Bob Welch, a Eugene Register Guard columnist, wrote about the upcoming year. Included was mention of Bill Bowerman and the upcoming Olympic Trials.
Here is a portion of Bob's article ...
It’s probably only coincidental that roses were blooming in unseasonably balmy Eugene as early as Wednesday, only two days after Oregon’s historic win in Pasadena.
Indeed, the Ducks’ first Rose Bowl victory since 1917 kicked off a year with special significance for Eugene — related to both the past and the present.
It is the 150th anniversary of the founding of our fair city, the 100th anniversary of our first nun-run hospital opening, the 50th anniversary of Bill Bowerman’s jogging epiphany and, of course, the year that the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials will be held here once again.
The 50th anniversary of Bowerman, then 50, going to New Zealand and catching the jogging bug.
In December 1962, while touring that country in advance of the University of Oregon’s world record four-mile relay team that would join him, Bowerman was invited to “jog” with Arthur Lydiard, New Zealand’s legendary running coach and charismatic fitness fanatic.
Bowerman jogged for weeks. “It was a mark of his determination and of the value of a sensible approach that he went from no miles to 20 in four weeks,” Lydiard was quoted as saying in Kenny Moore’s book, “Bowerman and the Men of Oregon.” “We sent him home a jogger.”
Bowerman then started spreading the gospel of jogging to Eugene and the rest of America.
He told Register-Guard sports editor Jerry Uhrhammer how, in New Zealand, “their women jog, their kids jog, everybody jogs.”
Why not Eugene? asked Uhrhammer.
With local physicians helping and Uhrhammer publicizing, Bowerman invited people to come to Hayward Field on a Sunday afternoon to hear about — and try — this new phenomenon. Two dozen turned out.
By the third week, 200 were on hand, the next week more than 2,000. Life magazine sent a reporter. The craze had begun.
“Runners in those days were regarded as eccentric at best, subversive and dangerous at worst,” wrote Moore. “Cars would routinely swerve to try to drive a runner off the road.”
The 2012 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials.
The importance of history is understanding that what happened then affects what happens now. And what happens now affects what will happen 50 years from now.
Would the Trials be returning to Eugene for the fifth time were it not for Bowerman?
Doubtful — especially since among his runners at UO was his Nike cofounder, Phil Knight, whose company sponsors the event.
And so it is that from June 22-July 1, America’s best will again gather in Eugene — preceded by the June 21 hammer event at Nike headquarters in Beaverton.
The Trials will offer a similar format to 2008 — a Friday night opening ceremony, with eight days of Eugene competition broken up by two off days.
Kids’ all-comers meets on those off days — Bowerman would love it. An expanded fan festival area — microbrew aficionados will love it. And a “go green” effort even more pronounced than record-setting 2008 — sustainability fans will love it.
There you have it. Whether as a base camp to travel to the past or a place to make new history, Eugene’s 2012 is looking positively rosy.
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