 for the 1980 Olympic games in Moscow and Lake Placid, N.Y.

Officials said the more well-known sports stars scheduled to attend are: former heavyweight boxers Floyd Patterson and Joe Frazier, figure skater Peggy Fleming, speed skaters Ann Henning and Sheila Young, sprinter Wilma Rudolph, swimmers Buster Crabble and Don Schollander, and track stars Bob Mathias, Rafer Johnson and Bob Richards.

The casino hotel is also staging a number of sports exhibitions, including fencing, boxing, track and field and gymnastics, throughout the weekend.

Fireworks are scheduled for tonight and a Boardwalk parade is set for tomorrow morning.

The Daily Register, Red Bank, New Jersey, Friday, October 26, 1979, Page 3

Casino sponsors Olympic fund drive

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - In an effort to raise money for the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team, Resorts International Hotel Casino has invited all American Olympic gold medal winners to a $500-a-plate dinner hosted by Frank Sinatra and Gov. Brendan T. Byrne.

All 350 living U.S. Olympic champion have been asked to attend the Oct. 27 dinner at the casino hotel. Resorts International say 69 winners have already agreed to come.

The casino hotel and the U.S. Olympic Committee hope to raise $225,000 by luring 1,400 contributors to the black-tie affair. The money will be used for the American Olympic cause in Moscow and Lake Placid, N.Y.

"It's an idea never done before, to have all the American gold medal winners in one place," said David W. Brown of Springfield, N.J., chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

"If you want to rub shoulders with the greatest United States gold medal winners, you should come."

Brown said the weekend's activities would include gymnastics, boxing and fencing exhibitions by athletes headed for the 1980 games.

Resorts International is paying all expenses for the visiting athletes, including air fare to and from Atlantic City, Brown said.

The money will be added to the $100,000 already raised in New Jersey for the 1980 Olympics, he said.

Resorts International officials said Sinatra will be the honorary toastmaster and Byrne will be honorary chairman of the event's fund-raising committee.

Among the athletes who have already agreed to come are Bob Mathias, 1948 and 1952 decathlon winner; Don Schollander, winner of five swimming medals in 1964 and 1968; Bob Richards, 1952 and 1956 pole vault winner; Anne Henning, 1972 speed skater; Peggy Fleming Jenkins, 1968 speed figure skater; and Wilma Rudolph, winner of three track and field medals in 1960.

Lakeland Ledger, August 31, 1979