Below passed on to us by Jim Eckman
former Yreka HS coach, now resident of Eugene
2008 Trials to Eugene, Oregon

A victory for storytelling in Eugene
Thursday, October 20, 2005

They had a great story. That's what carried the day for the track stars from Eugene. They realized going in that they didn't need spreadsheets, seating charts or airline schedules, the power points of the team from Sacramento.

They needed words and pictures. They needed compelling visuals and an unforgettable storyline if they wanted to return from Indianapolis as hosts of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials at Hayward Field.

Eugene was the clear underdog in last week's runoff. Sacramento had hosted the Trials in 2000 and 2004, drawing 187,000 spectators in 2000. Eugene, Sacramento argued, was yesterday's news, a distant memory, a cheap hotel, a small pond.

Sacramento gave the opening presentation to the USA Track & Field selection committee, seven of whom are former Olympic athletes.

Then Eugene's ensemble took the stage. They had the props, including three 50-inch plasma screens. They had several superb storytellers, including Rudy Chapa, the great distance runner from the University of Oregon.

But the true genius of their presentation was this: They realized that as much as any audience wants to hear a good story, they are more desperate to appear in one. And Eugene found the emotional hook with which to pull those Olympic athletes into the drama of what was possible.

They saved the hook until Rudy Chapa stepped to the mike. Chapa, who broke many of Steve Prefontaine's records at Oregon in the late '70s, faced such athletes as Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Mike Conley, Stephanie Hightower and Sandra Patrick Farmer and told the story of his first victory at Hayward Field.

Uncomfortable with the spotlight, Chapa ducked the chance to showboat through a victory lap. He was slipping into the shadows when an old-timer grabbed his arm and set him straight:

Don't ever skip the victory lap again, the Hayward veteran said. They're not meant for you, they're for the crowd, for the spectators who know your personal best and your rock-bottom worst, who know your history better than you do. That lap is their chance to celebrate, not yours.

"He really had the committee choked up," said Greg Erwin, president of the Oregon Track Club. "It was a stirring piece."

And as Chapa replayed that conversation, what should appear on those plasma screens but vintage photos of the committee -- Joyner-Kersee, Conley, Hightower, Farmer-Patrick and the rest -- running and jumping and launching into their victory laps in the heyday of Hayward Field.

"They were blown away. It was unbelievable," said Angel Jones, executive director of Library, Recreation and Cultural Services in Eugene. "You should have seen the expression on their faces."

You should have heard them laughing. "They were lost in the moment," said Bobby Green, a Lane County commissioner.

The story didn't end there, of course. There was another hour of helicopter shots and Tinker Hatfield stadium designs. There were testimonies about Eugene's commitment to the athletes. There was a concerted effort, Jones said, to convince committee members they weren't just voting on the site of the 2008 Trials, but on the future of track and field.

But Eugene had 'em at Rudy Chapa and those haunting shots of their glory days. That was the moment the story came together. That's the fork in the road Eugene will remember, ages and ages hence, when someone asks when the great revival took hold.

"If the stars can line up any better than this, someone needs to tell me about it," Green said. "You have a world-class track coach in Vin Lananna. You have a world-class supporter in Phil Knight. There are very creative people doing a lot to put us on the map. Tremendous things are going to happen in the next 20 years and I hope I'm around to enjoy them."