It’s not uncommon to see the name “Pappas” in track and field record books.
For the past decade, one of three Pappas brothers has competed in multi-events at either Oregon, nearby Lane Community College or at tiny Glendale High School in southern Oregon.
Oregon junior decathlete Billy Pappas is the youngest of the three, and he has a lot to look up to. Middle brother Tommy, who placed fifth at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, owns the collegiate national record in the decathlon with 8,463 points. The eldest Pappas, Paul, was a four-year letter-winner for Oregon from 1994 through 1997 and now ranks ninth on the all-time school record list with 7,303 points.
Together, the three own the unofficial sibling point record for three brothers in the world.
Billy is living up to the reputation set by his older brothers as Oregon’s No. 2 decathlete and an NCAA provisional qualifier last season. The youngest Pappas hopes to clinch a trip to the NCAA Championships this weekend at the Pacific-10 Conference meet in Berkeley, Calif.

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With so much talent in one generation of Pappases, you’d think that athletic prowess runs in the family, right?
“I honestly don’t know where it came from,” said Nick Pappas, father of the three. “I had polio when I was younger and didn’t have the chance to do athletics. Their mother’s athletic career ended in junior high school with the low hurdles.”
The foundations for the great decathlon careers were laid by the eldest son, Paul.

“Paul did track because he couldn’t see a baseball real well,” Nick said. “So he picked up a pole vault bar and the next thing you know, he’s a state champ. That’s what started the whole track thing going.”
Despite poor vision, Paul excelled in multi-events, including the pole vault, high jump, long jump, shot put and hurdles — five of the 10 decathlon events.
“Paul knew he was going to do the decathlon in high school,” said former Glendale High School track and field coach Jeff Hess. “I didn’t push them into [the decathlon], but I certainly knew it was something they could excel at.”
Tommy and Billy followed suit, setting up a great multi-event tradition for Glendale track.
“I’m doing the decathlon mainly because of my brothers,” Billy said. “If they hadn’t have done track I still would have done it, but watching them do the decathlon encouraged me to do it.”

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For many years, the athletic focus for the Pappases was on the mat, not around the oval.
“They were all exceptional wrestlers,” Nick said. “Their grandpa was a professional wrestler so he encouraged them into that more than anything. Tommy and Billy were 98-pounders for most of high school.”
“Wrestling was my main sport for a while,” Billy said. “I started when I was in third grade. We even had our own wrestling ring in our gym at home. I just always remember doing it. It was pretty big in our family.”
Two years after walking on at Oregon, Paul was the Ducks’ top decathlete. Around the same time, Tommy was competing for Lane Community College exclusively as a high jumper.
“Tommy’s old coach at Lane had everyone on the team do an hour decathlon to get into shape,” Nick said. “In one hour, Tommy scored more points than their official decathlete had done in a real competition. At their first meet he broke the school record.”
By the time Billy was a senior at Glendale, both of his brothers were collegiate decathletes.
“We could see the decathlon in him,” Hess said. “We didn’t push him into it. We have an end-of-the-year decathlon every year just for fun, and he did well in that.”
“I knew I was going to do it by my senior year,” Billy said. “My main event was the hurdles, but I also did the 4×4 and long jump. I played a bit with a javelin and shot. Then, mostly I was just having fun.”

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Billy followed the same path Tommy did by beginning his college career at LCC. After a successful stint at the junior college level, Pappas was heavily recruited by the new Oregon head coach, Martin Smith.
The previous Oregon coaching staff had chosen to pass on Tommy, who later went on to win an NCAA Championship for Tennessee.
“Martin came to us and said, ‘We don’t want to make the same mistake twice,’” Nick said. “They were real enthusiastic about recruiting Billy.”
“The reason why we went after Billy is because he fit the mold of the type of athlete we wanted,” Oregon multi-events coach Bill Lawson said. “I think the thing that was really attractive about trying to get Billy Pappas to the University of Oregon was not only his athletic capabilities but his competitive attitude.”
Pappas considers his strengths to be in the 110-meter hurdles and the long jump.
“I like all of the explosive events,” Pappas said. “The high jump, shot put, 100. That’s where the weight room comes in well.”
In his first complete season of competition for Oregon last season, Pappas finished fourth at the Pac-10 Championships and earned an NCAA provisional mark in the process with his total of 7,184 points. This year, Pappas is hungry for even more.
“I’d obviously like to qualify for nationals,” he said. “The main goal at Pac-10s is to beat people and score points for the team.”