When Vin Lananna was hired in July 2005 as the head track and field coach, he immediately helped the University pursue the U.S. Olympic Trials and return to a strong distance running tradition.
Lananna’s return to Oregon’s track tradition is why Eugene is hosting the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2008 and 2012, say those involved in the Eugene track and field scene. Eugene’s storied track roots, they say, is one of the main reasons why Eugene will host the event after a 28-year hiatus. Past trials held in Eugene in 1972, 1976 and 1980 mark times of divided gender, or times when fans wildly cheered hometown favorites – and even a time when the trials shunned a former president.
Paul Edlund, the executive assistant to the meet manager in the past three trials held in Eugene, remembers when Richard Nixon wanted to attend one of the meet sessions in the 1970s. The short notice meant accommodating Nixon’s entourage, including the Secret Service.
“We would have had to boot out our ticket holders to make room for them, so we just said, ‘Sorry, we can’t help you,’ so he didn’t come,” Edlund said. “But that’s exactly what we would have preferred.”
Edlund also said he remembers recruiting Eugene-area high school band members to play at the trials.
“We went to the Eugene and Springfield school districts and asked them to put together an all-star high school band,” Edlund said, adding that band members would march around the track. “It was a big deal for the kids. They went crazy over it.”

1972: a breakout performance

Most memories, however, revolve around the athletes.
Former Oregon distance runner Kenny Moore said he remembers the crowd loving Steve Prefontaine because of his confident and sometimes cocky attitude. He said the crowd wore “Stop Pre” T-shirts.
But perhaps one of the most storied tales of a previous Eugene Trials involves a local man who left the area for college to later compete in the 1972 Trials.
Sheldon High School graduate Jon Anderson unexpectedly took third place in the 10,000 meters event. At the time of the ’72 Trials, his father, Les Anderson, was the mayor. After graduating from Cornell, Anderson ran with the Oregon Track Club.
“Track fans knew I was pretty good in college, but I think when I showed up to the Olympic Trials, people’s expectation – including my own – was that I wasn’t going to make the team,” Anderson said.

The Cornell graduate found himself in fourth place with about two miles to go behind Florida Track Club runner Jack Bacheler.
“I told myself, ‘Fourth is nothing. You’ve got to run as hard as you can to get third,’” Anderson said.
The crowd noticed his position.
“The noise was deafening,” Anderson said, adding he passed Bacheler on the inside of the track.
Former Oregon women’s track coach Tom Heinonen said Bacheler was struggling in the last lap.
“You could see clearly that Anderson was going to pass him, and the crowd went crazy,” Heinonen said. “Just as Bacheler realized he was going to get passed, he threw out his arms in desperation to hold Anderson back.”
The crowd booed, but cheered once again when it was clear Anderson would take third, Heinonen said.
The late Oregon track and field head coach Bill Bowerman called it “the single greatest example of the crowd taking things into its own hands I’ve ever seen,” in Moore’s book “Bowerman and the Men of Oregon.”

1976 & 1980: integration and uncertainty

In 1976, the men’s and women’s Trials were combined for the first time ever.
“The protective coaches and officials on the women’s side were leery of being overshadowed by the men,” Moore wrote in his book.
Former marathon runner Janet Heinonen, the wife of Tom Heinonen, said that in 1972 the women competed in Frederick, Md. – 2,870 miles away from the men.
“The people there were very supportive, but it wasn’t on the scale that it was done here,” Janet Heinonen said.
While the combination of the men and women marked the ’76 Trials, politics affected the 1980 Trials.
Jimmy Carter announced that the U.S Olympic team would have to boycott the Moscow Olympics unless the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan.
Moore said he calls the 1980 Olympic Trials “The Trials to Nowhere.”
Anderson said he chose not to compete in the 1980 Trials.
“I saw no reason to,” Anderson said. “It wouldn’t send anyone to the Olympics.”

2008: looking back and ahead

Some things will remain the same in the 2008 and 2012 Trials.
Janet Heinonen said she expects athletes to be very competitive because the meet determines who goes to the 2008 Summer Olympics in August in Beijing.
“No one is just going through the motions and just showing up,” Janet Heinonen said. “Everything is on the line. You have to do it here.”
Others, however, are nostalgic of past fans during the previous Trials.
Edlund said he remembers spectators carrying notepads, stopwatches and pencils.
“They were really into it – less than they are now,” Edlund said.
He added the success and rise of other University sports, including football and basketball, hurts the community’s focus on track and field.
“There’s just more competition for that entertainment dollar now,” Edlund said.
Tom Heinonen said the atmosphere won’t be quite the same.
“Much of what happens in 2008 will be programmed because that’s the way things are now,” he said. “The victory laps that happened in the first three trials were out of enthusiasm and were spontaneous. Now they’ll be orchestrated.”
Tom Heinonen said Eugene’s track history offers an atmosphere no other city can offer. He said he remembers going to a track meet in Indianapolis in the 1990s.
“They said on the PA system, ‘A track and field tradition since 1988,’” he said. “1988? Can you even say that?”
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