After getting screwed at Running magazine – not in a good way – Nike let me do this and that for the same money.
I have a business card: Director of Sports Information. A job I always wanted somewhere.
Wrote the liner notes for a certain album cover. Maybe 1981, maybe ’82. – JDW
“Athletics West is doing a wonderful job,” says Jimmy Carnes, coach of the 1980 Olympic team. “They’re setting an example I hope other companies will follow. If they do, we can become more dominant in track and field than ever before. We need twenty Athletics Wests across the U.S.”
There is only one.
NIKE founded Athletics West in 1977 because historically the Amateur Athletic Union (now The Athletics Congress) and the U.S. Olympic Committee have functioned as little more than athletic travel agencies, failing to provide adequate support for America’s distance runners.
The club was NIKE’s reaction to the familiar story of serious track and field athletes in this country stymied in their efforts to continue training and competition after college graduation, just as they are beginning to reach their competitive potential. For many of these postgraduate athletes, there seldom are opportunities for adequate day-to-day preparation. Promising careers are often abruptly terminated because of the difficulty of finding employment that will accommodate strenuous training schedules and frequent absence for competition.
This dilemma has had a profound effect on American Olympic performances, especially in distance races, where runners do not reach competitive maturity until their late 20’s or early 30’s. Since World War II, U.S. runners have won but nine medals in races of 1500 meters or longer. They have not placed in the top three in a distance race on the track since the Mexico City Games of 1968. Only marathoner Frank Shorter’s performances in 1972 and 1976 have prevented a complete shutout.
Something had to be done.
In accordance with this country’s traditions, NIKE decided that private enterprise was the only answer. “If American corporations like NIKE don’t come to the aid of American athletes,” noted company president Philip Knight, “we are going to watch track and field in the United States slip off into mediocrity. As long as we’re selling sneakers,” added the one-time 4:10 miler, “I don’t think we will be willing to see that happen.”
The successes of such record holders as Mary Decker, Herb Lindsay, Willie Banks, Alberto Salazar, Patti Catalano, and Mac Wilkins bode well for the future of American track and field. These members of Athletics West – and they are by no means the only record holders in the club – receive the best support available. The more than seventy athletes may receive financial aid, medical supervision, insurance coverage, coaching assistance, use of club facilities, help in securing a suitable training environment, as well as assistance in job placement.
Qualified athletes receive travel expenses to competitions in such places as New Zealand and Europe. Training camps have been established: prior to the 1980 Olympic Trials, AW marathoners enjoyed the benefits of high altitude work in Mexico.
Athletics West is headquartered in Eugene, Oregon, site of the 1972, 1976, and 1980 U.S. Olympic Trials. NIKE built a quarter-million-dollar, 4,088 sq. ft. training center featuring a spacious locker room with showers, laundry, and sauna. There is also an extensive weight-training room, an injury treatment facility and a well-equipped laboratory as well as offices for the administrative staff. The East Coast branch of Athletics West, established in Wellesley, Massachusetts in 1980, has its own offices.
The cost of Athletics West is great but NIKE believes the money is well spent. Track and field, especially distance running, is the base upon which NIKE was founded by athlete and his coach. The company’s roots are here.
Athletics West is unique, perhaps in the world, certainly in the United States. It must not remain so. NIKE has shown the way, but we hope other corporations will follow.
American track and field athletes deserve nothing less.
