Olympics matter to Marshall

Producer a booster of U.S. amateur athletics

By GLENN WHIPP

Months before the Olympics came to Los Angeles in the summer of 1984, Frank Marshall noticed a newspaper ad looking for people to run with the Olympic torch. The cost: $1,000 for a quarter mile, with the proceeds going to the United States Olympic Committee.

Coming off producing "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Poltergeist," Marshall certainly had the cash. He also had the experience and a passion for sports, having been on UCLA's track and field team as well as the school's first soccer squad.

Marshall logged his quarter mile on Pico Boulevard, then went to the Games and hung out in the athletes village. He got hooked on the spirit of what he remembers as a "melting pot of people participating in peace for sports."

That summer began Marshall's quarter-century run as a booster of American amateur athletics, a period that included three terms on the U.S. Olympic Committee and current stints on the U.S. USA Gymnastics Board and USA Track & Field Foundation. Marshall also has carried the torch on three other occasions and produced its arrival at the Los Angeles Coliseum on its way from Greece for the 1996 Summer Games.

"I just love sports," Marshall says, "and I love giving back, using the things I've learned to help the Olympic Committee. It has been a fantastic experience."

Marshall says his greatest moment came during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, where he programmed a film festival that closed with "E.T."

"My greatest athletic moment was getting to march out with the team," Marshall says. "Nothing will ever top that."