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The National Scholastic Sports Foundation (NSSF) was founded in October 1990 by Jim Spier and Mike Byrnes. It is a non-profit, tax-exempt 501 c (3) corporation.

The mission of the NSSF is to support the development of junior age (under 20 years of age) athletes. Ultimately, it is to extend to all sports but, to date, has been involved only in the sport of track and field. In essence, the Foundation provides travel funds to eligible athletes for major U.S. invitational meets and USATF Junior championships (cross country and track and field).

After attending the IAAF World Junior Championships in Sudbury, Canada in 1988, Byrnes and Spier returned home knowing that the U.S. could have performed better on the world stage. The problem was not that the American athletes were not good enough; it was that many of the best athletes could not afford to travel to the qualifying event for the world meet, the USATF Junior Championships.

With that idea in mind, they decided to form a foundation whose sole purpose was to fund athletes to the "juniors" who could not otherwise afford the travel expense. Since then, a great number of athletes have been assisted. The approach has been enhanced to include other major high school invitationals, in the interest of athlete development.

Putting the theory into practice was another matter. In order to fund athlete travel, there had to be money. The initial monies generated were from memberships via the publication Track Digest. Those becoming members would, as a benefit, receive Track Digest. Mike Byrnes was the primary editor and, as long as the Digest was published, there would be memberships. But when the publication ceased a few years ago, the memberships "dried up." (Keep in mind that all of the work done by Spier and Byrnes was done on a voluntary basis with the "up front" money necessary to found the Foundation funded by them as well).

Since then, the primary means of the generation of funds for the junior program has been the profits, if any, from The Outdoor Nationals and the Indoor Nationals. What follows is a short history of those meets.

In 1991, Byrnes and Spier, via Doug Speck, a prime "mover" in high school track and field "circles," were approached by the Birmingham High School Dads Club of Van Nuys, California. They wished to put on a national level track meet, similar to the National Scholastic Indoor Championships which the aforementioned had founded in 1984 along with Tracy Sundlun and the Metropolitan Athletics Congress. The first two years were held at Birmingham High School (1991-1992) and the third at U.C.L.A.

For a variety of reasons, it was decided not to continue the relationship with the Dads Club, a spectacular and very active organization in southern California.

Mike Byrnes had been approached by an organization in Atlanta, who wanted to accentuate that city's involvement with the sport leading up to the 1996 Olympics. At the very last minute, after all was thought to be finalized, the Atlanta group decided not to promote the event. Not wishing the concept to die, Byrnes and Spier, without too much panicking, urgently seeked another venue.

John Blackburn, who had met Byrnes and Spier while all three were volunteering at the 1991 USATF Junior Olympics in Chapel Hill, NC, provided a connection. John was studying for his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at North Carolina State University and had developed a great interest in track and field, so much so that he eventually became an official and went on to become one of the youngest officials at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

In April of 1993, John was officiating at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships and approached North Carolina State coach Rollie Geiger about moving the meet to Raleigh. Rollie thought it was a great idea, agreed to it, and the scramble began to put the meet on with only six weeks of preparation.

The only major sponsorship for the meet was from American Airlines, who provided some airline tickets. The other income was to come from entry fees, and Byrnes and Spier prepared for the worst (meaning funding any shortfalls). Timing had to be paid for, officials had to be fed and the tens of thousands of dollars of other expenses associated with putting on a major event had to be met. The meet was a success, with about 500 athletes competing, and no money was lost.

Since then, the meet has grown tremendously in numbers and stature, with adidas taking on a major sponsorship role, followed by Nike in 2005. Over 2000 athletes competed in 2002.

The development of the Indoor Nationals was a bit more straightforward.

The Foundation was approached in 1998 by Nike, who wanted to promote an event with the same group involved with the founding of the National Scholastic Indoor Championships. The trio, Tracy Sundlun, Byrnes and Spier, had split with the MAC after the 1997 meet. So, in 1999, the Indoor Classic was founded, with the generous support of nike, who assumed a title sponsorship role. The meet has had four homes: Ohio State U., Columbus (1999), Indiana University, Bloomington (2000) the Prince Georges County Sports and Learning Complex, Landover, MD, and the Reggie Lewis Sports Complex in Boston, MA). The event name was later changed to the Indoor Nationals and Nike continues to be the title sponsor.

The NSSF will continue to follow its mission statement, funding junior athletes to USATF Junior competitions. As with the initial program in 2002, there will be the support of "NSSF Select" high school meets for which many thousands of dollars has been allocated. Check the ëJuniorsí page on this web site for further details.

The Foundation has been a real "force" in supporting junior age track and field athletes. In fact, athlete development dollars for junior support and travel to The Outdoor Nationals and The Indoor Nationals has been approximately one million dollars since the Foundation was formed in 1990.

Note: There have been many generous individuals and corporations who have helped to make the Foundation viable. We can not thank adidas and nike enough. Others include USAirways, the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau, the US Air Force and USATF. Individuals include athletes Marion Jones, Maurice Greene and HSI, who "put their money where their mouth is in a major way," Derek Adkins, Larry Rawson, Joetta Clark, Marty Liquori and many, many others. Finally, most would be surprised and happy to know that O.J. Simpson in 1992 and George Steinbrenner in 1995 made major financial contributions to the Foundation.

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