Ueberroth's Success the 'American Way'

It was in the fall of 1978 when Peter Ueberroth, who will give today's Class Day address, was asked to be president of the Olympic Organizing Committee.

"I leaned back in my chair and laughed," Ueberroth writes in his autobiography, Made In America, "Are you from Candid Camera?" he asked.

Thus began Ueberroth's meteoric rise to the forefront of the nation's consciousness. The former owner of a travel company, he is a businessman turned hero--the CEO who draws upon the traditional values of hard work and clean living. And he has assumed his place alongside other national figures with stunning swiftness.

In a little more than two years, the 48-year-old Ueberroth has engineered an Olympics that made $150 million, has been named Time's Man of the Year, and has established himself as one of the most visible and active commissioners in the history of major league baseball. He is sought after for hundreds of engagements a year, and his name has been bandied about as a candidate for public offices ranging from senator to president.

All this from a man who was a virtual unknown outside of the business community a few years ago. Ueberroth founded and built from scratch a multi-million dollar travel company, and he has achieved his success by exploiting the patriotic values of hard work and clean living. First as the Olympic organizer who made the carrying of the torch a national happening and then as the visible mover and shaker in the apple-pie job of baseball commissioner, Ueberroth has touched a chord of Americana. It is a call coinciding with the rejuvenated patriotism that is the hallmark of the Reagan Revolution. Ueberroth seems to answer each new challenge with the proclamation that "America is back."

"We live in the greatest country on earth. If the people believe in our country and our fellow citizens, we can accomplish almost any worthy goal....I'm an unabashed patriot, and I'm proud of it," he writes.

Despite his rise to national prominence, Ueberroth has been subject to his share of criticism. Some view his patriotic urgings as advancing the cause of a shrill jingoism. Others have charged that he remains too much the CEO, running the national pastime as though it were just a large corporation. The most serious difficulties Ueberroth has had as commissioner, however, are related to his request that all major league baseball players submit to unscheduled tests for illegal drug use. Although many appear to agree with the commissioner's get-tough approach, others have vehemently criticized his plan, saying it violates a legal tradition of authorizing a search only when there is "probable cause" of misconduct.

Despite the criticism, Ueberroth has used his highly visible position to popularize his plan. It seems to be an issue on which he does not intend to lose.

Peter Ueberroth is not used to losing. Throughout his successful business career, he has used a combination of independence and toughness to conquer challenges.

The son of an aluminum siding salesman, Ueberroth was born in Evanston, Ill. on September 2, 1937. When he was 14, after his father became ill, Ueberroth began working a variety of odd jobs. He became increasingly independent, and by the time he was in high school, he had begun to pay his own bills. In Ueberroth's junior year, he moved out of the house to live and work at an orphanage as the recreational director.

After high school, Ueberroth paid his way through San Jose State, working at numerous odd jobs, including selling women's shoes and working on a chicken farm. He graduated in 1959 with a business degree, got married, and, unable to land a job with several large companies, he moved to Hawaii to begin work for a small airline that operated between California and Hawaii.

Within a year Ueberroth was offered the chance his roommates she now figures that even if sheand her parents had considered Rome and Athenssafe, time constraints might have prevented herfrom making stops at these cities.

McKee and Dostart both say they are lookingforward to traveling among a smaller than usualcrowd of American tourists in Europe this summer."I'm sure all the Americans are very obnoxiousthere," she says. "I'll be one of a smallerobnoxious group than usual there this summer.