Pre

The reward I cherish most from my years associated with the University of Oregon's athletic department is the friendships I had with some of Oregon's greatest sports legends.  No star was brighter than Steve Prefontaine. He would often drop into my office to read my weekly issue of Track & Field News before going to his daily workouts. No CPA had a better grasp of the dollar- and- cents value of his favorite activity than Pre.  He would open an issue and see a full page ad selling tee shirts with his picture on them and scream, "Look at these bastards selling me for big bucks. They're not out there running around Spencer Butte in the freezing rain.  It's not right."

He wasn't wrong.

We had plans to build a new grandstand on the west side of Hayward Field and we came up about $25,000 short of being able to start construction. Athletic Director Norv Ritchey devised a plan for funding that shortfall: we would create a Restoration Meet featuring our wunderkind Steve Prefontaine in a 1,500 meter race against the Bowling Green sensation at that time, Dave Wottle.  The kid who ran wearing that billed cap. Ritchey gave me the assignment of putting the meet together with a five-week deadline.

Pre was the first hurdle.  He was scheduled to leave for the summer track season in Europe a week before our planned meet.  My offer included a round-trip ticket to Frankfurt, Germany and a chance to run in a race he would probably lose.  You get an insight to Pre's character when he agreed to do it in a race that was far short of his distance dominance.  But he did it for his fans and the new grandstand.  Next, Dave Wottle.

I knew Wottle would be at the NCAA championships that were being held at LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana so I went there with Oregon's track team.  Oregon track coach Bill Dellinger, an ex-Olympian, helped me contact Dave Wottle's handlers and we struck a deal with the same round-trip ticket to Europe.  Wottle would later take an 800m Olympic gold medal in the Berlin Olympics.

I put together a number of other events with athletes from all over the nation who still needed to qualify for the coming Olympics and our meet could help them do it. The Restoration Meet turned out to be a huge success.  The final event, the 1,500 meter race brought the fans in the packed stands on both sides of the field to a standing, roaring, state of frenzy as Wottle and Pre came flying down the last straightaway. It was Wottle by a cap bill.  One more race that still haunts that mythic arena.

After the meet I walked with Ritchey and Pre back to the locker rooms in Mac Court.  Ritchey, who was thrilled with the meet's success, said to Pre, "It's a wonderful thing you've done for your school, Steve.  You paid back every bit of scholarships you ever received."  Pre, who was never at a loss for words replied, "S--t, I did that the first race I ever ran as a freshman."

Don't Look

Watching TV can be harmful to your sense of well being. That's not an original observation but it is a true one. Here I see this live report from Wuhan, China, the site many experts believe to be the source of the coronavirus from its wet markets.  "Wet" is a euphemism for blood and the picture I saw of a worker cutting up body parts of some animal in this massive tub of blood was enough to drive one to carrots, cabbage and kale.

And so the killer virus.  It's difficult to dismiss the suggestion that this is just evidence that nature has always sought balance for species over-populating themselves.  COVID-19 is selective in its spread to those who have serious health issue as well as those who have become old. Isn't that the logical way to thin the herd?

Too few of our leaders are blessed with the gift of critical thinking. They could learn from this pandemic that among their fellow human beings we have lost, thousands should not have been selected for disposal. There is no cure for getting old but we all accept that as a firm life rule.  But social inequities that lead to many of the health conditions that make the person vulnerable to the virus can be corrected.  How we achieve fair and equal governance should be as important as finding that serum that will foil this edition of the plague.

My reading of history is not encouraging for belief this latest viral attack will make any lasting course correction in the pursuit for a more humane society. But all we can do is try while always taking care to follow that guiding principle: Illegitimi non carborundum (Mock-Latin for:"Don't let the bastards wear you down".)