Sis-boom-bah! For Amalgamated Sponge

As an example of what he believes may be the look of the future in industrial athletics, Neer mentions industrial recreation leagues in Milwaukee that are supported by 96 companies and are offering interindustry competition in 16 sports. The NIRA itself is now sponsoring national tournaments for golfers, archers and bowlers as well as competition in such nonathletic pastimes as bridge, hunting and fishing. One of the goals of the organization is to promote an "Industrial Olympics."

The Olympics, industrial and otherwise, are much on the NIRA's collective mind at the moment. Prior to the 1964 Games in Tokyo a small grant was made to study how industrial facilities could be used to develop athletes of international competitive caliber. "Except for a few basketball players, there have been too few good industrial athletes, when you consider that industry sponsors the nation's biggest recreation program," analyzes Neer. "Some events, such as canoeing, volleyball, gymnastics and weight lifting, are not popular in colleges but are ideal for industry. We have facilities for employees and for junior development programs. With proper organization, industrial sports programs could produce competitors who would strengthen the United States in many sports.

"Everybody is big on international competition now," says Neer, who envisions a time when corporations may turn out kayakers as well as computers. "The PR pitch won't be to sell products, like it was in the old days. It will be a sort of community-service gesture—the image. If there is interest in getting a gold medal in kayaking, then the company that helps one of our paddlers is going to look good."

It may be, as Don Neer predicts, that some day a brawny key-punch operator who has practiced long hours in a corporate-owned kayak on a corporate-built lake may go out and beat a Russian for old Amalgamated Sponge. Even if this should come to pass, however, the chances are that his gold medal still will be dwarfed, not only in size but, as far as industry is concerned, in symbolic importance, by a cup now owned by Trudy Tucker, a middle-aged member of the Lockheed Employee Recreation Club. The highlight of Mrs. Tucker's competitive career came when she was awarded a trophy for the biggest smallmouth bass caught by a Lockheedian that season. "I'm not really the athletic type," disclaims Mrs. Tucker. "Getting a trophy—that is the most."

"That is what industrial recreation is all about," explains Frank Davis, Lockheed's man behind 400 trophies. "It makes people happy. We get along better that way."