Forty-Two Years Ago Tuesday: Pac-8 Cross-Ctry Championship: Pre & Lindgren: A MEMOIR

Don't get me started on Payton Jordan. It's all in the book. I dedicate JOCK: A Memoir of the Counterculture to Coach Marshall Clark, who worked with the distance runners. I am not afraid to testify on behalf of Don Kardong, Duncan Macdonald and Tony Sandoval, the three pre-eminent Stanford distance runners during Coach Clark's era, that all of them considered Marshall a truly great Coach, as well as a great human being. We were all honored to run for him. He was our guide and our witness. As Duncan wrote years later, “To call Coach Clark a positive influence is a gross understatement.” Contrasting him with Payton Jordan, in an era when authority was being questioned everywhere you turned, is something I really enjoyed tackling in my book, if I may say so myself. :) I embrace the notion (courtesy of Rudyard Kipling, who I don't really think much of otherwise) that "the strength of the wolf is the pack, and the strength of the pack is the wolf." I think Coach Clark thought that way, too, although he didn't present it exactly that manner. Jordan's basic philosophy was "my way or the highway."

Anybody know why Lindgren left his wife and kids and has not spoken to the in 30 years? I hear he just put a note on the fridge and walked out.

Lots of fruit wrote:

Anybody know why Lindgren left his wife and kids and has not spoken to the in 30 years? I hear he just put a note on the fridge and walked out.

Have you ever been married?

Robert Coe

But that is a lot of pain to burden his children with. I am sure that he is suffering from that decision now. It has to hurt to have lost all of those years.

Yes?

What would count as an answer--leaving one's wife and children without telling them where one is going--that would make any sense whatsoever?http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2002648977_lindgren27.html

Lots of fruit wrote:

Anybody know why Lindgren left his wife and kids and has not spoken to the in 30 years? I hear he just put a note on the fridge and walked out.

I hope that he is living in peace. It sounds like he is a good guy but maybe scarred from his youth. Maybe afraid to be a bad dad so thought the best course of action was to leave.

I was wrong to bring it up earlier without much additional research.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1065983/13/index.htm

Wow. Just came across this story. Fantastic. Thanks for sharing.

Robert Coe,

Since I noticed that your other post about LRC not reviewing your new book was deleted, I searched for other posts you wrote prior to its publication and found this one. I think it deserves a bump, if for no other reason than giving fellow LRCers the chance to read the great excerpt you posted at the top of this thread.

Close, Ryan's time was 8:57.6, I too was a Wilcox HS XC team member (65-69), so fully aware of his still-standing school record. Ryan graduated the prior spring.

Close, Ryan's time was 8:57.6, I too was a Wilcox HS XC team member (65-69), so fully aware of his still-standing school record. Ryan graduated the prior spring.

Close, Ryan's time was 8:57.6, I too was a Wilcox HS XC team member (65-69), so fully aware of his still-standing school record. Ryan graduated the prior spring.

Close, Ryan's time was 8:57.6, I too was a Wilcox HS XC team member (65-69), so fully aware of his still-standing school record. Ryan graduated the prior spring.

“What magnificent, important work… I can clearly imagine you and me continuing our talk about the meanings and paradoxes of sporting effort, community and service, and me inviting you to train in Eugene after the '72 trials. Where I would have tried to shake you out of the provably erroneous assumption that four college years were all you were allowed for a career…”

*Kenny Moore, two-time Olympic Marathoner, thirty-year veteran journalist with Sports Illustrated, screenwriter of "Without Limits," and author of "Bowerman and the Men of Oregon: The Story of Oregon's Legendary Coach and Nike's Cofounder" (2007).

JOCK: a memoir of the counterculture is available on createspace.com/5002720 or on Amazon in Paperback and Kindle.

Robert, what a great memoir. I found it today because Jerry Lindgren posted on FB these pictures, I thought you would have been interested.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152964688726448&set=a.10150104134976448.274900.633026447&type=3&fref=nf

Btw, a runner myself, life passionate about T&F, former duck and dir mgr of the Preclassic, I take my hat off to your running achievements and the beautiful way you described those memorable moments. Cheers!!!

PS: you can infer from my post that Gerry is on FB, if you wish to connect

Just found this, other people should read... Bump