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Former U.S. Olympic Committee president to speak at IU
Feb. 15, 2000
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- LeRoy Walker, president of the U.S. Olympic Committee from 1992 to 1996, will present the Marian Godeke Miller Lecture at Indiana University on Monday (Feb. 21) at 7 p.m. in Whittenberger Auditorium at the Indiana Memorial Union.
"An Olympic Journey" is the title of Walker's address, which will be open to the public without charge. His presentation was arranged through the Department of Kinesiology in the IU School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.
Walker will discuss the Olympics from the perspective of someone born in segregated Atlanta who returned 78 years later to lead the U.S. team into Atlanta Stadium for the 1996 Olympic Games. He has been recognized as a teacher, coach, scholar and statesman who has guided American sports organizations through turbulent times of integration, boycotts, political pressures, and financial highs and lows.
His Olympic experience spans 40 years and has included head coach of the U.S. team, 1976; chair of the U.S. Olympic Festival, 1987; chair of the U.S. Olympic Budget Committee, 1989-92; chef de mission, U.S. Olympic Team, 1992; and senior vice president for sport, Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, 1992. In 1996, he was awarded The Olympic Order, the highest honor bestowed by the International Olympic Committee.
Walker, former chancellor of North Carolina Central University, also has served as president of the Athletic Congress, president of the Special Olympics World Summer Games, president of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, and president of the American Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance. He has written four books on various aspects of physical education and holds 16 honorary degrees.
The lecture series is funded by Marian and William Miller. William Miller, a prominent Lafayette physician, is president of the IU School of Medicine Alumni Association. His wife, for whom the lecture series is named, is a graduate of the IU School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation who has been active in numerous civic and educational organizations throughout Indiana.
(Richard Doty, 812-855-0084, rgdoty@indiana.edu