In today's Sunday Oregonian is a fine and long article about Bill Bowerman and The Men Of Oregon. Bill Bowerman was the track coach at the University of Oregon. Kenny Moore, one of his runners, has just written a new book called "Bowerman And The Men Of Oregon"
If you click on the title above there is a link to the article
The article in part states:
There's a statue of Bill Bowerman near the starting line on the track at Hayward Field. His head is cocked at an angle, he's holding a stopwatch and his expression is one of alert bemusement, as if what's happening in front of him interests him but doesn't engage his entire brain. There's more going on here than a track coach conducting a practice, and his posture shows it.
"The classic Bowerman pose," said his biographer, Kenny Moore.
The statue was erected within a year of Bowerman's death in 1999. It stands in front of a building named for him and is a symbol of his influence not only on Eugene and the University of Oregon but the wider world. Bowerman saw first what others didn't -- that anyone could lose weight and improve their health by jogging -- wrote a book about it that sold 1 million copies, invented a shoe that could help them do it, and co-founded Nike, a company that sold those shoes and the active lifestyle behind them.. Bowerman's impact on American culture is as significant and long-lasting as any Oregonian has ever made.
"If culture is what people do every day, then absolutely, he's done as much as anybody," said Moore, author of "Bowerman and the Men of Oregon: The Story of Oregon's Legendary Coach and Nike's Co-Founder" (Rodale, $28.95, 480 pages). "He was a war hero, a member of the Greatest Generation, an Olympic coach, the man who made Eugene the track capital of the U.S. . . . you can run down the list."
Moore's biography of Bowerman goes on sale next month and is sure to spark an already strong interest in Bowerman. At Nike, No. 11 on a list of 11 rules was "remember the man." Nike Chairman Phil Knight, who told Moore he might have started the company to please Bowerman, said he is often asked to describe Bowerman by those who never knew him. "Thank goodness for Kenny's book," he said. "Now I can just give them the book."
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Bowerman was a football and basketball star at Medford High School. He played offense and defense for the Oregon football team and returned an interception for a touchdown against Washington. He coached football at Franklin High School and Medford High School and led the Black Tornado to three state championships in track.
He was offered the job as head football coach at Oregon in 1947 but turned it down after his mentor, Bill Hayward, told him football coaches lead miserable lives. He took the track job in 1948 and stayed until 1973. The Ducks won four NCAA championships under Bowerman and became famous for producing milers and fierce competitors, including Steve Prefontaine, the most popular distance runner in U.S. history
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Every weekday morning, Dave Frohnmayer goes past the statue of Bowerman as part of what he calls a "power-walk" around the University of Oregon campus. Frohnmayer remembers Bowerman the track coach, but it's Bowerman the family friend that jogs his memory.
"Early in my life, I remember Bill and my dad having these rollicking conversations and putting our families in the car to go someplace," said Frohnmayer, the University of Oregon president. "Camping trips to Cultus Lake, just wonderful times."
Frohnmayer's father, Otto, and Bowerman were roommates in Medford and got married within two weeks of each other. The families lived two houses apart and remained close after the Bowermans moved to Eugene
