PRESS RELEASE #6
International Institute for Sport History
Subject:
Additional information is available from
Harvey Abrams, President
IISOH
PO Box 175
State College, PA 16804
tel: (814) 321-4018
email: HAbrams@iisoh.org
Press release follows:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the International Institute for Sport and Olympic History (IISOH) have come to an
agreement that settles their existing lawsuit in United States Federal Court in Pennsylvania.
The suit was brought by the US Olympic Committee in January 2010 against the IISOH for using the word “OLYMPIC” in the corporate name.
The IISOH was created in 2001 as the International Institute for Sport and Olympic History in order to organize a library and museum for
the history of sport, physical education, recreation, dance, sport in art and the Olympic Games. The parties have agreed to end the
battle with the IISOH changing its name to the International Institute for Sport History, and dropping the word “OLYMPIC” from its name.
The change is effective immediately with publication of public notices in the Centre Daily Times and a Centre County legal newspaper
within days.
The formal action of the change requires the IISOH to file amended Articles of Incorporation with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Department of Corporations. The IISOH is a Pennsylvania non-profit corporation under section 501(c)3.
The settlement ended with a confidential agreement changing the name of the Institute but leaving the acronym IISOH because the
word “OLYMPIC” is not used. For over three years the project had worldwide publicity while using the famous statue of ROCKY as a
fund raising event and the initials were used extensively. The Institute’s website also uses the initials as iisoh.org.
All the pages at the website will reflect the change over the next week.
The Institute had ceased all fund raising activity during the suit and is now preparing to re-start a major campaign to raise $3.5
million by the summer of 2012. The fund raising campaign is designed to ask for widespread public support by using a unique tactic –
obtaining a large number of a once-in-a-lifetime donations that gets the donor a lifetime of acknowledgement.
The IISOH goal is to get every business owner in Pennsylvania – over 900,000 such owners, and every family or household to make a
single donation of $ 25.00 to help establish a permanent trust fund. This strategy is to avoid annual fund-raising events and repeated
requests to donors for support.
The long-range plan is to raise a much larger endowment of $200 million to support a Library and Museum on a large sports complex.
The majority of the facilities are part of the Museum and includes sports fields and buildings devoted to sports-related education
and research. The present plan is to develop the facility in central Pennsylvania so the entire state can be part of the project.
However the IISOH did consider entering a proposal for the former Willow Grove Naval Air Station outside of Philadelphia, an 850 acre
parcel that has been closed by the Department of Defense. The IISOH missed the March deadline for submitting a proposal.
The IISOH estimates it will employ a permanent staff of 30 or more in the Library and Museum once a facility is constructed,
with as many as 300 full and part-time staff when the entire project is completed.
More information about the IISOH is available at the IISOH website:
http://www.iisoh.org
-------------------------------------------End of Press Release #6-----------------------------------------
For more information contact:
Harvey Abrams, President
International Institute for Sport History
PO Box 175
State College, PA 16804
email:
The International Institute for Sport History (IISOH) is a Pennsylvania
non-profit educational, literary and research corporation under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.
The IISOH is organized to operate a Library and Museum devoted to the History of Sport,
Physical Education, Recreation, Dance, Sport in Art and the Olympic Games.
Donations are tax deductible.