At first, the scene looks like something out of “The Sopranos.”
Across the road from Autzen Stadium, there’s a man just sitting in his truck.
It’s a cool, overcast Monday and seagulls fly and swoop over the red Chevy and this sea of concrete on the other side of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
There’s a mysterious building, which is just a few minutes walk away from where thousands flock to the see the Ducks.
Only football isn’t the only important club in this neck of the woods.
Oh, and the drama? It ends when Danny Avalos rolls down his window outside the Eugene Masonic Lodge and offers up that smile.
The 64-year-old Leaburg, Ore., resident waits to talk with a contractor outside the lodge, a building most Oregon fans whiz right by when heading to the big game.
And, quite frankly, people should stop to recognize the philanthropic organization – even if folks don’t realize the group donates $1,000 scholarships to every high school in the Eugene/Springfield area, they should know that it’s a perfect place to park on Saturdays.
For $20, spectators can park in the lodge’s front yard. For $50, they can park their motor homes and tailgaters. The best deal? The money goes toward philanthropy.
Avalos, the chaplain of the philanthropic organization, looks down at his watch: He’s waited 30 minutes for this meeting. It’s 10:40 a.m., 53 hours since Oregon steamrolled Washington State 53-7 just a few hundred yards away.
The former electrician (he retired in January) heard the crowd’s roar when Nick Reed tackled Alex Brink and when Jaison Williams ripped down a touchdown pass from Dennis Dixon last weekend. Only Avalos, a Mason of 25 years, wasn’t at the game – he was at the lodge by 7 a.m., helping with parking until the grass lot was packed to the forest line.
And the Masons were prepared for a crowd.
Avalos and two other members got out the club’s chalk liner two weeks ago to distinguish parking spots in the grass, dropping lines of lime chalk and Roundup, a grass and weed killer, over the fading white parking tracks. He helped with the original job two days before Oregon beat Houston.
The Masons also rented more portable plastic toilets from Buck’s Sanitary Service before the game against California. They’ve got 18 outhouses now.
“We had to get the lines down,” Avalos said. “You gotta have ’em.”
Numbers are up at the lodge – Avalos said they have about 300 members. And unlike other chapters, Eugene’s has a good balance of youth and experience. Avalos guessed the average age to be 50, with members as young as 18 and as old as 86.
But Avalos, who played tackle in football and first base in baseball at Sweetwater Union High School in National City, Calif., knows the Ducks are short-handed. Oregon is down receiver Cameron Colvin (diagnosed with a broken right ankle), running back Jeremiah Johnson (torn right ACL), linebacker A.J. Tuitele (foot) and receiver Brian Paysinger (knee).
Though he said the Ducks should be fine – “They’ll beat Washington,” he says – Avalos did have some words of encouragement for them.
“Keep looking forward,” Avalos said. “Don’t get down. Things will get better.”
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