interesting
funny that 1970 was mentioned as that was the year I graduated high school and decided to go to the UofO. I'll admit it: I grew up (mostly) in Sweet Home. At that time and that place it was kind of expected that OSU was the destination for guys going to college. I had several buddies going there and I was interested in engineering so it just seemed like a fit. I'll further admit that at that time the draft and Vietnam were a dark cloud on the horizon so a college deferment seemed desirable compared to getting shot at in a rice paddy.
so, I seemed destined to be a damn beaver. But one thing I definitely noticed was that about half dozen of the good-looking brainy girls from my class were going to the UofO. I didn't think a lot about it but with the teen-age testosterone running high, I definitely noticed it. Then, one day I was looking thru the catalog on OSU in the stats pages and I saw a number that brought me up short: the coed population of OSU was 65% male. I was good enough at math that I calculated that meant there were 35% females (assuming sheep weren't counted). wut? So then, I looked thru the UofO catalog and saw that the UofO population was 58% female. Ok then....58% vs 35%. That's when I said "fuck engineering, I like literature"....I had my priorities straight you see
So, I became a Duck. Now, the OP mentioned "other sports". I got to know Steve Prefontaine and Mac Wilkins pretty well so I became a track & field fan, and at the time, track & field was huge at the UofO, so that was an easy transition. Seeing games at Mac Court: Stan Love, Larry Holiday, Ron Lee, Greg Ballard...beating UCLA and Bill Walton...that was a gas.
speaking of Mac Court, in 1976 (was still living in Eugene), I went to a preseason game for the Blazers they held at Mac Court. The team had added Maurice Lucas and Dave Twardzick in the ABA draft and Johnny Davis in the college draft. They had the other guys like Hollins and Gross of course. When Walton needed a rest, they brought in a young C named Moses Malone but Portland stupidly traded him shortly after that. I forget who Portland played but they ran that other team out of the gym using the style of play they won a championship with 8 months later
my freshman year, the cost was $500 a term; $1500 for a year....that was for tuition AND a year of room and 3 squares a day in the dorms. Recreational costs were low too. If you had no taste and were just interested in a buzz, you could get Raineer Ale for 45 cents a quart. It was putrid but it did the trick.
that was all a bargain, but since I was too much of a lazy fuck-off to get scholarships and my family was relatively poor, I ran out of money after my freshman year...which put me back in the Vietnam cross-hairs. And it was my time in the lottery. That was the draft lottery era and that's one lottery you didn't want to finish high in. Went by birthday and if you were in the 1-70 range, chances were good in a few months you'd be dodging lead. My number was 362. So I hung around Eugene working crummy jobs and occasionally taking classes when the cost didn't cut too deeply into the party fund...Go Ducks!
