Cory's hit to win the McNary game

Cory hit a ground rule double in the bottom of the last inning which advanced Southridge towards the Oregon state high school softball championship game (which Southridge won).

The bracket for the state tournament ...

Europe Competition 1974

INTRODUCTION

[July 2004]  Over the years I've been asked to share my 1974 “amateur” racing experience in Europe.  That was now 30 years ago.

(l-r) Steve Prefontaine, Knut Kvalheim, Steve Bence, Mark Feig, Lars Kaupang

I kept a detailed training journal of the trip and I'm sharing included text from my training diary almost verbatim (I edited it only slightly);  pictures & articles from my scrapbook; plus some other content that I thought would be interesting.

There is a lot of material here.  When I wrote my diary in 1974 it was not meant to be entertaining.  As many runners, I kept track of my running, food, sleep, and other details so I could look back to learn what worked and what didn’t.

If you read beyond some of the boring details, you'll get a glimpse of what it was like to compete in Europe as a true "amateur" in the 70’s.  For me, it was a great adventure.

Even though I was not an elite world-class runner, I think my experience was typical of all American athletes competing in Europe at the time.  Recently I talked to Mac Wilkins who, after 1974, went on to be an Olympic discus champion and a world record holder.  He described the same situations in the early 70’s that I experienced of looking for places to stay and repeated phone calls to meet directors to negotiate entry into competition.

An interview

Steve Bence Interview

Steve Bence was a middle distance runner for the University of Oregon in the early 1970s. He served as a consultant for the film Without Limits, giving background on the Eugene running culture and Steve Prefontaine. One summer during college he traveled to Europe and ran for money under the table, a forbidden practice in those days of amateurism (even now it would probably affect his status as a collegiate athlete). This is the main subject of the interview. At the time of the interview Bence worked for Nike. I came across Bence while doing research on the Florida Track Club. (Here is his webpage about Pre, Eugene, and running.) I sat down with Steve in the summer of 2001 when I was living in Portland, Oregon.

June 9, 2001

Dale Winling interviewing Steve Bence, former middle distance runner for Oregon, at a Starbucks in Beaverton, OR.

Book: The Discipline of Market Leaders

The Discipline of Market Leaders written by Michael Treacy & Fred Wiersema present several import concepts that we used in a large Nike project.

The book provides a business model based on three dimensions called 'Value Disciplines":

     1. Customer Intimacy
     2. Product Leadership
     3. Operational Excellence

and postulates that any successful business needs to maintain at least "acceptable" levels of performance in each of the three dimensions but would need to choose one of them to become a market leader in its field. The model suggests that if you truly want to excel in any of the three disciplines you will have to make sacrifices in the other two as these become mutually exclusive.

My Stories

Over the years I've learned to tell stories.  Some come across well and others fall flat.  I thought I should write them all and edit over time until they feel right.

How I got to Oregon Dellinger took care of me First team meeting with Bowerman Bowerman's Pranks From 9th on the depth chart to 6th in the nation Bowerman's Advice Amateurism

How I got to Oregon

Spain No, No, No Walk on

Dellinger's Care

Hello.
New Post

Bowerman's Pranks

Afraid
Pee
Worm
Hurdling
Wear Test

Bowerman: You can only do two things well

First freshman team meeting Statistically only 3 or 4 will still be on the team