Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
adamjude@dailyemerald.com
Friday, May 31,2002
Oregon Daily Emerald
Best Bet
NHL playoffs:
Colorado at Detroit
4p.m., ESPN
Speaker says
gay athletes
deserve more
. from schools
■ Former National League
umpire Dave Pallone tells his
story of struggle in being a gay
man in professional athletics
By Chris Cabot
Oregon Daily Emerald
After 10 years of living his dream of
working as an umpire in the premiere
level of baseball, Dave Pallone’s job
was ripped from him by Major League
Baseball as a result of a Sept. 15,1988,
New York Post article that revealed the
secret that he had kept from the every
one — including his own family.
On Thursday, Pallone spoke in front
of about 30 people in the EMU Gum
wood Room about his struggles as a gay
man in a speech entitled “Who’s Really
on First.”
“My whole world at that moment
came to an end,” Pallone said about the
day the story broke.
However, the Watertown, Mass., na
tive who now lives in Colorado
Springs, Colo., said that day was bene
ficial in some ways because it relieved
an enormous weight that had been
holding him down.
In 1990, Pallone’s best-selling auto
biography “Behind the Mask: My Dou
ble Life in Baseball” was published,
and he began touring the nation telling
his story.
“I just hope we can get to the day
when people know that people’s sexu
al orientation has nothing to do with
their performance,” he said. “One of
the reasons this room is not full to ca
pacity is they feel that if they walk
through the door people will think
they are gay. Those stereotypes have to
be removed.”
During his professional umpire ca
reer, which included eight years in the
minor leagues before calling his first
game at Three Rivers Stadium in Pitts
burgh, Penn., in 1979, Pallone said that
he had to live two lives.
“All I did was lie — to my family, my
friends, my peers and most of all to my
self,” he said.
With the stereotypes on homosexu
als, Pallone had to decide between re
vealing his sexual preferences or work
ing in baseball.
“I kept my dream and put my per
sonal life on hold,” he said.
Because of this, Pallone had formed
no close relationships and had nobody
to turn to. He was meeting presidents,
Hollywood and rock stars and his
childhood idols like Carl Yazstremski,
Willie Stargell and Willie Mays, but he
struggled in his personal life.
“When you have something good in
your life, you want to share it with
someone,” he said. “I had no one to
share it with.”
After receiving a large settlement
from Major League Baseball to walk
away from the game he loved, Pallone
went to opening day at Fenway Park on
May 1,1999. He watched the first pitch
and left the park.
“I missed baseball so much, and
that’s when I decided to tell my story,”
he said. “Society and baseball — they
Turn to Pallone, page 12
NCAA Championships
Hartmann gets Ducks on the board
Jonathan House Emerald
Sophomore Jason Hartmann (62), seen here earlier this season at Hayward Field, finished
fourth Thursday in the 10,000-meter race at the NCAA Championships in Baton Rouge, La.
■The sophomore runner f inishes fourth in the
10,000 to vault Oregon into 15th at the NCAA meet
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
After almost two days, it took the experience of a sophomore to
finally get the Oregon men some points at the 2002 NCAA Track
and Field Championships.
Sophomore Jason Hartmann scored the Ducks’ first points of the
national meet Thursday night when he ran to fourth place in the
10,000-meter race in Baton Rouge, La.
Hartmann finished third at the NCAA Championships in Eugene
last year but said Thursday’s race was still a good learning experience.
“Although I finished third my freshman year, I feel like I took a
big step in realizing that I can run with these
guys,” Hartmann said in a telephone interview.
“I’m not intimidated by them. Hopefully
they’re intimidated by me a little bit.”
Hartmann said the race unfolded oddly, with
three runners setting the pace early.
“The first three guys took it out, and they
separated pretty quickly,” Hartmann said.
“Then there was a pack of 10 of us fighting for
the fourth spot, and thank God I finished fourth. ”
Hartmann’s time was 29 minutes, 28.80 seconds, which was
37.80 seconds slower than his personal best in the event. Eastern
Michigan junior Boaz Cheboiywo won the race in 28:32.10, break
ing a Bemie Moore Track — the LSU facility where the champi
onships are being staged — record that had stood since 1981.
“I think there’s more juice in my lemon,” Hartmann said. “I’m
pretty happy about the race, but I know that I can go somewhere.”
Hartmann’s fourth-place finish gave the Ducks five points in the
team race. Only one other Oregon athlete had a chance to score
Thursday, but Duck sophomore Nick Bakke didn’t make the finals
of the javelin throw. Halfway through the meet, Oregon is in 15th
of the 26 teams that have scored points.
Senior Micah Harris did advance in the preliminary heat of the
110 hurdles, which sent him to the NCAA semifinals for the sec
ond-straight year. Harris finished third in his heat, ninth overall
on Thursday afternoon.
“I felt my race was clean, it was good,” Harris said. “I only hit
one hurdle.”
Harris’ time of 13.81 seconds was 0.14 seconds slower than his
personal best, but was good enough to propel him into the finals.
Turn to Men’s, page 12
Javelin corps nets just two points for UO women
■A pair of freshmen lead the Ducks,
but sophomore Sarah Malone finishes
a disappointing 14th at the NCAA meet
By Hank Hager
Oregon Daily Emerald
Like the thunderstorms that temporarily
ravaged the Baton Rouge, La., area on Thurs
day, the Oregon women’s javelin squad came
in with force to the NCAA Championships,
but left with a whimper.
The trio, all ranked in the top 12 in the na
tion, clearly did not have
their day down in the Bay
ou, with freshman Roslyn
Lundeen taking the highest
ranked spot at No. 7. Her top
throw of 165 feet, 2 inches
earned Oregon two points,
but that’s all the Ducks
would receive on the day.
Fellow freshman Elisa Crumley, entering
the NCAA Championships for the first time,
earned a mark of 157-04, but was still five feet
from making the final field of nine. Lundeen
and Crumley became the first freshmen duo
from Oregon to garner All-American status in
the same event since 1982.
Sophomore Sarah Malone, ranked fourth in
the nation before the meet, fell to 14th with a
top throw of 155-04.
Lundeen’s final score gives Oregon eight
points after day one, a marked improvement
over 2001, a year in which the squad was able
to post only two points.
LUNDEEN
CRUMLEY
However, Lundeen had more than just the
championship experience in Louisiana.
Suffering from what she called food poison
ing, Lundeen was stuck in her hotel room for
much of Wednesday, missing the first day of
the championships — even though she was
n’t set to compete — and trying to recuperate
her strength.
“I was just so thankful to be coming out
here,” Lundeen said during a telephone inter
view Thursday.
Crumley and Malone, on the other hand,
were at full strength entering the meet. Both fell
below regular season marks by at least 10 feet.
Malone, who finished seventh at the 2001
NCAA Championships, could not be reached
for comment.
For Crumley, the excitement of participating
in one of the most competitive meets in the na
tion may have played a little part in her drop off.
“It was just an intense experience,” she
said. “I was maybe a little nervous.”
Like the pole vault competition on Wednes
MALONE
day, which saw a ma
jority of its competitors
fall far below personal
bests, the javelin com
petition had its
demons. Purdue’s
Serene Ross won the
meet with a toss of 195
08, while USC’s Inga
Stasiulionyte — the fa
vorite coming into the
competition — fin
ished second with a throw ot 177, almost nine
feet shorter than her best throw in 2002.
However, that is no consolation to Oregon’s
trio. Crumley, while happy to have made the
top meet in her first season, knew she could
have done better.
“It was just a matter of putting it all together,”
she said. “I just didn’t feel it. It just wasn’t there.”
Lundeen, on the other hand, jumped up
five spots from her 12th place season ranking.
“My rhythm was just on,” she said. “I was a
little nervous coming into it, but the girls were
just so friendly. It was a great experience.”
And what of the thunderstorms that de
layed the start of the javelin competition for
an hour?
“It’s really only going to be a disadvantage
to the girls who aren’t used to it,” Lundeen
said, comparing the weather to Eugene.
“Sarah, Elisa and I knew it wasn’t going to be a
problem coming into it.”
Turn to Women’s, page 12