[Jay, here. A very faithful eDucker, Jim H., emailed and asked us to post this notice. And we're always willing to help eDuckers who visit Duck Sports News. If you have any questions, leave a comment and Jim will try to respond.]
July 16, 2008
Just want to remind all Duck fans that the SW Washington chapter of the Duck Club is in the early stages of forming.
We had our first inital meeting on July 11th with nine Duck fans attendance.
Now I would like to I invite all Duck fans in the Vancouver/SW Washington area to jump on board! You don’t have to have attended Oregon, or have season tickets to any Oregon sports, to be a member.
We are inviting all fans to meet at Big Al’s for the next meeting on Thursday, Aug 7th at 7pm. Then, we will meet again on Aug 28th.
Come out and meet your fellow Ducks and talk about the upcoming football season! These meeting are pretty informal, just a few Quackerbackers getting together.
The long range goals of the new chapter are as follows:
1. Build our membership to 35-50 supporters, or more.
2. Build a web-page.
3. Recruit some club sponsors.
4. Work to be able to fund a full or partial athletic scholarship to the U of O from the SW Washington area.
5. Bring SW Washington fans closer to the University of Oregon and University of Oregon Athletics.
6. Gain official 501(c)3 non-profit status.
This is a great way to show your Duck pride and stick to the Huskies and Cougars in SW Washington!
So, jump on board and GO DUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tags: Big Al's, Duck Club, Ducks, eDuck, SW Washington, University of Oregon, Vancouver
Sid Wicks Says:
July 16th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Jay,
Just to confirm, is this an Official Oregon Club?
Or is this just a Duck Club.
Just to clarify:
We have been going through the official channels with DAF to form an official Oregon Club of Seattle.
I don’t want to squash anyone’s enthusiasm - but this process has taken over a year.
We hope to launch this fall.
Sidney
Jay Says:
July 17th, 2008 at 12:09 am
Sid -
I don’t know. Hopefully, Jim will be checking in and can answer your question.
A year to form an “official” Oregon Club? What’s up with that?
Jay
DSN
Jim Says:
July 17th, 2008 at 12:47 am
Sid,
We know the time involved. That is why we are trying to start the process as soon as possible to get the ball rolling. Right now we are trying to see what kind of numbers we can reach, and if there is enough support to form a seperate chapter. Luckily we have some DAF members that are working with us.
Jim
VanDuck Says:
July 17th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
I would love to be a part of this and donate money, but only if the scholarship goes to help out Oregon Wrestling. I will pledge at least $1000.00
Quality MF Says:
July 17th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
I will pledge $2000.00 if Wrestling is continued.
Jim Says:
July 18th, 2008 at 1:39 am
The scholarship idea is a long way down the road. To whom or where the scholarship will go is still to be determined. Please attend the meetings and voice your opinions. All the more the better.
Jim
truth seeker Says:
July 18th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
OK, so they (UO) have dropped wrestling. Not something I am in favor of, but they have done so. Gone is the link under list of teams on the university website. Now they have over $200,000 in funds from the Thomas wrestling endowment fund that they are still holding hostage. In the meantime Kent and staff get over $400,000 in yearly pay increases. Maybe they deserve it, that isn’t my point. Hard to argue money problems as an excuse for dumping the sport, and continually increase other sports expenditures(see Belotti, Kent and staff, baseball,etc). It is almost as if Kilkenny enjoys doing this stuff to rub the wrestlers nose in it.
Quality MF Says:
July 18th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Jim,
I will try to attend.
Big Al’s.
Quality MF Says:
July 18th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Truth Seeker - This is flat out discrimination of a sport. We know that. Watch out for Sept. 7th, folks. Oregon Wrestling most likely will be back! Can’t cut a sport just because you “want to” or you “don’t like the sport”. This includes all sports at the UO. UO has put itself in a bind when they said Title IX was the reason, now it’s not the reason….now it’s money, well now it’s not the money…..now it’s a workout facility. UO Wrestler boosters will PAY for this new facility….hmmmm, not a workout facility issue…..now what kind of reason can they drum up? Well, we just don’t like wrestling —-Not a good enough reason!!!!! That’s called discrimination!!!!! Oregon law firmly states this!!!!
Jay Says:
July 18th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
V -
Yes, the U of O should have the ability to cut a sport.
And, yes, I believe that they didn’t like wrestling for a number of reasons.
Unfortunately, that’s very unfair to the student-athletes.
But…
The U of O should be able to determine its own programming.
I’m sure if you make it to Big Al’s, wrestling will undoubtedly be a topic of conversation.
Jay
DSN
Quality MF Says:
July 18th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
That my friend, is discrimination. Plain and simple.
September 7th should be fun. I will buy you an adult beverage to celebrate.
Quality MF Says:
July 18th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
I will up my UO scholarship commitment to $5000.00 IF Oregon Wrestling is continued. No sweat.
BTW - Jay, I will bring some of my old teammates from the UO. Should be fun. Hope to see you there. I will buy you a beer.
Like I am telling Roseana, Get On the BUS!
Quality MF2 Says:
July 18th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Looking forward to it! I will be at Big Al’s promoting Wrestling! And tailgaiting.
Quality MF2 Says:
July 18th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Count me in. See you at Big Als
DuckHappy Says:
July 18th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Jay,
Anyone has the choice to do anything.
UO does not have the right to cut wrestling. Cutting a sport is not a business. Cutting a department or merging with another company in the spirit of developing “synergies” is a strategy to improve the bottom line. This is not about improving the bottom line.
In the world of business, you would be surprised of the amount of wrongful termination cases there are. This is not about money, Title 9, or anything that can be conjured up.
This is about a sport at the University of Oregon - a public university. Pat Kilkenney should not be in the position he is in. In the long run, the image of the UO will be that of a money hungry, throat slitting, corporate driven monster that will show that academics mean nothing.
I love the Ducks. I just don’t want my beloved University compromise their priciples. Anything short of this is unacceptable.
Alumni Says:
July 18th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Well Jay, please let us in if you would on the reasons that UO didnt like wrestling. we know that your at least a litle bit of an insider, so please tell us. Was it the direction of the program, personality clashes, the sport not being”fashionable” as Pat K stated? Please inform us. Perhaps Pat and co. have filled you in? we still are not sure of the “real reasons”. Thanks in advance.
Jay Says:
July 18th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
A -
If I keep on blogging, I don’t know how long I’ll continue to be a little bit of an insider.
But what I’m about to say is relatively public.
Wrestling was on the chopping block numerous times over the years.
Why would they keep on coming back to wrestling?
Because they don’t like wrestling.
Why does someone like green and not blue? Hard to explain. They just don’t like it.
While institutional preference might be difficult to explain, coming up with the arguments to support a predetermined outcome might not be.
Baseball was a way to justify cutting wrestling.
All the other reasons are ways of back-filling their arguments for eliminating a sport they didn’t like.
And I still contend there is a personal element that has not, and will not, be revealed to many.
That’s my story. And I’ve been sticking to it for a lot of months now.
Jay
DSN
Alumni Says:
July 19th, 2008 at 8:47 am
By personal, you mean like Pat got beat up by a wrestler in high school once or had to do it in PE and hated it….? Or Rene’s dissent for the former head coach? Or that the sport is just not country club enough for their liking and too barbaric in their minds? Inquiring minds want to know. If I hear correctly, Title 9 and money,etc are simply lame excuses for dropping something that they do not like or appreciate. As we wrestling advocates have said all along. If true, that is clearly too bad. The crazy thing about that notion is, Title 9 would strongly prohibit an AD from doing the same to say the women’s lacrosse program. Guess where they would lose? In court. T9 violation. And my feeling is that so many folks would rally behind them. And now, with Title 9 in place and ensuring”equaility of opportunity”, the UO has 9 women’s sports and 6 men’s. I don’t get it, if you don’t like the sport, don’t go watch it. I believe it was Rene B who admitted that she had never been to one wrestling match in 20 or so years at the university.
DuckHappy Says:
July 19th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Jay,
Thanks for the comment.
I also agree there is a personal element that has to do with this decision that has not, and will not be revealed. I think someone in the Wrestling Community knows. Those of us who are fighting to keep our sport probably are not in the know. Those who have quietly left the Wrestling scene at the UO probably know.
Either way, both sides will lose in the end. It’s sad to see the direction this has been going. Everyone involved will come away with blood on their hands.
10-20 years from now, Pat Kilkenney will be known for being the AD without a college degree who:
Ramroded the arena project (which I am in favor of).
Reinstated baseball (which I am in favor of) but continues to operate in the deep red. In a surpise move after vacating the AD job, Pat Kilkenney buys the Eugene Emeralds and continues to play their games in the brand new UO purchased baseball stadium.
Developed a new NCAA sport - Tumbling and Gymnastics that quietly ended, because no other PAC-10 school joined in. Other women’s sports, like swimming and wrestling were given precedence.
Men’s and Women’s Wrestling will be continued and formed in the year 2011, two years after Pat Kilkenny’s departure. The SOW money was instrumental in endowing the two programs.
Because Pat Kilkenny’s legacy was so controversial and plagued with so many lawsuits, the Oregon Board of Higher Education and state legislatures chime in and make it mandatory that whoever is the AD in a state-run college or university, they are highly qualified to do so. This includes at least a Master’s degree and a strong, experienced track record in running a Division I level athletic department.
Jay Says:
July 19th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
A -
By personal, I think something happened at an administrative level a long time ago that put wrestling on the wrong side of someone who could influence, or determine, the fate of wrestling.
Let me put it this way: if Coach Finley and Coach Kearney were universally well-liked, do you think wrestling would be in this position?
That’s not to say it’s their fault. But those types of things do influence people.
Jay
DSN
Alumni Says:
July 19th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
It is what has long been suspected by many with a vested influence in this thing. Maybe you are talking about RENE BAUMGARTNER(Senior Women’s Associate AD) alleged disdain for the former head coach. It is no secret, but clearly unfortunate that a whole sport and the futures of hundreds of future Duck wrestlers could be impacted by such a thing. It has been well chronicled by some in the know of the tumultuous relationship of the two. How pitiful, rather than right the ship of the program, that an entire sport would be axed. Many supporters have thought the UO (or at least a few within the department) wanted to/or at least was contemplating axing the program for several years, and that is why they let the program fizzle. If they got someone in charge who would turn the program around, create some success and a following among fans, etc-that it would be that much tougher to kill. So they let it self destruct. Rene took calls and emails in good faith from alumni and wrestling supporters who pleaded for a change in leadership. They wanted more for their program, and were excited to help financially, etc. Then she used that ammo to paint an image of NO SUPPORT and DISDAIN for the program. Also, Moos said wrestling was not going anywhere. It would be interesting to see what he knows. If only he wasn’t bought off and prohibited from commenting on inside dealings within the department. It would be interesting to know of any possible higher power wishes(a certain corporation that has a lot of influenece). Perhaps there is nothing to that, but it would be nice to know. Maybe a court order would bring Bill out for a few words. The irony here of course is that 27 years ago or so, the U of O sadly did the same exact thing to baseball. They let it die on the vine so to speak. At the end, success and support was not very good. Too bad history hasn’t taught us anything from that unfortunate time (or maybe it has, the admin on how to kill something). As for the personal feelings that you allude to regarding Finley, I have never met a single person that didnt think very highly of Ron as a man. He would give anybody the shirt of his back, I am not sure how anyone could have persoanl issues with the guy. A true class act.
Jim Says:
July 19th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
All,
This is not a forum to discuss the wrestling situation, only to inform people that a duck club is starting to form in SW washington, and for people to come out on Aug 7th at 7pm at big Al’s in east vancouver. Please take you conceerns to the another forum or blog as your negative attitude is harmfull to the process of forming a new duck club chapter. Thanks
Jim
duck1fan Says:
July 19th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Alumni,
The moment the athletic department hired Chuck Kerney over two olympic gold medalist, that is when I think it showed how much they really cared about the wrestling program. Correct if I’m wrong but didn’t one of those gold medalists just win a national championship or close to it with his team? If someone can justify to me why we hired CK, I would love to hear it! Anyway once that happened, I think that showed just how much respect and care the athletic department had for the wrestling program!
Alumnus Wrestler Says:
July 20th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Jim,
We appreciate your comments and what you are doing to establish a SW Washington/Vancouver Duck Club.
Don’t know if you like this or not, but there are a number of us UO Alumni Wrestlers in the Vancouver/Kelso/Kalama/Longview area.
We would love to help you out form a Duck Club! We do a lot of tailgating during the Duck games and we think we can really help bring this venture in becoming a state of the art program.
Yes, we are wrestlers and our agenda is to continue UO Wrestling (legally), but we are Ducks as well and we are very proud of our University! There are a large number of us who are doctors, business leaders, and lawyers.
See you August 7th at Big Al’s.
Do you need us to reserve a room (our dime) or are you just planning to meet in the sports bar?
Jim Says:
July 21st, 2008 at 6:35 am
Alum,
Room has already been reserved. Just show up in your duck gear and they will point you to the reserved room. I hope to see you all there.
Jim