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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 8, 2000)
Best Bet Golf: Fred Meyer Challenge, Day Two 1 p.m., ESPN Tuesday August 8,2000 Volume 102, Issue 14 Emerald Dellinger experiences stroke during vacation ■ The legendary Oregon track and field coach has a stroke that leaves him in a New Jersey hospital By Jeff Smith Oregon Daily Emerald Former Oregon track and field coach Bill Dellinger proved this past week that even idolized leg ends aren’t immortal after he suf fered a stroke early Thursday morning. Dellinger suffered the stroke in his sleep and was found by his wife, . Marol, in a near-immoblilized state on the right side of his body. He was in New Jersey on a brief vacation vis iting friends before heading to the Newport Running Camp in New port, Rhode Island on Aug. 8-13. The news of the 66-year-old’s stroke has sent shock waves through the Eugene community, es pecially since Dellinger has contin ued to be an active man since retir ing as the Oregon men’s track and field coach in the spring of 1998. “It’s really startling,” Oregon ath letic director Bill Moos said. “We’re all thinking of him and wishing him our very best. ” Initially after his stroke, Dellinger was in intensive care be fore being transferred to a cardiac monitoring floor on Friday after noon. He was moved due to a po tential blood clot or air bubble in his bloodstream, but tests turned out negative. Dellinger is still located at Moun tainside Hospital in Montclair, N.J., and is set to start therapy as early as this week. Geoff Thurner, assistant director of Oregon media services, said that the only improvement made over the weekend was the slight movement of Dellinger’s right leg and him sitting up slowly in his hospital bed. Thurner said that he still hasn’t received the re sults from the tests to confirm what exactly the cause of the stroke was. “Bill is still a very young guy so this came as a surprise to every one,” Moos said. “We’re anxiously hoping that he has a full recovery and are optimistic that we can get him back home.” Dellinger took over as head coach of the Ducks in 1973 from his former coach Bill Bowerman. Four years lat er, Tom Heinonen was hired on as the women’s track and field head coach and the two were a dynamic coaching tandem up until Dellinger’s retirement in ‘98. Heinonen didn’t hear of Dellinger’s fate until late Friday night at a restaurant when he spot ted a small story on the incident in a newspaper. “I was gone all week at running camps and had no idea what had happened to him,” he said. “It was a shock to me and everyone else. ” Heinonen mentioned how there was a possibility of a running group, consisting of post-collegiate runners, who were to move to Eu gene to train under Dellinger. “Bill has got a lot left to give and I really hope that he has a chance to do it,” Heinonen said. This is not the first time that Dellinger has had to fight back from health problems. In the summer of 1997, Dellinger learned that he had prostate cancer, which was one of the main factors in his decision to retire that following spring. Dellinger underwent a total of 25 radiation treatments in 1997-98. Dellinger’s attitude then was to simply deal with the cancer, defeat it and then move on. “As you get older and older, there are more and more things that can happen to you and most of them are bad, so you just kind of ac cept them and keep going with it,” he told the Emerald in February of ‘98. “Ittakesalot of courage to grow old because there are so many things that can go wrong. “I was going along my way think ing I was invincible and I suddenly found out that I’m not, so it kind of woke me up.” “The most shocking thing about all of this is that it could happen to anybody,” Heinonen said. “Bill dodged a bullet with the prostate cancer and hopefully he can do the same thing here.” Dellinger first broke onto the Oregon track scene when he was one of the storied program’s best distance runners. In the years of 1953-56, he was a two-time NCAA champion, three-time All-Ameri can and three-time conference champion. As a 32-year cross country coach, he led the Ducks to a total of 20 top 10 NCAA finishes, as well as NCAA titles in 1971, 1973, 1974 and 1977. In his 26 years as the track and field head coach, he guid ed the Ducks to 14 top-10 NCAA Outdoor Championships finishes, including the NCAA title in 1984. Emerald Former Oregon coach Bill Dellinger was Steve Prefontaine’s coach in the early 1970s. Overall, Dellinger’s athletes at Ore gon totaled 146 All-American per formances and 22 NCAA champi onships. For Dellinger’s efforts, he was elected into the U.S. Track Coaches Association Hall of Fame. “Bill Dellinger is a pillar of this program and this community,” Moos said. “His coaching legacy and what he’s done at Hayward Field is outstanding. He had a tremendous career athletically and coaching and has always appeared to be very healthy. Our thoughts are certainly with him and his family this week.” Postseason basketball tournament considered for Pac-10 ■ Members of a Pac-10 advisory panel decide whether to allow a postseason conference tourney By Jeff Smith Oregon Daily Emerald The Pacific-10 Conference .«nd the Ivy League are the only Division I conferences that don’t have a postseason basketball conference tourna ment during the weekend be tween the regular season and the NCAA Tournament. • But if the Pac-10 presi dents vote the way the Pac 10 athletic directors did this past week, that could soon very well change. Last Wednesday, the con ference’s athletic di rectors voted by an 8-2 margin in fa vor of such a tournament for both the men’s and women’s programs. The recommendation was given to a panel made up of university presidents, who will vote on the proposal on Oct. 3. If eight of the 10 presi dents approve and the meas ure gets through the Pac-10 council, the tournaments would go into effect in March of 2002. “There’s still a ways to go, but this was a positive en dorsement that could lead to it being a reality,” said Ore gon athletic director Bill Moos, who is chair of the athletic director’s commit tee. “I think the prospects are very good that the plan we have will go into effect. ” There has long been con cerns from some particular Pac-10 coaches, such as Ari zona head coach Lute Olson, that a conference tourna ment would cut into class time. Moos, though, said that “when we put the pen cil to it” class time wouldn’t be an issue because the Pac 10 schedule would move up one week into December, when students are still on winter vacation. “The main positive with this is the exposure and the excitement,” Moos said. “The Pac-10 is always on the Turn to Basketball, page 8 Space Available * Register Today III Beginning Jewelry Aug 14-18 3-6pm $40 Rag Rugs Aug 14-18 2-5pm $45 Envelope Pillow Aug 14 6-9pm $18 Zipper Pouch Aug 15 6-9pm $18 Quilted Hot Pad Aug 16 6-9pm $18 Feng Shui Aug 15 & 16 4-5pm $15 for Information call 346-4361 www.craftcenter.uoregon.edu look into ODE Classifieds! (SQ 346-4343 Canesh Himal Trading FROM KATHMANDU, NEPAL ^ TO YOU! new Jewelry Singing Bowls ftHempBags-fc Great Hats ^■Journals % Clothing ^Textiles & Madal Drums Prayer Flags ♦ SUPPORT FAIRTRADE FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE OPEN MON-SAT 10-6 & SUN 12-5 0035421 We ship your stuff home! 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