The writing may be on the wall for the Oregon wrestling program, but that doesn’t mean the team is going down without a fight. It’s appropriate that the man heading up the fundraising and awareness-building campaign is an Oregon wrestling legend and the program’s longest-tenured coach, Ron Finley. After leading the Ducks for 28 seasons, stepping down in 1998 when current head coach Chuck Kearney succeeded him, Finley clearly has reason to head up the effort to save the team.
“We’re determined to see this thing through,” Finley said in a phone interview last week. “I feel we can definitely meet our goals to keep our program.”
Finley heads the Save Oregon Wrestling campaign, which started in the wake of the July 2007 announcement that the wrestling program would end after the 2007-08 school year. Wrestling’s end has been lost in the hype of Division I baseball’s return to the University, but there is still a large drive going on behind the scenes to save the program. Save Oregon Wrestling has been active throughout the school year. The campaign has raised awareness throughout the state, including its youth wrestling community, and contacted Oregon wrestling alumni for support. The campaign’s banners, T-shirts and bumper stickers are visible around Eugene and the state, and Finley is a regular sight at the campaign’s table in McArthur Court during wrestling meets.
The campaign’s goal is simple: Build awareness and support for Oregon wrestling while also fundraising to ensure the program’s future. Finley said donations would be used to help endow the Oregon wrestling program and also build a new wrestling-specific room on campus for the team to call home.
“Where we’re at is fine in the Rec Center, the practice room they have now is a great room,” Finley said, although “Eventually we’ll have to move out and into our own room.” The facility may include locker rooms for other Oregon sports, Finley added.
Though Oregon Athletic Director Pat Kilkenny has gone on record saying the program is all but done after the season, Finley and the current team are optimistic that the program isn’t dead yet. “(Save Oregon Wrestling and) coaches have made a presentation to Pat Kilkenny to show possible ways the program can be continued and be a successful program,” Finley said, adding he still believes Kilkenny will “take into consideration” the campaign’s work in the final decision to cut or keep wrestling.

Support from the state

Finley says support from Oregon wrestling alumni is strong and “we’re the most organized we’ve ever been in our history.” The team plans on honoring its alumni at the Pacific-10 Conference Championship meet at McArthur Court on March 2-3. Plans are underway to invite and involve as many living Oregon wrestling alumni as possible in the Pac-10 meet, which could be the last college wrestling meet for the Ducks.
It certainly won’t be the last wrestling meet held in Eugene, though. Chief among Kilkenny’s reasons when the decision was made to remove wrestling was a lack of competition and youth participation.
“That’s totally wrong,” Finley said when asked if there isn’t sufficient interest. “Wrestling is at its highest peak right now for numbers of participation.”
Out of the 18 wrestlers on the Ducks’ roster right now, 14 are from the state of Oregon. Oregon has the youth wrestling infrastructure and participation numbers to support multiple Division I programs, Finley said, and it currently does, with Oregon State and Portland State alongside the Ducks in the Pac-10. He added that the OSAA wrestling championship meet is one of the most popular high school meets in terms of attendance and is so big that the Rose Garden in Portland is “the only venue that could really hold it.”
Kearney is trying to keep his current roster’s focus on its meets. “We’re trying right now to keep the focus on the things (the athletes) can control,” Kearney said. “A student athlete, the only thing he can control is his training and his competing this year.”
Kearney added that the team is focusing on upcoming meets, including the Pac-10 Championship and possibly the NCAA Championship, and will talk about the program’s future only after the season ends.
“I don’t want to shortchange these guys now,” Kearney said, “Their responsibility is to show up and compete and show you’re worth (saving the program).”
Save Oregon Wrestling will continue to make its case known until the season is over. Finley knows what the repercussions could be if Oregon drops the sport.
“We’re getting support from all over the country because if we drop our program it’s going to affect them,” he said. “The saddest thing I’ve heard is that three high schools have dropped the program since Oregon’s announcement.
“That’s what happens when they destroy a program.”
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