Crash landing
The ‘Flying Ducks’, Oregon’s winningest
team in history, they’re grounded for goo
By MARK JOHNSON
Ot«h» EnwraM
The budget ax tell on four
sports last spring, and the highly
successful Oregon gymnastics
team was among the victims
Now five months after the
fact, the Emerald Sports staff
has compiled a series entitled
Feeling the Cuts" to report on
the fate of these teams, and
what lies ahead in the future for
them
Part Three reports on the
Flying Ducks' — grounded now
by money problems Tomor
row s installment concerns the
ill-fated baseball program
Graptuc by Man D«Hungs
Now that the dust has settled
over the cutting of four sports,
the University has found that
men's gymnastics, men's
baseball and women's golf have
vanished into oblivion And so
has much of the outrage, sur
prise and disgust
Now that five months have
passed since the programs
were cut, much of the campus
may not realize they ever exist
ed at the University One man
that won't forget is Bill Ballester,
former coach of the men's
gymnastics team — the Flying
Ducks'
Nobody cares — it's gone,
Ballester says Many people
don t even know its gone Some
people come up to me now on
campus and ask me how is the
team doing?' ”
One thing that bothers me
now is how people are begin
ning to come forward and say I
had no idea that gymnastics
was going to be cut', and saying
that they would have been sup
portive of other ways ”
I'm more bitter now than
when it happened." Ballester
says, "I don't think it was
necessary Olum's decision was
a mistake I know how much he
hated the idea of cutting sports
and how hard he fought to save
them but he was still the guy
who made it "
Ballester compiled a 132-20
record in 10 years of coaching
at the University, for an 871
percentage that cannot be
touched by any current or
former University coach in any
sport
"I'm the winningest coach in
the school's history; gymnastics
was higher academically than
any other sport, and it was
fourth in generating revenue,"
Ballester says "We were either
first or second in the Pae-10 for
eight years in a row, and within
the top five in the NCAA for five
years in a row It just doesn’t
seem right; it goes against
everything I believe in To win
and still get cut — the credibility
is gone '
Ballester is currently the
athletic liason in the office of the
associate provost for the
University, a part-time position
he has been associated with for
several years He acts as the
communication go-between for
the administration and the
athletic department But not
coaching his gymnasts leaves a
gap
Personally. I'm bored After
20-some years coaching I need
the challenge to go into the
gym "
Greater than whatever harm
was done to the coaches and
supporters of the team, Balles
ter is more concerned about the
injustice impressed upon his
athletes When the announ
cement was made to cut
gymnastics, most other schools
had already committed to other
athletes as the recruiting sea
son was near its end
“One miracle that did come of
this was the way all the kids got
good scholarships within four
days of the announcement that
gymnastics had been cut,”
Ballester says "I felt good in
terms of the schools they went
to — schools that appreciate
them ”
Kelly Crumley, an All-Amer
ican in the all-around optional
competition, transferred to the
University of Iowa to spend his
last year as a Hawkeye
Crumley says his transfer was
relatively smooth, but "the tim
ing was kind of bad Some
schools had money at the time,
but we just tried to say that
gymnastics might not be
dropped and waited I’m just
glad that Iowa waited too ”
“It probably didn’t affect me
as much as some of the other
guys who had to go to other
schools alone ” Crumley was
joined at Iowa by former Duck
teamates Brett Garland and
Robert Leverence
“The team here is good,”
Crumley says, “but not as good
as Oregon's was ”
Ballester also voices his con
cern about the treatment of the
athletes' memories now that
they are gone With 19 All
Americans and a host of Pac-10
and NCAA trophies credited to
the gymnasts, Ballester cri
ticizes the arrangement of the
trophies in Mac Court
Go and take a look at the
way they stacked the All-Amer
Photo by Bob Baker
"Olum's decision was a mistake, "says Ballester, the winningest
coach in Oregon athletic history. "I know how he hated the idea
of cutting sports, but he was still the one who made it. ”
icans on top of each other,”
Ballester says referring to the
photos in the case stacked like a
deck of cards behind a wooden
plaque, "That's insensitivity. I
would rather have them go up
and tell the athletes that (they
were not appreciated). There
has got to be a better way — they
did represent the University of
Oregon It doesn't seem quite
right; they're bitter enough as it
is."
Although the actual decision
to cut gymnastics was a shock,
Ballester says the idea was not a
new one
"We heard for five years that
we might be cut and never knew
the ground rules After a while
you just got tired of hearing
about it We would come back at
the end of the season, after our
showings at the NCAA's and
hear that talk time and time
again It was a nice welcome
home — good job guys.”
Ballester finds the reasons
used to cut gymnastics (lack of
money and regional interest)
contradictory of gymnastics’
actual situation.
“If they talk about money,”
Ballester says, “why drop the
fourth greatest revenue
generating sport? And how can
you say that gymnastics doesn't
have community interest in this
town? We were known as the
gymnastics capital of the U S.
with great feeder programs in
the Northwest ”
"I'd like to think that I’m a
good coach by the way there
was a positive effect on the lives
of the athletes But I do think
that if anything constructive
comes of this it would be to
develop a better process When
you begin to affect peoples’
lives, directly or indirectly, the
process needs to be developed
and then refined Some people
are losing sight of the value of
athletics in a University pro
gram "
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