Eugene community members filled Tsunami Books on Tuesday evening to listen to author Joshua Hunt discuss his new book, “University of Nike: How Corporate Cash Bought American Higher Education,” in which Hunt details the power and influence that the sportswear company and its owner Phil Knight have over the University of Oregon.

The book has garnered national media attention in the past week, with the New York Post writing that Hunt’s book “exposes how Knight’s massive corporate donations to the University of Oregon’s athletics departments made him and his corporation the defacto leaders of the college.” The New York Times published an interview with Hunt and Inside Higher Ed also covered the book.

In a statement to the Emerald, UO wrote that the Knights are “unquestionably the most generous philanthropists in our state’s history,” and that “their support for both academic and athletic programs at University of Oregon comes without strings attached and has transformed this campus in profoundly positive ways.”

The statement did not comment on the book, saying that “given our focus on the university’s future, we will not engage in debate over Mr. Hunt’s book, which largely speculates about and rehashes historical events that have been covered elsewhere.”

A discussion and reading of author Joshua Hunt’s ‘University of Nike’ takes place at Tsunami Books in Eugene, Ore. on Oct. 23, 2018. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

At the event, Hunt read through passages of his book that chronicled the past, present and future of the UO’s relationship with Nike, starting with Oregon voters’ decision in 1990 to slash higher education funding in the state through Ballot Measure 5. At that point, Hunt said that the university began its relationship with the company because it had to find new sources of funding.

“Oregon set down this path of defunding public education earlier than other states did,” he said.

Hunt added that the approval of the measure was partially due to Oregonians perceiving themselves not as citizens, but taxpayers — a description that resonated with one member of the audience.

“I thought the book made a really important point that we should be thinking that people have allowed themselves to devolve from citizens to taxpayers guarding their wallets,” Sharon Schuman, a former professor of literature at UO’s Robert D. Clark Honors College, told the Emerald. “When you don’t want to pay taxes, schools crumble. We have to fear that corporations have undue influence in universities.”

Scott Landfield, the owner of Tsunami Books, said that he expected some backlash from audience members but that the moderator of the question-and-answer section, former law professor Michael Rooke-Ley, handled the session well.

During a discussion at Tsunami Bookes in Eugene, Ore. on Oct. 23, 2018, ‘University of Nike’ author Joshua Hunt speaks reads an exerpt from his book about Nike’s impact on the University of Oregon. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)

“I knew there would be strongly opposing views,” Landfield said, “but he sees things from all sides. This one was very pretty, I thought.”

Schuman, a family friend of former UO President Dave Frohnmayer, said that while she enjoyed Hunt’s book, she disagreed with the passages relating to Frohnmayer’s family and passed out flyers refuting certain portions of the book which she believed were incorrect.

One major disagreement deals with Knight’s annual million dollar contribution to the Fanconi Anemia Research Fund. The disease took the lives of Frohnmayer’s three children.

In the book, Hunt said that Knight refused to give the annual donation after Frohnmayer sided with student protesters who opposed Nike’s factory working conditions and urged the UO to join the Workers’ Rights Consortium. The Frohnmayer family disputes the account, with their publicist sending the Emerald a statement from Frohnmayer’s wife Lynn. In the statement, Lynn wrote that Knight continued to donate to the fund during the time the UO sided with the protesters.

“Contrary to what is reported by Joshua Hunt in his book “University of Nike,” Phil Knight continued to donate to the Fanconi Anemia Research Fund (FARF) during the period in which the University of Oregon was a member of the Workers’ Rights Consortium (WRC). On Jan. 4, 2001, Phil Knight gave FARF $1 million,” the statement said.

Schuman isn’t the only one to refute the account. The Portland Business Journal reported that during Hunt’s talk at Powell’s Books in Portland on Monday, a member of the Frohnmayer family presented a similar list of what she considered inaccuracies to the audience.

Frohnmayer played a crucial role in the university’s history, as Nike’s relationship with the university solidified under his tenure. Hunt wrote that the school’s relationship with Knight provided new forms of revenue to complete renovations.

“Knight’s money quickly breathed new life into the stadium, which had become saddled with ballooning costs necessary to make up for lost time and finish the job before the 2002 college football season,” Hunt wrote.

Hunt added that other universities are considering the “University of Nike” model, but they may fail to recognize what comes with the adoption of a corporate benefactor.

“From afar it’s shiny buildings and money,” Hunt said. “It works a lot like credit card debt; it encourages the university to live a little beyond its means and not address its responsibilities.”

Responsibility was a theme that came up in another aspect of Hunt’s book — the University of Oregon Police Department’s failure to properly report a March 2014 rape by three UO basketball players in the campus police department’s clery crime log, a document that lists recent crimes. The log is required to be kept up-to-date under federal law.

“Crime statistics are only as honest as the people who report them,” Hunt said.

Hunt said that the university quickly drafted a public relations strategy and that the school’s public relations team created a plan that focused “on a number of ‘key messages’ to advance in the event that the rape accusations became public.”

One of key messages, Hunt wrote in his book, was “the idea that the ‘University of Oregon provides a safe environment for its students, and leaders are committed to cultural changes to focus on survivor support and shared responsibility of each member of our community to prevent and respond to misconduct.’”

Hunt added that another aspect of the PR strategy “emphasized planting media ‘stories about sexual violence prevention, education and resources to inform campus audiences.’”

“Put more simply,” Hunt wrote, “the school sought to promote positive media stories about its efforts to educate its students about sexual assault, even as it failed to comply with the Clery Act by altering them to a rape that had been reported in the community, and which involved multiple students.”

While he focused on the university’s past during his talk  — from the adoption of Nike of as a source of funds to the March 2014 rape scandal — he also discussed the future of the Knight Science Campus, writing in his book that faculty members had ethical concerns about the research that would take place at the campus.

Toward the end of the talk, a member of the audience asked Hunt if he was hopeless about the future, to which he replied “Not at all. It’s really nice to see this resurgence of a younger generation protesting.”

Hunt said his book came out of persistence and wrote in the introduction that university officials “locked themselves in their offices” until he left the buildings they worked in.

“This book is the result of hanging around a lot and keeping coming back. Follow the rumors until you track it back to a document or source,” he said.

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Nineteen University of Oregon law school professors joined more than 2,400 law professors from across the country in signing a letter published in the New York Times calling on the United States Senate to not confirm Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

The letter, which was presented to the Senate on Oct. 4, did not address the sexual assault and misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh, but rather criticized the judge’s temperament and decorum during his hearing last week in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“I was struck by how he was treating the legislature,” UO law professor and signee of the letter Kristen Bell said. ”In the courtroom, he wouldn’t tolerate a defendant talking back to him.”

Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation has dominated the news cycle in recent weeks after three women accused him of sexual assault and misconduct during his time in high school at Georgetown Prep in Maryland and his time in college at Yale University. One of Kavanaugh’s accusers, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.

Kavanaugh testified after Ford, and following both parties’ testimony, the White House ordered an FBI investigation into the incident before the Senate could vote on whether they would confirm the nominee. The bureau’s investigation ended on Thursday and found “no corroboration” of the allegations. The Senate is expected to vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation on Saturday.

During the hearing, Kavanaugh talked back to senators who asked him questions about his drinking habits during his time in high school and college. In one exchange, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., asked Kavanaugh if he had ever drank so much the night before that he did not remember what happened the next day, to which he asked her, “Have you?”

“Those questions were very relevant, and there was lots of evidence that he drank heavily in high school and college. When you drink heavily at that age with your friends I’m not sure you remember everything, and I felt that he was not being honest,” said Caroline Forell, a UO law professor who signed the letter. “He never really addressed that in an honest way. When he turned that on her, that was the point in which I went ‘Woah.’”

Kavanaugh responded to critics of his temperament in an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, saying that his tone was “sharp” but only because it reflected his “overwhelming frustration at being wrongly accused, without corroboration, of horrible conduct completely contrary to [his] record and character.”

Bell, who was the second UO law professor to sign the letter, also criticized Kavanaugh’s description of the accusations against him during his hearing, particularly when he referred to them as a “calculated and orchestrated political hit.”

“It was so partisan that if I were a litigant appearing before him I could not trust that he was impartial. There are two critical aspects I think are important for a judge, one thing is that they are impartial and the public trusts they are impartial, and that trust for me shattered when he was testifying,” Bell said. “I worry about the legitimacy of the court, the legal profession and the rule of law.”

Although the New York Times letter did not address the sexual assault accusations against Kavanaugh, Bell, who used to work at Yale Law School, said that she found Ford’s testimony to be compelling.

“I was really struck by her testimony and how credible she was. I worked with people who were survivors of sexual assault, and I don’t think she could’ve acted in a way that made her anymore credible,” Bell said. “I was also really impressed with her composure and courage. I think she acted with grace under pressure, and it was empowering at the same time it was horrifically tragic.”

Kavanaugh described himself as “even-keeled” in his op-ed, and said he will maintain that attribute going forward, a quality that Forell says is necessary for a judge.

“You need to be even-keeled as a judge, even if you have a lot of emotion,” Forell said. “You need to not lose your cool.”

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The University of Oregon class of 2022 is eight percentage points larger than last year’s incoming class, with 4,203 students as of Sept. 24, according to Vice President of Student Services and Enrollment Management Dr. Roger Thompson.

“To have our entering class eight percent larger than last year is good. We’re pleased with that,” Thompson said. “It shows more students are selecting the UO, and it speaks to our academic quality and the things we offer in and outside of the classroom.”

The numbers that Thompson cited won’t be officially confirmed until the fourth school week due to the federal government’s census date; however, he doesn’t expect the numbers to drastically change.

The class of 2022 also broke other school records, such as the most ethnically diverse class, with domestic minority students making up 36 percent of the class. Thompson said that the previous record was held by last year’s class, with 34 percent of students identifying as domestic minority students. Thompson also said that the class of 2022 is more diverse than the state of Oregon itself.

The class of 2022 also has the largest number of domestic non-resident students, meaning students who are not from Oregon. Thompson says that 44 percent of the class of 2022 comes from out of state.

The new class also has the largest number of Pathway Oregon students in the school’s history. Pathway Oregon was established 10 years ago as a way to help lower income Oregonians get through school with a combination of grants.

“At that time [six years ago] we enrolled 400 new Pathway Oregon freshmen. Today, on the 10th anniversary of Pathway Oregon and six years since we redesigned the program, we are thrilled to have more than 800 Pathway Oregon students and to double the number from where it was six years ago. And to do that on the 10th anniversary on the creation of the program is exhilarating,” he said.

More data is set to be released soon, such as the number of states that students in the class of 2022 are from and the oldest and youngest students in the class.

“The new students who have entered the UO were very active in the week of welcome and they turned out to all the events,” Thompson says. “I think they’re going to be a terrific class. … These are a great group of students who have started at the University of Oregon.”

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The Emerald was named a finalist in the Associated Collegiate Press’ design category for 2018, an organization composed of college media publications across the country. The design category is classified as an “individual award,” which ACP says is meant to honor “the best individuals in collegiate journalism.”

Art Director Emily Harris and Design Editor Kelly Kondo designed the cover for the story of The Resilient Cheerleader, in which the Emerald profiled University of Oregon cheerleader Sarah DeBois’ battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Over the summer of 2017, the Emerald’s print product went from a twice a week publication to a once a week paper, and Harris and Kondo took the Emerald through a full-print redesign that changed the layout of the newspaper. The duo added a sidebar to the newspaper that allows readers to see previews of other stories in print and made sure that each section was in the same place each week.

The Emerald has won other awards from ACP in the past few years, with the most recent time being in 2016 for best college newspaper.

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A family who lived in East Campus Housing is suing the University of Oregon for $750,000, claiming the university violated the state’s landlord and tenant act and that they were sickened by mold in the attic due to the university’s negligence.

According to the complaint, Paul and Emily Meng and their two children suffered symptoms consistent with mold exposure and diagnostic tests confirmed the presence of mold in the attic of their home.

University officials declined to discuss the Mengs’ claims or to produce any inspection records for the residence, citing the ongoing litigation.

The lawsuit, filed in July, marks the second time residents of East Campus Housing sued the university because of the conditions of facilities. In September 2016, a law student and UO employee sued the university for $74,017 after they had to vacate an East Campus House that was contaminated with lead paint. The case was settled in fall 2017 and the couple received a $120,000 settlement.

East Campus Housing units are rented to graduate students, including those who may have families, and the houses range from one to five bedrooms. Paul Meng is a doctoral candidate pursuing a degree in special education. Many of the properties are on Moss, Columbia and Villard streets. The UO’s Public Records Office says the university has managed more than 70 East Campus Housing units over the last 50 years.

The house on the corner of East Seventh Avenue and Moss Street is at the center of a lawsuit with the University. (Dana Sparks/Emerald)

The Mengs’ complaint states that in summer 2017, the ceiling of the house located at 1709 Moss St. began to sag due to roof leaks and the university’s lack of maintenance. According to the complaint, the members of the Meng family began to suffer symptoms consistent with mold exposure in September. Paul Meng suffered symptoms such as severe headaches, sinus infections, swelling in his extremities and bleeding rashes. Emily Meng suffered from a variety of symptoms, including severe headaches, vertigo and recurring sinus infections.

The complaint claims that the Mengs’ children also suffered symptoms of mold exposure, including stomach aches and changes in behavior, such as irritability and personality and neuro-cognitive problems. As a result of the symptoms and mold, the family said it had to vacate the house and move and is now seeking compensation for the costs of mold-sampling diagnostic tests and past and future medical expenses.

The family is also suing for loss and contamination of personal property, moving expenses and noneconomic damages that occurred as a result of the violation of the residential landlord tenant act.

“They’re not activists; they got a couple of sick kids and they’re sick themselves,” said Calvin “Kelly” Vance, the Meng family’s lawyer. Vance specializes in toxic mold litigation and represented the plaintiffs who sued the UO in 2016.

The complaint claims that the UO failed to maintain the property in a “safe and habitable” condition — a violation of Oregon’s Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. The complaint also stated that the university was negligent because it failed to inspect, discover, prevent or abate the mold contamination.

Emily said the ceiling would “bubble up” and that she contacted the UO three or four times about the issue.

“We contacted them multiple times and asked them for different abatements. Every time our ceiling had an issue, we called it in,” she said. “We didn’t know it was mold, but we contacted them about our ceiling. Our ceiling would make this big bubble, they would come in and pop the bubble and patch it.”

The Emerald submitted a public records request on Sept. 13 for the inspection records of East Campus Housing residences.

UO spokesperson Molly Blancett then contacted the Emerald on Sept.17 to set up a meeting with Adam Jones, the university’s building environmental science manager. The Building Environmental Science team coordinates inspections and project management and oversees mold prevention.

But two days later, the UO Office of Public Records told the Emerald that the university would not be able to discuss East Campus Housing as there is “litigation pending related to these properties.” In an email, the records office said it also would not produce inspection records for the properties because those records would likely be part of litigation, and those types of records are exempt under Oregon’s Public Records Law.

Vance says that whenever he has a client who believes they have been exposed to mold, he urges them to act quickly.

“When people call me, I tell them there are three things they have to do,” Vance said. “They need to have the place tested, find a doctor that understands mold and can treat and do the right testing on you, and you need to move.”

Vance said he recommends his clients ask their doctors for a medical test that will determine if they have been exposed to mold.

The units in East Campus Housing were built decades ago, and according to county records, the house the Mengs were renting was built in 1938. The house involved in the 2016 litigation, located at 1822 Moss St., was built in 1927.

“These are old houses that need maintenance and the university isn’t doing maintenance, so roof leaks become a bigger problem than they would be if you got on it and just fixed it,” Vance  said. “The university is just renting these places to students and thinking the students aren’t going to do anything about it.”

The Emerald will continue to report on this story as it develops.

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Campus will have a whole new look in two years, and two new dorms: the University of Oregon administration plans to demolish the Hamilton and Walton residence halls and replace them with two to three new buildings that are expected to be completed by November 2023.

In April, the Emerald reported that the UO administration was “considering the future” of Hamilton and Walton residence halls and a demolition was an option. Dr. Roger Thompson, the Vice President of Student Services and Enrollment Management, said that the demolition allows the UO to not be constrained by the previous footprints of the existing buildings.

“This is an exciting moment in time,” Thompson said. “Let’s not put limits on things.”

Thompson said he presented the idea to the UO’s Board of Trustees in May and they were quite receptive to the idea of two new dorms.

“The biggest concern raised by trustees was the impact on students in the form of cost, and I feel comfortable that Roger, Michael and team have been thoughtful in both controlling project costs and ensuring there is a range of affordable housing options available to students,” Ross Kari, the chair of the Board’s Trustees Finance and Facilities said in a statement.

Walton Hall (Henry Ward/Emerald)

Thompson said that keeping costs affordable for students was a factor when it came to the new dorms, and adding more rooms will keep the cost down. Thompson said the new residence halls will cost slightly more, but the costs will be spread out among the students.

“That’s the great thing,” Thompson said. “We can keep price to a modest increase.”

The Hamilton and Walton residence halls currently house 1,400 beds between them and as of April, the halls had 1,311 students living between them. The new plans anticipate that the buildings will hold 1,800 beds between them.

Thompson said that he toured schools around the PAC-12 such as Arizona State, University of Arizona, University of Southern California and the University of Washington to gain inspiration for what the space could look like.

Although the discussions about the future of the residence halls have been happening between members of administration and the Board of Trustees, Thompson said that he is seeking student input on what the residence halls may look like.

“As a division, we can’t move forward without talking to a lot of students,” Thompson said. “We need to make sure we’re talking to students, but also more importantly, listening [to students].”

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Ramzy Hattar, the owner of Taylor’s Bar and Grill, has requested a hearing with the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) that will determine the fate of his bar following the commission’s recommendation to revoke the bar’s liquor license.

The recommendation comes after the commission found 29 serious incidents that occured from Taylor’s ranging from sexual assaults to druggings.

OLCC spokesman Matthew VanSickle told the Emerald in an email statement that he received a request for the hearing on Tuesday, but no date has been set. The Register-Guard was the first to break the story on Thursday.

It is not clear what the outcome of the hearing will be; however, VanSickle said in an earlier interview with the Emerald that the serious allegations in the notice will have an effect upon the commission’s decision.

“Since there were 29 violations and their license is up for renewal the commission is recommending that their license not be renewed. It’s pretty extreme,” VanSickle told the Emerald in August. “[Not renewing] doesn’t happen all that frequently, there’s been a few incidents where it has happened in egregious incidents like this.”

The Emerald will continue its coverage of Taylor’s as more updates become available.

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The 21-year-old University of Oregon student who died at Shasta Lake last May was killed by asphyxiation, according to a Shasta County Coroner’s report released Wednesday. The report lists acute alcohol intoxication as “a significant contributing condition.”

Laboratory tests from the report indicated that the student, Dylan Pietrs, had a blood alcohol content of .227. As a point of reference, a blood alcohol content of .08 indicates that a person is unable to operate a motor vehicle by law in the state of California and Oregon.

Police officials suspect no foul play and the report listed the death as an accident.  

A narrative report from the county’s coroner investigator said that Pietrs and his friends had originally set up his tent on high ground the evening of the incident. His body was recovered by friends the next morning at the bottom of the hill.

The report stated that the tent was the cause of the mechanical asphyxia, a medical term meaning that Pietrs was unable to breathe due to his body’s “position and/or external pressure was applied to his body.”

According to the report, the position Pietrs’ body was found in “likely significantly impaired his breathing, and because of his alcohol intoxication, he was unable to respond to and remove himself from that position in time.”

No commonly abused drugs were detected in the autopsy, the reported stated.

“Shasta Weekend” is an event attended by hundreds of UO students at Shasta Lake in Northern California and is heavily attended by the university’s Greek community. Pietrs was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.

Several students have died at Lake Shasta over the years, with the two most recent deaths of a UO student and an Oregon State student occurring in May 2005.

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Taylor’s Bar and Grill is an iconic stop for University of Oregon students, but the bar’s future is full of uncertainty. Last weekend, the Register-Guard reported that the Oregon Liquor Control Commission sent Taylor’s a notice on Wednesday, August 22, recommending the cancellation of the bar’s liquor license. The notice listed 29 serious infractions ranging from fights and druggings to DUIIs as justification.

The incidents could cost Taylor’s its liquor license, but the bar’s owner, UO alumnus Ramzy Hattar, says he is talking to OLCC “on a daily basis” and is planning on having a hearing with the commission.

“Times are different, and the era is different and we have to provide more security and be more aware of the current climate and current risks and the only way I can succeed in that is working with the OLCC and the UO,” Hattar said in an interview with the Emerald.

Hattar, who bought the bar in May 2017, said that he has sent in an appeal but has not yet scheduled a hearing with the OLCC. After the appeal, Taylor’s will have a hearing in which an administrative law judge will recommend a settlement that will then go up for debate at a commission meeting.

Hattar is the owner of River Pig Saloon, a restaurant with locations in Portland and Bend. Hattar says that the River Pig Saloon has a positive relationship with the OLCC, but owning a campus bar has been a different experience.

“They’ve been really good to work with,” Hattar said of OLCC. “The whole Taylor’s thing is a little different situation because the nightlife cycle on campus is high volume and very different than what I deal with at a regular bar or restaurant. The volume of students showing up in that two hour period between between 11 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. is a lot of pressure on a bar, and it’s the nature of the beast.”

OLCC spokesman Matthew VanSickle said in an interview with the Emerald that the serious nature of the infractions will affect the commission’s decision.

“Since there were 29 violations and their license is up for renewal the commission is recommending that their license not be renewed. It’s pretty extreme,” VanSickle said. “[Not renewing] doesn’t happen all that frequently, there’s been a few incidents where it has happened in egregious incidents like this.”

VanSickle wrote in an email statement that no other bars in Eugene have received notices like the one that Taylor’s received. Despite not receiving any notices, Eugene Police Department call logs show that there have been a number of incidents at other bars.

Max’s, for example, has seen 112 incidents since 2013, including nine fights, 11 disputes and eight assaults. In that same time period, Taylor’s saw 176 incidents, 48 of which took place since May 2017, when Hattar bought the bar. Webfoot saw 45 incidents, including nine assaults, five disputes and three fights.

The OLCC listed several incidents of DUIIs in the notice to Taylor’s, and Hattar wrote in a statement to the Emerald that he hopes the introduction of Uber to Eugene will help students get home safely. Hattar described patrons gathering outside as “a big part of the problem.”

Hattar said that he has been working to make Taylor’s safer for students. Taylor’s has imposed a $5 cover for non-students, which allows the bar to focus on its student patrons. Students are now required to bring valid student ID if they don’t want to pay the cover charge.

“If you’re a student you go through the non-cover line and the other line is for people who don’t have student IDs,” Hattar said. “The other line makes sure that non-students are there for the right reasons, and it allows us to manage the crowd and allow students to get in first.”

Taylor’s also added flood lights to the outside patio to provide better lighting — a feature Hattar said will help capture incidents caught on security cameras. The bar also has six trained security personnel at all times on busy nights, and invites UO and Eugene police to park next to the bar.

The efforts to improve Taylor’s go beyond providing better lighting and imposing a cover for non-students. In December 2017, Hattar met with Kerry Frazee, UO’s director of prevention services, and UOPD to discuss prevention and safety.

Since the meeting, UOPD has coordinated a training program with a number of campus bars, including Taylor’s, to develop methods to keep students safe. UOPD spokesman Kelly McIver told the Emerald that the department is working with bars to train their staff to recognize signs of over intoxication and predatory behavior.

“It was a student-driven idea to start the program at UO,” McIver said. “The office of Dean of Students have been an enthusiastic and willing partner as well as UOPD. We’re close to launch now, but it hasn’t been launched yet.”

One aspect of the program is code words for women to tell bartenders if they find themselves in situations in which they feel unsafe, and the bartender can assist them.

Although it is uncertain when the OLCC will decide the fate of Taylor’s, Hattar said that he is focusing on the future of the bar and improving communication with his staff.

“I wanna focus on what we can to do to keep Taylor’s around now and for future generations,” Hattar said. ”I want it to continue to be an institution that carries on memories for students and student athletes for now and forever.”

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On Friday evening, a program from the first-ever NCAA basketball championship in 1939 sold for $5,184 on Lelands.com, a sports memorabilia auction website. The University of Oregon Webfoots were named national champions on March 27, 1939 after they beat Ohio State 46-33 at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois

Bidding for the program began on July 15 with a starting price of $300. The first few bids were in the $300-$500 range, but the next drove the price up to $2,438. It jumped to $3,570 on July 24, where it remained until the last day of bidding on Friday, Aug. 17. Although the program was sold Friday night, the winner’s name will be announced when the company is given permission to release it.

The 79-year-old program, which the website describes as in excellent to mint condition minus a creased corner, features a black and white photo at Northwestern University’s Patten Gymnasium. The inside of the program lists the teams’ starting lineups with their rosters listed above each of the team’s photos.

(Courtesy of Lelands.com)

The “Tall Firs,” a nickname given to the Oregon team due to the height of the starting lineup, were coached by Howard Hobson. According to a 2016 video interview with University Archivist graduate assistant Zachary Bigalke, the team’s front court starters we’re at least 6’4, making the team one of the tallest in the nation at the time.

The Oregonian reported that during the game, the players “gave 4,000 midwest fans and some 400 basketball coaches a whirlwind exhibition of crushing offensive power combined with just as effective defensive tactics.”  The story was published to The Oregonian’s website in 2017, when the Ducks made it to the NCAA Final Four for the first time since 1939.

The “homegrown” team received national attention and a warm welcome home in Eugene, where students met the Tall Firs at the train station, said Lauren Goss, Accessioning and Processing Archivist at Knight Library.

“The championship team was comprised solely of student-athletes from either Oregon and Washington,” Goss said. “The national news recognition celebrated the athletic talents of the university, but also identified the Pacific Northwest as a formidable power for developing collegiate athletes.”

The Tall Firs were the first NCAA championship winners, and the Oregon Daily Emerald reported on March 28, 1939 that “Oregon’s doors to immortality swing wide today as Eugene, the state, and the nation hail these Oregon champions.”

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