American Heart Association
The American Heart Association grew out of a set of smaller precursor groups. The primary precursor was the Association for the Prevention and Relief of Heart Disease, formed in New York City in 1915, to study whether patients with heart disease could safely return to work. Several similar organizations formed or evolved in Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago in the 1920s. Recognizing the need for a national organization to share research and promote findings, the American Heart Association was formed in 1924 by six cardiologists representing several of these precursor groups.
USA Track &amp; Field
On January 30, 1878, in the city of New York, rower and runner William B. Curtis founded what officially became, in 1887, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). The AAU governed the sport of track and field in the United States until 1979, when the first Amateur Sports Act of 1978 decreed that the AAU could no longer hold international franchises for more than one sport. The enactment of the Amateur Sports Act was prompted by lobbying by amateur athletes, particularly runners, who felt that the AAU imposed artificial rules preventing widespread participation in sports.