Sport: Eve of a New Olympics

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More than one foreign-car manufacturer arrived with a blank check, but Ueberroth concluded that would be "a bad signal" about the U.S. auto industry and held out for a Buick. On the other hand, when Kodak balked at the $4 million, the additional services and a third standard requirement—a commitment of some sort to sporting youth—the committee turned to Fuji film. If, like Anheuser Busch, anyone is uncomfortable with the sound of "the official beer of the Olympics," the phrase "a proud sponsor of the Olympic Games" is suggested instead.

The stipulation regarding youth programs tells something about Ueberroth, who, while discussing the $90 million ticket sale, seems most concerned that children join the celebration. Under an Olympic patron program, corporations putting up $25,000 for VIP seats are simultaneously sending 100,000 of the disadvantaged, disabled and elderly citizens of Los Angeles to the Games. Their bus guides will be former Olympians. Like the smallest details, the smallest events appear to bring Ueberroth the greatest delight. "In this center of swimming, cycling tickets sold faster," he says. "Synchronized swimming is sold out." The loot from 200,000 ticket applications is banked, and the customers will be notified by month's end which events are oversubscribed and will have to be distributed by lot. Archery has been an astonishingly hot ticket; judo, rowing and fencing too. "The best of anything is really exciting," says Ueberroth. "That's fun." Not surprisingly, the opening and closing ceremonies are sold out. They were to have been presented by Walt Disney Productions, but the Disney people demurred when Ueberroth insisted the company mind the budget and agree to pick up any cost overruns. Disney did create the Games' symbol and mascot, Sam the Olympic Eagle, a character considerably less endearing than Moscow's "Misha" Bear.

Though born in Evanston, Ill., and approving of Midwestern values, Ueberroth is the tan, blond picture of a Californian, spared from excessive good looks by an independent nose that breaks in two directions like a short putt with character. Peter, the boy athlete, incessantly played all of the games but never started for any of his high school varsity teams. At San Jose State, Ueberroth found himself a participant in the first water polo game he ever saw. What's more, he was on a scholarship. Just a respectable swimmer (a product of Y.M.C.A. summers, not the organized grind) but possessed of a rare enthusiasm for collisions, Ueberroth was recruited the morning of freshman registrations. "I doubt I would have ever finished college without that scholarship," he says.

For a traveling salesman's son who grew up on the move in Evanston, just north of Chicago, also Madison, Wis., Upper Darby, Pa., Davenport, Iowa, and a like number of California cities, sports represented a comforting denominator and familiar friend. Every competition pleased him. "When you write those high school things," Ueberroth says, "you know, 'What do you want to be?' I put down 'Coach.' "