Track athletes may have broken NCAA rule
By Mike Riplinger
and Steve Turcotte
O! th« EimtiM
Three University track and field ath
letes may have violated National Col
legiate Athletic Association rules by ac
cepting equipment from two shoe com
panies, and in one instance, accepting
money for consulting work
The athletes may lose their collegiate
eligibility as a result of the possible
violations, according to a letter written
on Sept 17 by Curt Simic, vice president
for University relations
Simic, the administrator in charge of
the athletic department, wrote that the
athletes received shoes and clothing
from Adidas and Nike, and one athlete
received $450 from Nike for consulting
on a shoe design.
Although the athletes' names were
deleted from copies of the letter released
Wednesday, an article in the Oregonian
named athletes Jim Hill, Brian Crouser
and his brother Dean Crouser as the
ones involved In the alleged violations
Simic’s letter was addressed to former
University track coach Bill Bowerman
and seemed to be a response to allega
tions made by Bowerman that University
athletes were accepting equipment
Simic said in the letter that he had
investigated the matter and found sever
al instances of athletes receiving shoes
or clothing from the two companies
But when Bowerman was contacted at
his son's ranch near Antelope, he said he
had no knowledge of the conversation to
Simic, or of the letter
“I really don't know what you’re talking
about,” Bowerman said when asked
about the letter
"I think you are going to have to talk to
Mr Simic I think it is possible that you
have something that somebody has fa
bricated
Barbara Petura. University News Bu
reau director said the letter revealing the
investigation was from Simic. Both Simic
and athletic director Rick Bay were out of
town Wednesday and unavailable for
comment
University track coach Bill Dellinger
called the possible violations "unfortun
ate."
"I think it's unfortunate because shoe
companies have been giving away shoes
Related story on page 9
to athletes for a long time," he said "To
single out three people is really unfor
tunate
"Nike and Adidas had rooms right next
to us in the dorms at BYU last spring (at
the NCAA track and field championships
at Brigham Young University) and ath
letes were going in and getting free
shoes
"The NCAA is aware of what is going
on, and so is every coach,' Dellinger
added
Jim Muldoon, Pac-10 Conference
public relations director, said he is un
sure whether the athletes or the Univer
sity will face sanctions
The only thing we've heard about it Is
from someone who called us a couple of
days ago." said Muldoon, who declined
to identify the caller "We haven't done
anything about it yet."
Nike officials had not heard of any
allegations before Wednesday or seen
Simic's letter, according to public rela
tions director Tim Renn
Our track and field representatives
are in New York (for the New York Ma
rathon), so it is difficult for us to deal with
this We are working with something that
we haven t seen and aren t really sure
of, ' Renn said of the letter
Oregon daily . -
emerald
St. Louis
6-3
Page 8
Thursday, October 21, 1982
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 84, Number 34
‘If you’re not involved, you
gotta sit back and admire
what they did. If you’re
emotionally involved, you
cuss the sonsabitches.’
The Selling
of
Antelope
Story by Randy Malat
Photos by Bob Baker
Editor s note This is the first half of a two-part series
that looks at the changes the town of Antelope has gone
through since the coming of the Indian guru Bhagwhan
Shree Rajneesh and his followers.
ANTELOPE — In the cradle of sagebrush-spotted
hills, yellowed poplar leaves fall one by one to settle on
lawns and dirt sideroads in this Central Oregon town A
tourist bus groans away from the Rajneesh reception
center and heads toward Rajneeshpuram, 18 miles
Rajneeshis have ‘really
upset this community.’
The bumper sticker on this car, sitting in front of Antelope's main business, carries one of Bhagwan Shree
Rajneesh's teachings Some Antelope residents question whose way they are getting out of.
away. In Antelope's only business of note, the Zorba the
Buddha Rajneesh restaurant, customers drink coffee
from mugs wrapped with photographs of Bhagwan
Shree Rajneesh
Occasionally, a Rajneesh disciple dressed in
shades of orange, red, or purple disturbs the monotony
of the surroundings seen from Donna Smith’s porch
Smith, who recently sold her home in Antelope, says the
sight of a Rajneeshee symbolizes the change in a place
where many people settled to live quietly and not worry
about change
When the center of Rajneeshism moved last year
from Poona, India, to the high desert of Central Oregon,
townspeople were retrieved from their quiet existence
to face an uncertain future
“I would compare it to a small steamroller attacking
an anthill," says Jon Bowerman, a nearby rancher.
“You take a bunch of elderly people that just want
peace and quiet and suddenly they're overrun by press
and lawyers and writs of mandamus and they just
weren't ready for it."
The locals would just as soon retreat to a past that
is more easily defined, more representative of their
beliefs and with their kind of people.
In the early 1970s, Donna Smith says she “came
out of the high dry desert and found this oasis. I found it
very charming.” A few years later, she returned to
settle.
Then enters a frail guru from India who drives a
Rolls Royce and doesn’t speak in public, a couple
hundred of his disciples who wear clothes the colors of
the sunrise, and rumors of "free sex and violent group
therapy practices. Members of the religious movement,
filled with the righteousness of conviction and fueled by
a sense of urgency, had wealth and the will to use that
wealth to achieve the group’s objectives.
"If someone is in their way, they’ll sue them," says
Bill Bowerman, former University track coach
Bowerman's roots are in the Antelope country, and
earlier this year he purchased a trailer park in town to
"establish a beachhead" to block the Rajneeshis’
expansion.
"If someone opposes them, they’ll destroy them,”
Bowerman says “They've employed the best lobbyists
they can get. There are no dogs on their legal staff. They
are very well organized with city planners. "
Bowerman says Rajneeshis scared townspeople
into making peace by filing several lawsuits. The suits
were dropped when townspeople agreed to recognize
Rajneeshpuram.
Don Smith, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel,
shows a visitor a town zoning map. About 20 percent of
the lots are shaded red These lots are Rajneesh
property, including the trailer park, which Bowerman
sold last month after the settlement.
"They’ve really upset this community," Smith says.
"The older-time residents feel very threatened. All
they've got is tied up in real estate. They don't know
whether to stay. Antelope's comprehensive plan talks
about maintaining the Western atmosphere of a retired
community. These people need some kind of assurance
Continued on page 3