Heavy hitters join
Ducks in Las Vegas
■The wrestling team travels
to Las Vegas for an invitational
competition featuring many
of the country’s top teams
By Chris Cabot
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Oregon wrestling squad con
tinues its season today near the
bright lights of the Las Vegas strip,
joining 53 other schools at the Cliff
Keen Las Vegas Invitational.
For the 19th consecutive year,
the tournament attracts the top
teams from around the country, in
cluding 11 teams ranked by Ama
teur Wrestling News in the top-20
poll, led by No. 5 Illinois.
The competition begins today at
the Las Vegas Convention Center and
continues through Saturday evening.
All of the Ducks’ Pacific-10 Confer
ence opponents will also travel to
Las Vegas, including No. 10 Arizona
State and No. 11 Boise State.
The road trip to Las Vegas will be
a return home for senior Eugene
Harris, who will wrestle in the 165
weight class. Harris is 4-1 overall
and currently ranked No. 16 in the
nation by both collegiate wrestling
ranking organizations Intermat and
W.I.N. Magazine.
Intermat ranks four other Oregon
wrestlers in the top 25 — No. 9
Shaun Williams at 125 pounds, No.
14 Jason Harless at 133, No. 19 Bri
an Watson at 141 and No. 8 Eric
Webb at heavyweight.
The Ducks are 2-0 so far this sea
son, with wins in dual meets at
Stanford and Davis. They also com
peted in the Southern Oregon Open
on Nov. 17, when Harless and Wat
son came away with individual ti
tles. Harris also wrestled his way to
a championship co-title with soph
omore Luke Larwin, who compet
ed in the tournament unattached.
Emerald sports reporter Chris Cabot can be
reached at chriscabot@dailyemerald.com.
Essig
continued from page 9A
school system as a teacher, admin
istrator and even principal at
North Eugene High School.
Now Essig runs his own busi
ness, Don Essig and Associates. He
sets up seminars, retreats and
workshops for businesses and
groups around Eugene.
“I’m a teacher, really,” Essig
said about his company. “When I
do leadership stuff, I’m really
teaching.”
He plays golf— he is a remark
able five-handicap — and travels
to Oregon road games. But really,
Essig said he most enjoys the two
or three hours that he spends
behind the microphone every
Saturday.
“It’s fun to be able to use some
thing that God gave me, a great
voice that’s recognizable, and I
get to contribute to sports when I
was never a real athlete,” Essig
said. “That’s my contribution to
the game.”
Duck fans may be familiar with
Essig’s quick comments during
games. When an opposing quarter
back throws a ball into the stands,
he offers, “Complete pass to sec
tion 22.” When an opposing run
ning back slips on the field, he
quips, “Six yards and tackled by
AstroTurf.”
“Somewhere along the line, I’ve
acquired what I call a pretty good,
dry sense of humor,” Essig said. “If
things happen during the game,
I’m not opposed to make some
smart-aleck remark about it. It’s not
going to hurt anybody.”
Essig has his opinions on Ore
gon sports as well. Though he was
a student at Oregon State, Essig
calls himself “100 percent Duck.”
He says that the Pit Crew isn’t as
loud as it used to be, but that fan
support for football is through the
roof.
Among Essig’s favorite Duck
moments are Kenny Wheaton’s fa
mous interception against Wash
ington. Ron Lee’s half-court shot to
beat Stanford in the 1970s and
Oregon’s toppling of John Wood
en’s UCLA Bruins at McArthur
Court.
For Essig, sports and life often
intertwine.
“If I make a mistake, I hear about
it,” Essig said. “But I ask those peo
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pie, tell me about the 1,200 times
— I figured it out one time, and
during a regular football game I’m
going to give that crowd about
1,200 different pieces of informa
tion — so I blew a couple, tell me
about the 1,198 things I did right.
“I think that’s one thing that’s
wrong with business. You always
have meetings to discuss what’s
going wrong, what about focusing
on the things you did right?”
Essig takes his philosophy of life
and applies it to both work and
play — he gets paid virtually noth
ing by the Athletic Department for
his announcing duties — and says
he is content.
“I tell people that I’m 63 going
on 30,” Essig said.
And on Saturday in the Civil
War game against his alma mater,
when everyone in the stadium will
play their hardest, root their loud
est and pour all their emotion into
a football contest, Essig will be
right there with them.
Without a silly cold to hold him
back.
Emerald sports reporter Peter
Hockaday can be reached at
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com.
Men’s
continued from page 9A
before returning to practice today.
Oregon knows it can’t afford to
look past the Pilots. Portland is 2
2, with wins over Cal-State River
side on Nov. 17 and Idaho on
Wednesday, while its first loss was
a hard-fought 96-90 overtime con
test at Idaho State.
That other loss came against top
ranked Duke in the Blue Devils’
home opener at rowdy Cameron
Indoor Stadium. So Kent knows
the Pilots will be battle-tested and
eager to play the Ducks on their
home turf.
“This is probably their biggest
home game of the season,” he said.
“It’s going to be another tough
game on the road for us.”
Oregon had trouble with Port
land last season, winning only
66-60 at Mac Court, but Kent said
both teams have changed dramat
ically.
“People need to get off last '
year,” Kent said. “We’re a much
different team. And Portland is go
ing to be a different team with a .
different coach and a different sys
tem. I don’t think you can compare
the two seasons.”
Casey Frandsen and Coky
Rochin lead the Pilots with 18.5
points per game while Rochin also
leads the team in rebounds with
nine per game.
Emerald assistant sports editor Jeff Smith can
be reached at jeffsmith@dailyemeratd.com.
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