Olympics

Discus throw has been part of the original Olympic games since the first Olympics in 1896.   Women’s competition in discus was added to the Olympics in 2000.

If not for Xena, Warrior Princess, no one would know why anyone ever put the discus throw into athletic competitions.  Our records up to 1914 suggest that discus was not an event in early Track and Field here.  There is a sketch of a student-athlete in Columbia track uniform with a discus in hand on the front cover of the March 1925 Columbiad.   After track was reinstated as a major sport in 1934-35, the records record a cluster of discus marks for UP Track and Field.  So, the March 1, 1935 Columbiad, documents Edwin (Moose) Dunstan (W. Elwyn Dunstan ’38) tossing a discus 117 feet.   Notable squad records also show up in the 1938 Log where Joseph Enzler (Class of ’40) throws for 140′ 4″;  exceeded in the 1940 Log record of James Shanahan’s (Class of ’41) throw of 144′ 6″.

Photo gallery of student-athletes in discus throw (University Archives photos; click image to enlarge)

Unknown student, 1930s or 40s

Discus practice (Christie Hall in Background), ca1948

Ed Altenhofen, discus, 1954

Discus thrower, 1969 Log

Swimming was one of the original Olympic games in 1896.

‘Upon the Bluff high over the Willamette where the spires of learning reach up to the sky’, swimmers and swimming have been part of campus life since before Howard Hall opened its doors in 1927.   But industry and landfill have since pushed swimming out of the river.  The Howard pool a long-time mainstay.   Whether engaging in a recreational swim or competitive swimming, students have been practicing freestyle, butterfly, breaststroke in the Howard Hall pool for years, with occasional interruption.   For example, when snow collapsed the roof in 1937; and also the time the pool froze-over (February) and then too the building fire (March) in 1949.  (https://sites.up.edu/museum/march-19-1949-howard-hall-fire/)   Generally, a place of calm restoration.  During the years 1982-1989, former University President Rev. Thomas Oddo, C.S.C., often spent late night hours in the pool swimming in solitude.

Photo gallery, click on photo to enlarge:

Swimming Team Patch, late 1930s (University Museum)

Swimming in Howard Hall, ca1935 (University Archives photo)

Swimming in Howard Hall, 1930s (University Archives photo)

Swim team, 1951 Log (University Archives)

Swim team, 1940 Log (University Archives)

Swim Team, 1933 (University Archives photo)

Swim class, ca1950s (University Archives photo)

Tennis was one of the original Olympic games from 1896-1924 and re-instituted in 1988.

One of our recent acquisitions in the University Museum is this women’s varsity letter jacket from Eileen Cebula Smith ’82, four-year member of the University’s women’s tennis team as a singles and doubles team player from 1979-1982.

Eileen’s family has long-ties to the University.  Her grandfather, Eugene Schmitt, was a track standout for Columbia University Preparatory School, graduating in 1915 and her father, Leonard Cebula, graduated in 1953.   Two of her three brothers played soccer for the Pilots, and two nephews, recent graduates, are now counted as Pilot alumni.

Tennis was one of the original Olympic games from 1896-1924 and re-instituted in 1988.

Men’s Tennis 1952-1956

“Their streak, unmatched before or since in University athletic annals, began May 10, 1952, with a win against the Seattle University Chieftains.  Four years later, on May 19, 1956, coach Mike Tichy’s Pilot men’s tennis team lost a match (to Seattle).  Between those two May days the men won 79 consecutive matches and went 17-0 in 1953, 22-0 in 1954, 18-0 in 1955, and 18-1 in 1956, that one loss being the killer on the very last day of the season.  In any sport, a mammoth streak like the Pilots’ record run is fueled by a mysterious combination of talent, skill, hard work, perseverance, good coaching, and a vast eagerness to seize every opportunity to win.”  (from University of Portland Athletic Hall of Banquet Program, Thursday, June 22, 1995)

Photo gallery: click on image to enlarge

p.s. shameless promotion.  The story of Coaches Bill Rose and Mike Tichy, the Streak, and players such as Jim Flynn are told delightfully in the book, The Magnus Factor: The Bill Rose Story, Rise to One, by Mike Wittmayer, ’69.  Available at the Pilot House Bookstore!

Soccer was the first team sport added to the Olympics in 1900.  Women’s soccer joined the Olympic sports roster in 1996.

UP has sent several soccer players to the Olympics.  None have donated their prize medals to rest enshrined on display at the University Museum (we’d be honored!).  Complementing our earlier post about UP women’s soccer as two-time national champions, we offer this picture of Rachel Rapinoe’s soccer jersey which she wore during the NCAA championships finals in 2005.  This jersey memorabilia is on display in the University Museum in Shipstad Hall.   Rachel’s sister, Megan Rapinoe, represents the United States Women’s Soccer Team at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

The UP Alumni page boasts 15,424 graduates who call the city of Portland home, pursuing life and careers in the Portland area.  Of course there are also regional alumni chapters across the country.  And special Affinity Chapters promoting continuing connections between Nursing graduates, ROTC cohorts, Villa Maria survivors, and Salzburg dreamers.  But who would have guessed that from our alumni we have produced athletes enough to propose a Pilot Affinity Chapter for our International Olympians.

List of Known University Olympians

1908
Dan Kelly, Silver medal, Long Jump, U.S. Team
(at Columbia University for freshman year only 1904-05)

1920
Rudolph (Rudy) Scholz, Gold medal, U.S. Rugby Team
(at Columbia University Preparatory School, 1911-12)

John Murphy, ’17, High Jump, U.S. Team, 5th place
(Columbia University Preparatory School)

1924
Rudolph (Rudy) Scholz, Gold medal, U.S. Rugby Team
(at Columbia University Preparatory School, 1911-12)

1992
Yari Alnutt ’92, U.S. Men’s Soccer Team

1996
Shannon MacMillan ’97, Gold medal, U.S. Women’s Soccer Team
Tiffeny Milbrett ’95, Gold medal, U.S. Women’s Soccer Team
Kasey Keller ’96, U.S. Men’s Soccer Team

2000
Clive Charles, Coach, U.S. Men’s Soccer Team, 4th place
Conor Casey ’02, U.S. Men’s Soccer Team, 4th place
Shannon MacMillan ’97, Silver medal, U.S. Women’s Soccer Team
Tiffeny Milbrett ’95, Silver medal, U.S. Women’s Soccer Team
Michelle French ’00, Silver medal, U.S. Women’s Soccer Team

2008
Stephanie Lopez-Cox ’07, Gold Medal, U.S. Women’s Soccer Team
Sophie Schmidt ’10, Canada Women’s Soccer Team
Christine Sinclair ’06, Canada Women’s Soccer Team
Derek Mandell ’08, Guam Men’s Track Team (men’s 800m)

2012
Christine Sinclair ’06, Bronze medal, Canada Women’s Soccer Team
Sophie Schmidt ’10, Bronze medal, Canada Women’s Soccer Team
Megan Rapinoe ’08, Gold medal, U.S. Women’s Soccer Team
Derek Mandell 08, Guam Men’s Track Team (men’s 800m)

2016
Christine Sinclair ’06, Canada Women’s Soccer Team
Sophie Schmidt ’10, Canada Women’s Soccer Team
Megan Rapinoe ’08, U.S. Women’s Soccer Team
Josh Ilustre ’16, Guam Men’s Track Team (men’s 800m)

Hurdles is an original Olympic competition from 1896.  Women’s Hurdles were added in 1932.

The Colosseum was built on campus against rain and mist and mold in 1902; because UP men’s track and field needed a place to practice and a site to host the Indoor Invitational; the women’s track and and cross-country teams arrive late, beginning with coach Mike Johnson in 1978; the indoor arena long gone.  Hurdles are part of collegiate life then and now, but more graceful on the track than in some of the other challenges and stumbles students overcome and survive on the Bluff.  Sports Photography is a graceful art as well.

Photo gallery from the University Archives, click on image to enlarge:

Nick Gayeski, Hurdles, 1936

Bill Finch, hurdles, 1930s

Bob Thalhofer, hurdles, 1949

Bob Thalhofer right, hurdles, ca1949

Bob Thalhofer, hurdles, 1948

Mike Boyle, Hurdles, 1966

Hurdles competition, Ed Maerz, Kent Soldan, Mike Lamb, ca1965

Women’s hurdles, 1995

Trampoline made its debut as an Olympic sport in the 2000 Olympics.

Without any other information from our usual sources, we simply offer this 1965 photo of women on a trampoline in Howard Hall.  Most likely one of the recreational offerings from the intramural department.

Golf is returning as an Olympic sport in the 2016 summer Olympics.  Golf was last played at the Olympics in 1900 and 1904.

In the early years of the University students and faculty were seen putting on the campus greens.  After 1935 golf became more organized and the men’s teams dabbled in matches against other northwest colleges such as Oregon, Willamette, Seattle College, and Linfield winning 80% of their matches through the ’40s and ’50s.  With the University’s 1976 entrance into the West Coast Athletic Conference (WCAC), golf became a varsity sport, with Women’s Golf added to the athletic roster in 1998.  The golf program for men and women was not renewed following the 2010-11 season.