Leo's 20 Year Crusade

The University of Oregon hired its first professional athletic director, Leo Harris, in 1947.  A successful administrator of a large school district in California, he had played football at Stanford and coached both football and basketball at Fresno State.

Leo Harris had the solid build of a football guard and his administrative style was a gruff, take no prisoners assault on roadblocks to his objectives.  He looked a bit like Jimmy Hoffa with a similar demeanor except Harris was open and honest.  There was never a doubt of what he meant in the decisions he made. The athletic program he took over in Eugene was in shambles. Financially depressed and faced with old facilities for the major sports of football and basketball, the challenge to the new administrator was daunting. Doing a triage audit of all the problems, he pinpointed the football stadium at Hayward Field as his number one priority.  It may have been historic but in the family of big time collegiate sports it was an embarrassment.

Harris created a secret piggy bank and no contribution to Porky was too insignificant to be dropped in the slot. Head coaches (much to their dismay) to save travel expenses, were required to call alumni and ask to surf their couch on recruiting trips.  He limited the football coach as to how many players he could take on away games (Leo loved the early years when the same players played both offense and defense). He scheduled football games with the major powerhouses in the country (Ohio State, Miami, Penn State, Nebraska and on and on) to get a piece of those huge stadium gates.  On those Saturdays it was always skinny David facing a giant Goliath and unlike the Biblical David, David's sling shot for Oregon rarely dropped the giant (at Ohio State players filled double rows of benches and their offense featured three enormous fullbacks taking turns crashing into Oregon's defensive line).  All elements of Leo Harris' conduct of Oregon athletic affairs were colored by the central focus of feeding Porky. 

And so it went, year after year, with Porky putting on weight until one fine day Leo Harris grabbed his sledge hammer and said,  "Thank you, Porky, for your years of loyal service but your work here is done." Leo had his $1,000,000 nest egg and now he sold 1,000 seats for $1,000 each (giving a 20 year licence to buy tickets for the best seats in the stadium.) The special section was filled with chair-back seats covered with a roof that held powerful electric heating units. Naming the stadium for alumnus Thomas J. Autzen brought in $250,000 (way too cheap) and the finished cost of the magnificent facility was $2.5 million. Unbelievable!

On September 23, 1967 the Colorado Buffaloes spoiled the opening of the stadium with a 17-13 win over the Ducks led by QB Eric Olson.  The years that followed buried that loss as Autzen earned its reputation as one of the premier football arenas in the nation.

For me it will always be LEO HARRIS STADIUM, Home of the Ducks.