Sport: Jobs for Jocks

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Amateurs hurdle money woes

When Carol Brown went job hunting, even her two college degrees were no help. A 1976 Olympic bronze medalist in rowing, she wanted to compete in the 1980 Moscow games, but her conditioning regimen was so demanding—up to seven hours a day—that no prospective employer could accommodate his hours to hers. The result: Princeton Grad Brown was forced to work part time, as a truck driver.

For many postcollege world-class athletes in the U.S., finding the right kind of employment is itself an Olympian feat. Barred by the rules of amateurism from playing for pay, they have had to choose between dead-end jobs that allow time for training and competition, and accepting under-the-table payoffs from track-meet promoters and sporting-goods manufacturers. The payoffs go on, but now there is new hope for the amateur athletes—a jobs-for-jocks scheme devised by Howard Miller, 51, president of the Chicago-based Canteen Corp.

Miller learned of the athletes' dilemma while attending the Montreal Olympics two years ago. He wrote to 700 major corporations urging them to give permanent jobs, and time off for training, to Olympic-bound athletes. Miller also enlisted the help of the U.S. Olympic Committee and the Amateur Athletic Union to certify the athletes as world-class competitors. "The worst thing that can happen is that the kid you hire doesn't make the Olympics," says Miller. "Meanwhile, you've got yourself a highly motivated young person who generally has a college degree, and often a master's."

So far, the Olympic Job Opportunities Program has signed up 60 companies, found slots for 26 would-be Olympians, and has 50 awaiting placement. Carol Brown has given up truck driving and has a soft-drink marketing job in Seattle, plus a chance to pursue her daily conditioning without fear of being fired. Speed Skater Peter Mueller, winner of a gold medal in the men's 1,000-meter event in 1976, is working for Miller's Canteen Corp., and Augie Hirt, one of the nation's top race-walkers, is employed by Continental Bank in Chicago.

Stan Vinson, a crack middle-distance runner, no longer has to wash dishes for a living. Now working for Wilson Sporting Goods Co., Vinson compiled a perfect indoor season this year, winning his 600-yd. race in ten straight track meets and sprinting off with the A.A.U. National Indoor Championships. Looking ahead to the outdoor season, Vinson says of his rejuvenation: "It's happening, I'm convinced, because I can concentrate on the two things that are most important to me, running and a career."