Bowerman Book to be Unveiled at Pepsi Team Invitational

EUGENE ? University of Oregon track and field fans will receive a special bonus at the Pepsi Team Invitational, Sat., April 8 at Hayward Field.

Former UO distance runner and Olympian Kenny Moore will unveil his long-awaited book about famous UO track and field coach Bill Bowerman entitled “Bowerman and the Men of Oregon”, and will personally deliver the first copy to Bowerman’s widow Barbara at a special ceremony during the meet.

Just after the men’s 400 meters Saturday at approximately 1:32 p.m. on Saturday, a short presentation ceremony at track-side will include Bowerman and members of her family, Moore, and book publisher Heidi Rodale.

Officially assigned a late April/early May release nationwide by Rodale Publishing, a link on the UO Bookstore ( www.uobookstore.com ) will include more information when it’s available on the UO campus.

The UO alumni magazine ? Oregon Quarterly (www.oregonquarterly.com) ? recently ran an excerpt, and an online link is available here.

The book will chronicle the legendary Duck mentor Bowerman who served as the UO men’s track and field head coach from 1949-1972. His men’s squads won four NCAA track and field team titles (1962-64-65-70) among their 16 top-10 NCAA finishes in his 24 years as head coach, to go along with 24 NCAA individual crowns

His teams also boasted 33 Olympians, 38 conference champions and 64 All-Americans. At the dual level, the Ducks posted a 114-20 record and went undefeated in 10 seasons. At the Olympic level, he served as head coach of the U.S. team in 1972 and an assistant coach in 1968.

A founder of the famous athletic company Nike Inc. with another ex-UO distance runner Phil Knight, Bowerman introduced the idea of running shoes with waffle-iron-soles that are still popular today, as well as his method of recycling old athletic shoes into surfacing for tracks.

A lengthier bio of the hall of fame coach is available at the www.GoDucks.com website by clicking here.

Moore was one of Bowerman’s greatest distance runners and took fourth in the 1972 Olympic marathon (2:15.39.8) and ran the same Olympic event in 1968 (14^th, 2:29.49.4).

A Duck letterwinner from 1964-66, Moore was an All-American in the NCAA Championships in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in ’64 (sixth, 9:02.8) and ’66 (sixth, 9:08.8) and 3-mile in ’65 (13:45). The Eugene native and North High School product also won Pacific-8 Conference titles in the steeplechase (9:05.1) and 3-mile (13:45.0) in 1965, and again in the steeplechase in ’66 (8:49.0). He ended his collegiate career ranked top-two for UO in the three-mile (first, 13:26.2, 1966) and steeplechase (second, 8:49.4, 1966).

(In the adjacent picture, Moore eventually beats Frank Shorter for third place in the 1969 AAU 6-mile).

Off the track, Moore graduated from Oregon with a degree in philosophy in 1966 and earned an MFA from the university's creative writing program in 1972. For three decades, he was Sports Illustrated's lead writer for track and field, and was inducted as a writer into the National Distance Running Hall of Fame in 2001. He co-wrote and co-produced the movie Without Limits, based on the life and tragic early death of Hall of Fame runner Steve Prefontaine. Another widely available book he wrote - Best Efforts ? is a collection of many of his finest magazine track and field articles.

- www.GoDucks.com ?

University of Oregon Athletics

Bowerman Book to be Unveiled at Pepsi Team Invitational