SPECIAL Q&A
Chip Kelly, Oregon’s 30th head
football coach, originally declined our request
for an interview, declaring he would rather
talk about his players than himself. Eventually,
he acquiesced to a faxed-interview which is
reproduced here. Kelly, 46-years old, spent the
past two seasons as the nationally-recognized
offensive coordinator for the Ducks until he was
named to succeed Mike Bellotti, who retired
as the most successful head coach in Oregon
history.
Under Kelly, Oregon consistently ranked high
in the Pac-10 and the nation in rushing, total
offense and scoring. His work with Dennis Dixon
was headed for a Heisman Trophy until Dixon
blew his knee out late in the 2007 season. Kelly
continued page 7...
TRUE CHAMPION
DON STONE
Board of Directors
Don Stone, President
Football 1970-71
letter from the president
Colin McArthur, Treasurer
Men’s Track 1997-00
Missy Koke, Secretary
Softball 1994-99
Dear Oregon Letterwinners,
Duck Athletics got a great start
in September. It was exciting to see
our fall sports all ranked high in the
national polls! It doesn’t get much
better than that. One of the events
the Order of the O helped support
was the Football Reunion at the Utah
football game – with close to 250
past football players present. For
me it was great to see and visit my
Oregon teammates some of whom
I hadn’t seen since our playing days.
After attending the reunion and in
addition the celebrated Hall of Fame
Dinner I couldn’t help but feel strong
pride for the University of Oregon.
The Hall of Fame Dinner was held
at the club at Autzen Stadium the
night before the Washington State
football game early in October.
Both Athletic Director Mike Bellotti
and University President Richard
Lariviere made their impressive
débuts. The Order of the O again,
as in past years, helps sponsor
this event. Paula Patterson (golf),
Karla Rice (Volleyball coach), Ron
Snidow (football), Kenya Wilkins
(basketball), Herb Yamanaka
(athletic administrator), and both
NCAA Champion Men’s 1964 and
1965 track teams were all honored
and inducted into the University
of Oregon Hall of Fame – all great
representatives from our University’s
past. It was well attended and lots of
fun.
That same evening the Order of the
O welcomed our newest honorary
member – Mr. Don Essig. We all
know Don from his work behind
the mic at the Oregon Football and
Basketball games going back to
1967 and his “weather forecasting”
has become legendary. He has done
much to enrich the public relations
of Eugene; after all we all know “it
never rains at Autzen Stadium”. I
was touched by both he and his wife
and their appreciation of this honor.
Besides Don’s U of O duties, he has
been the MC at numerous charity
and community non-profit events,
a board member on the University
Alumni Association, president of the
Eugene/Springfield Oregon Club,
awarded the Len Casanova Lifetime
Achievement Award, served as
an international human relations
consultant and motivational speaker
and has written a couple books on
these subjects – truly an outstanding
addition to the Order of the O.
Bill Thompson
Football 1970-71
Mike Johnson
Football 1968-70
Tim Reed
Baseball 1976
Brian Wright
Men’s Track 1988-91
Bob Donnelly, Social
Tennis, FB Manager 1964-65
Peg Rees (Sr. Awards, Becky Sisley) Volleyball, Basketball, Softball 1973-77
Robin Wilcox-Gruver
Gymnastics, Volleyball, Track 1974-76
Adam Kennybrew
Football 1999-02
Beth Campbell
Development Asst.
Neal Zoumboukos
Oregon Althetic Department
H.J Cohn
Duck Athletic Fund Intern
Writing: Ken Woody, Newsletter Advisor
Editor: Missy Koke
Lastly, I would like to reiterate that
the Order of the O is a “serving”
as well as a “social” organization.
Remember to recruit old teammates
and tell them about our club’s many
benefits – networking and reunions
with past teammates being one of
our biggest benefits. Our mission is
“athletes helping athletes; athletes
honoring athletes”. I hope to see all
of you at one of the remaining Order
of the O events this spring – just look
for the Order of the O banner – as
always GO DUCKS!
Proudly.
Don Stone
Order of the O President
Design Firm: Brian Thomas Wright Creative Group
Art Director: Brian Thomas Wright
Printing: QSL Printing
Photos: Jack Liu, Eric Evans, John Guistina,
Brian Wright, Order of O Members &
UO Athletic Department
© University of Oregon 2010
The LetterWinner is the official publication
of the Order of the O and the University of
Oregon Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.
If you have stories, ideas, or articles about
Order of the O members, address changes,
or other suggestions for the please send
correspondence to:
Beth Campbell
Order of the O
Department of Intercollegiate Athletics
University of Oregon
2727 Leo Harris Parkway
Eugene, Oregon 97401-8835
541-346-4460
Amanda Cardwell
Order of the O Scholarship Winner
Don Stone, Order of the O President,
announced that Amanda Cardwell,
a freshman from South Salem High
School is the winner of the annual
Order of the O Scholarship for 200910. The scholarship is awarded yearly
to a child or grandchild of a former
Oregon athlete who is not intending to
participate in varsity athletics.
Amanda’s mother, Molly CardwellAiken, was a softball and volleyball
player for the Ducks in 1978-81.
Although she will not play at Oregon,
Amanda was very involved in sports
growing up and hopes to participate
in intramural volleyball while going to
school. The Aiken family influence is
great in the state of Oregon: several
family members excelled in both high
school and college sports. Molly was
a member of a playoff softball team
and has been voted into the Oregon
Softball Hall-of-Fame.
A solid student, Amanda is majoring in
theater arts at Oregon, with a postgraduate goal of gaining a position
in costume design in professional
theater or opera. One of her subjects
is Italian, which she hopes to use in the
theater world after graduation. “I really
2nd Football Reunion
A Smashing success
Over 240 Oregon alumni football players
came back to campus for the second
annual Football Reunion, held at Mallard
Park (in the east end of Autzen’s parking
lot) prior to the Utah game. Although
hampered somewhat by a drizzle, spirits
were high and a lot of stories were being
retold, and enjoyed, by the players from
Duck teams ranging from the 1930’s
through 2008.
Don Stone, Order of the O President,
observed, “This is the best turnout we’ve
ever had for a football reunion, and it
directly reflects the extra effort H. J.
Cohn and Jeff Eberhart put into getting
the word out and staying after guys
who’ve been away too long.” Cohn, a
Duck Athletic Fund intern, has made a
significant contribution in his short time
with the department and Eberhart, the
Major Gifts Coordinator for the DAF,
also sparked a very successful baseball
reunion last fall.
Cohn said the event is “all about the
players, we want them to know how
much they’re appreciated and to show
them a good time.” Players were able
to bring wives and kids and it was
gratifying to see the youngsters revel in
the stories they heard about their Duck
heroes. Mike Bellotti, former head coach
to many of the assembled players,
stopped by and gave an inspired speech,
noting that he might have to pull a “Rich
Brooks” to get everyone’s attention.
The celebration continued to the
beginning of the game, where the
assembled players came out of the
stadium tunnel before an appreciative,
capacity crowd and formed a tunnel for
the present-day Ducks to come on the
field. Past stars such as Jack Crabtree,
MVP of the 1958 Rose Bowl, Ahmad
Rashad, Joey Harrington, Tom Graham,
Bob Newland and Dave Walker were on
hand to lend their celebrity to the event.
Another reunion will be planned for next
year, before the Portland State game. o
like the language,” said Amanda, “it is
a versatile language and correlates
with my interest in Italian costume
designs. I also hope to study abroad in
either my sophomore or junior year,
hopefully in London.”
Both her parents were supportive of
Amanda’s sports development and
she worked with younger children
aged 5-13 in summer camps. In
addition, she learned about work ethic
and discipline working the graveyard
shift at a local cannery in her most
recent summer employment. o
BELLOTTI
NEW AD Q&A
On July 1st, Mike Bellotti took the reins as the athletic director for the University of Oregon, taking
over for Pat Kilkenny. Bellotti has spent 20 years serving the Ducks, first as offensive coordinator
and quarterback coach for Rich Brooks in 1989, and most recently, as head football coach.
In 1995, following the Ducks’ first Rose Bowl appearance in 38 years, Bellotti was named head
football coach, replacing Brooks, who went on to the St. Louis Rams. The popular native of
northern California spent 14 years as the head coach, won eight or more games in a season nine
times, shared in two Pac-10 titles and was named the Pac-10 Coach of the Year.
Bellotti also served as head coach of Chico State where he had a record of 21-25-2. At Oregon, he
won 116 games and lost 55, leading the Ducks to six wins in 12 post-season bowl appearances.
His overall record was 137-80-2 as a head coach. He currently serves as Chair of the NCAA
Football Rules Committee. The new athletic director is married to wife Colleen, and has three
children: Luke, Kerri, and Sean.
Q: Time to reflect: greatest thrill as
Head Football Coach?
A: Probably the win over Texas in the
Holiday Bowl (2000: 42-31); the first
two minutes of the Vegas Bowl in ’97
(41-13 over Air Force); the comeback
over ASU in double overtime (2000:
56-55); the past Holiday Bowl (31-21
Oklahoma State). “It’s honestly been the
ability to have been a part of a young
man’s life and the camaraderie of fellow
coaches over the years.
Q: What are your top priorities as
Athletic Director?
A: Balance the budget; finish the capital
construction projects; help integrate
new coaches into the Duck culture—
every year we need to generate
televised football games; it’s necessary
to earn a few to be televised. It depends
on how much of the nation sees it for
the economic gain; it could be better to
have a regional broadcast than a split
national—the key is the combination of
maximum exposure and revenue.
Q: What relationship are you looking to
have with the Order of the O?
A: I am more interested in what
relationship the Order of the O has with
the existing athletic department---letter
winners are in a position to give back
from their experience, expertise, and a
mentoring role. I would like to see them
actively involved in the support of the
athletic department’s mission.
Q: Pat Kilkenny, your predecessor,
established performance
benchmarks for head coaches
(top half of Pac-10); what are your
standards that you expect your
coaches and programs to meet?
Do any of those reflect changes
from the past?
A: I will continue to expect similar
performance benchmarks;
however, it is important to
remember that some sports
could be in the bottom half of
the conference and still be in
regional playoffs (women’s softball,
for example). We don’t have a
blanket statement of what teams
need to do year in year out, but
improvement and commitment
to excellence are very important.
My experience has shown me
that sometimes there are things
beyond the control of coaches,
like injuries, that can affect how a
team finishes in a season; We all
generally agree we’ve set the bar
high---tennis for example: Oregon
is not going to get the best tennis
players from the West Coast.
They’ll go to Stanford, ‘SC, UCLA,
Cal, or Arizona, so we have had to
depend on international players,
who have actually had a positive
impact on the diversity of athletes
here at Oregon
Q: What will be the criteria that
you will use in evaluating your
coaches and their programs?
A: 1. the experience for the
athletes, post season review:
relationship between players
and coaches and leadership. 2.
Win-loss; place in conference,
regional or national competition;
3. graduation rates; 4. team
behavior.
Q: Is Oregon to be considered an
“elite” among its peers? Why or
why not? What is gained by being
in “the elite”?
A: We have some sports
considered among the elite, track
and field is the best example;
their teams have been competing
on a high level for a consistent
period of time. We have other
sports competing at that level,
but inconsistently; we want to be
considered elite at the highest
level. Some of our facilities put
us there, some do not--Recruiting
is the lifeblood of athletics, the
environment must be pleasing to
the eye and able to generate some
excitement.
Q: As a competitive athletic
program and university, what
are Oregon’s advantages?
Disadvantages?
A: We have tried to invest our
success in our facilities, upgrading
the level of most of them; weather,
a surprise to some, is actually an
advantage here: the weather is
mild, with an average temperature
of 62 degrees that makes it one
of the best places to train in the
western US. Eugene is a college
town, where you can walk, ride
a bike, get around town, it’s
clean and green and it’s safe. A
disadvantage: there is not a large
local captive population.
Q: Are you in favor of the current,
round-robin 9 game conference
football schedule? Why or why
not?
A: I am for it; it truly crowns the
champion. Before the round robin
schedule, you would win because
of who you didn’t play.
Q: Are you in favor of having a
conference championship game in
football?
A: It is not needed, although
there is some support within the
conference with a few athletic
directors.
Q: Have college bowl games been
diluted?
A: Yes, by the fact that we have
so many of them; but it gives more
teams a chance to play and it’s a
neat experience for the kids.
Q: In that you have primarily been
involved with the “engine that
drives the athletic department”
(football) what will be your
message to the non-revenue
coaches? What kinds of questions
do they have for you?
A: I wanted to know their
philosophies; I want them to be
successful. Right now, everyone
is undefeated, I want to hear what
they need to be successful. We
all benefit from the success of the
football program and collaterally all
the other programs.
Q: What coaches and
administrators have influenced you
the most and in what ways?
A: Jim Sochor, my head coach
at Davis was the first person I
worked for; Jim Tierney taught me
how to recruit; Pete Riehlman,
who I worked for at Weber State,
and Rich Brooks both taught
me organizational skills. Mack
Brown (Texas), Joe Paterno (Penn
State), Steve Spurrier (South
Carolina) Lloyd Carr (Michigan),
Barry Alvarez (Wisconsin) and
Dick Tomey (Arizona), all I have
learned from, borrowed from, and
talked with all of these coaches
about football coaching. As an
administrator, Joe Singleton of
UC Davis taught me to “never
take anything for granted,”
Al Matthews of Cal State
Hayward taught what a coach’s
commitment is and once I chose
my career, “be committed, don’t
bellyache about how tough it is.”
I learned to be daring from Bill
Byrne and Bill Moos and Bill and
I worked together to create most
of the coaching contracts in the
department.
Q: If you had one thing to convey
to Order of the O members, what
would it be?
A: Be proud, be involved. o
BE PROUD,
BE INVOLVED
PHOTO GALLERY
OO TAILGATING AT THE MO CENTER
Don Essig
LETTER OF THANKS
Dear Order of the O Members:
I want to take this opportunity to express extreme
gratitude for my selection as an Honorary Member of the
Order of the O! You have no idea how honored I really am,
being an old Oregon City farm kid who spent most of his
teenage years working on the farm, instead of being able to
participate to any great extent in high school athletics, thus
never having the real chance to earn an athletic letter. So, I
am very proud of the contribution I have been able to make
for the past 42 years at the Duck microphone at Autzen
Stadium and MacArthur Court, and the chance to play a
small part in the the Athletic Program at Oregon. I look
forward to being a part of your team, and having the chance
to meet many of you again that I have had the privilege of
announcing over the years. Enjoy the Duck seasons this
year, and never stop telling people our favorite saying, “Go
Ducks”! Many thanks,
again! Don Essig
Lauri
Landerholm
CHIP KELLY
“get the ball into the hands of
your playmaker and let them
operate in order to be successful”
SPECIAL Q&A
...continued from page 1
came to Eugene from New Hampshire,
where he served as quarterbacks coach
and offensive coordinator from 19992006. His offenses averaged better
than 400 yards of total offense in seven
of his seasons, and more than 30 points
per game in his final four years.
Q: To the fans, what will be the same
this year as they watch the Ducks?
A: “I’m not sure. Hopefully, they will be
proud of the team we put on the field.”
Q: What are the obstacles the Ducks
face in becoming perennial challengers
to USC and the Pac-10 Championship?
A: “Recruiting consistently.”
Q: What will be different?
A: “See answer to question 1.”
“My philosophy has been to coach an
attacking style of football and stretch
the defenses in as many different ways
as you can,” Kelly said when he arrived
in Eugene. “You have to get the ball into
the hands of your playmakers and let
them operate in order to be successful.”
Q: Define your role, as you see it, as
Oregon’s head football coach.
A: “I want to create an environment
where this program can be successful.”
Q: Do you favor the current round-robin
conference schedule? Why/why not?
A: “Yes, you have to play everybody to
determine a true champion.”
Kelly’s debut was a disappointing 19-8
loss at Boise State, where the offense
was in disarray and highly-touted
running back LeGarrette Blount was
suspended for the year (and later
reinstated) after a post-game punch
at a Boise player, and later, having to
be restrained from going after some
fans who were taunting him. It was a
difficult decision for a first-year head
coach, but Kelly handed it with dignity
and resolve. As the season wore on, the
Ducks made significant progress each
game, culminating with a 42-3 thrashing
of Pac-10 favorite California at Autzen
Stadium in week four and a chance for
the Rose Bowl with a win against the
Beavers.
Q: Would you be in favor of a conference
playoff game? Why/why not?
A: “No we can’t. We do not have 12
teams (NCAA Rules).”
Q: What coaches have influenced you
and in what ways?
A: “Bill Bowes, Sean McDonnell, Mim
Margraff, Ray Tellier.”
Q: What’s your view of the current bowl
situation? (number of teams eligible,
break up of conference rivalries, etc.)
A: “I like it. I can’t control it so I don’t
think about it much.”
Q: As a coach, what kind of legacy do
you want to leave?
A: “I don’t care about a legacy. I don’t
coach thinking about my legacy!”
Q: What’s your message to student
athletes you are recruiting?
A: “Oregon is a special place with special
people.”
Q: On what basis will you evaluate your
coaches?
A: “Their ability to teach, recruit, and be
role models.”
Q: Do you see some UO rivalries more
intense than others? Which ones, why?
A: “No.”
Q: What kind of relationship are you
looking to have with the Order of the O?
A: “I don’t really know much about the
Order of the O.”
Q: If you could say anything to Order of O
members what would it be?
A: “Thanks for all your support and laying
a great foundation.” o
What’s new with you? Please let us know so we can put your information in a future Duck Updates section and let other former letter winners read
about your accomplishments. Enclose a recent photo if you want to. Send to: Beth Campbell 2727 Leo Harris Parkway Eugene, Oregon 97401
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
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UO Football in the 2010
Rose Bowl!!!
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Sportswear News
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WINTER 2010
CHIP KELLY
TELLS US ALL IN Q&A
OUR NEW AD
Q&A WITH MIKE BELLOTTI
NEW Inductees honored
FOOTBALL REUNION
HALL OF FAME
OO SCHOLARSHIP