Bill McChesney Jr.

bumpity bump bump mc.bumperson.

I have had the oppurtunity to speak with Mc.Chesny Sr. a few times and he is one of the most passionate people I've ever met. IT's cool to see somebody like him speak his mind about anything and everything. Plus if I am even within a universe of how good a shape that old boy's in when I'm that old it will be too good to be true.

To Insecure and PRs thank you for taking me to task. I offer no excuse, but I do offer that I was not meaning the offense to Craig that you see.

I apoligize to Craig, but I did not mean things to be taken as you may see them. Craig had a way of pulling Bill's strings that none of us near Bill took offense to. He could get away with it because he was a teammate at times and someone Bill wished to take into his home. The comments that I read seemed like kidding from one friend to another and if the writer was Craig I thought that they would be taken that way. If they were not Craig, I was reacting to people taking about my brother whom I loved. I should never have responded to them in pubic in the way that I did. I am so sorry that I did. Not for me, but for my family.

I admire Craig as a person that has shared time at our table and as one of the greatest runners in US history. More importantly Bill and Craig enjoyed time spent off of the track with each other. In seeing them together I did not sense that they were rivals.

Again I am sorry for what I have posted. I have not often commented on anything publicly about my either of my brothers since they died. As of a week ago I did not know that Letsrun.com gave any of you the forum to do so either. Since I was told of this sight I have been flooded by a good deal of puplic speculation not only on my brothers performances on the track, but also on how they died. In one week I have read so many rumors and falsehoods about my very own brothers lives and deaths. I hope none of you ever have to do the same. My desire to defend them has gone beyond my normal understanding of how we talk to each other and I am truly sorry. I have never in my past felt that I had to defend my dead brothers because everyone has been so kind to us in person. This is the first time I have seen anyone attack anything about Tom or Billy. That does not excuse me for wronging Craig which I did not intend to do. I simply reached a point that was beyond me and he happened to be the subject that was current. Craig, you have always been kind to me. I admire you a great deal and I value the time you shared with Bill as a teammate and a friend. Please reach my email if you see this.

This is not a post to me. This is my family.

I understand.....

I had so many runnning hero's during that time. Bill, Craig, Shorter, Pre, etc.....

being from illinois....I think you can understand

ps...wasnt there a article on Bill in Runner's World in the mid 70's when he was still in high school?

If so.....What year and month?

thanks

God bless your family

A very heart felt thank you for your kindness. Again, please do not view my family by my unthoughtful remarks.

remember what I told you, there is a lot of horse pucky out here. Don't let it get ya.

And for all of you who don't know how to play nice, go take your toys and go home. your dinner's getting cold. I'm not nearly as sweet and polite as Steve. I'll call y'all on your bs. lots of cool stuff comes out of threads like these if they don't get hijacked by fools.

30 year reunions for example.

The Runner magazine had an article on the McChesney family.

Also Boy's Life had an article on Bill with some great pics.

runamook wrote:

remember what I told you, there is a lot of horse pucky out here. Don't let it get ya.

And for all of you who don't know how to play nice, go take your toys and go home. your dinner's getting cold. I'm not nearly as sweet and polite as Steve. I'll call y'all on your bs. lots of cool stuff comes out of threads like these if they don't get hijacked by fools.

30 year reunions for example.

Turtle Souped Up's Boston 1979 thread was shredded so much the posters gave up. A thread with Bill Rogers,Patti and Dan Dillon,Tom Fleming,Bob Hodge et al posting and speaking as friends gets chased away from an internet chat board about long distance running. Go figure!

Derek has taken us into his home and my entire family would welcome him into ours. He is indeed a friend. I have known Derek over many years and I have never seen him do anything coming close to being dishonest. I feel bad for him that this posting comes so close to my clumsy defense of an awkward posting. Despite my rather recent large mistake in judgement, I feel that your remarks about our mutual friend (by that I mean a friend to Bill, Nanci, Mom and dad as well as myself) could possibly be misplaced. I do not fear how Derek's friendship reflects on me, although it may be the other way around.

Thanks Steve for your comments. I've known Derek for 20 years and in no way is he a con artist. The problem with the internet is someone can just attack annonymously without owning up. Derek has been a true friend to me and has always been a stand-up guy.

Steve , thanks again for sharing, if any of you guys would like to post threads under "Masters weekly runs and races" please know your more then welcome. We dont fight or rag on each other. Just because its not a run or a race doesnt mean you cant post. we talk and support one another..sometimes when your a little older you see things clearer..the thread comes out every Sunday

One thing Steve about this message board is for all the good it does, a lot of bad sadly comes of it, too. I think it was Brad Hudson who wisely said it's one of the best and worst things to happen in the running world.

I love the insight provided here, the hatred disturbs me. The misinformation on Tom was evil and sick, IMO. For anyone who has lost a sibling at a young age (as I have), I do not take those things lightly. In all my message board posting, that was one of the most mean-spirited things I've ever read. The take on Derek was sick, too.

I would suggest just coming here rarely, as unfortunately, the hatred can be overwhelming. Trying to get to the good posts can be difficult.

I've seen these pioneers and legends routinely trashed here: Pre, Lananna, Lydiard, Steve Scott, Peter Snell, Sydney Maree, Bernard Lagatt, Alan Webb, Dathan Ritzenhein, Mark Wetmore, and on and on and on. No one -- no matter how accomplished -- can escape the wrath of this board.

I am thankful Steve that you gave us some insight to your incredible family. Keep up the great coaching back East!

Old Man By The Sea wrote:

Steve , thanks again for sharing, if any of you guys would like to post threads under "Masters weekly runs and races" please know your more then welcome. We dont fight or rag on each other. Just because its not a run or a race doesnt mean you cant post. we talk and support one another..sometimes when your a little older you see things clearer..the thread comes out every Sunday

* Please share the website so that I can join your forum. Thank you. Tinman

Tinman, It is here on LetsRun. We have been posting for the past couple years under that thread. It will be on tommorrow morning. If you want do a search and see the past Masters threads

Old Man By The Sea wrote:

Tinman, It is here on LetsRun. We have been posting for the past couple years under that thread. It will be on tommorrow morning. If you want do a search and see the past Masters threads

Thank you, sir!

Steve, you and your family have been part of the great U of Oregon history, have you ever thought of writing a book?

Also, do you have any stories about the 1979 U of O cross country team (Clary, Martin, Hill)? Did you train with them?

bumb bump

Thank you. I have actually given thought to two subjects. The first growing up in my family with stories and some detail of the influence of our high school and U of O teams on us. The other subject is that after the death of each brother my teams rallied and won state titles. That would be told from the point of view of the benefit of a team in times of trouble.

I ran on teams with Centrowitz, Talyor, Williams, Chapa, Clary, Bill, Salazar,Spir and many other great athletes and guys. A story about how Eugene and the US college scene handled the infussion of older Kenyan runners would also be worth telling. It was a confusing time and there are some interesting stories of our meetings with WSU.

The team that you mention was after I left the season.

During a summer job my junior year I was delivering roofing materials. I did a job called running ridge (I carried packages of roofing to the peak of the ridge). I fell through our conveyor while it was still running and wrenched my knee pretty badly. Soon after that I was hit on my bike going to work and injured my ribs. I was taken out of running for a while and did not return until a few years out of school. I did spend a good amount of time being Clary's teammate. Clary was one tough dude. We used to call him "Tank". I would joke with him that he did not need to hurdle the steeple barrier as he could just run through them and clear a path for the rest of us. At the end of one team party, Clary took on about 4 of us and threw us around like a rag dolls. I was a very successful wrestler myself, but Clary took strength to another level. He also has a very dry sense of humor that was very entertaining at times.

I did not get to know Jim Hill that well. I do remember when he was just starting his bussiness. He was very exctied about this new kind of sweat pant and he was showing them off to anyone who would listen. Who knew? He has earned everything that he has made for himself.

I got to know Ken Martin more through Bill than from running. He is a very warm and fun loving guy. I enjoyed being around Martin a lot.

Sometime I would like to tell the story of what went into Bill making that Olympic team. It is incredible. He had a bit a a cronic situation in his achilles tendon due to a kid jumping on it in gym class in high school. Since that day it would flair up regardless of the training he did and he was not eager for surgery. He was actually very inventive with his training and just had a weakened body part. He took cross training to a new level in order to make the 80 team.

When he was getting ready for the NCAA in Houston he would take an excercise bike into the sauna and work at a pace that would kill most of us in normal conditions for about an hour. Then he would run. Of course everyone from the training room staff had to ask him why he was doing all of this. He would explain that he was getting ready for running in the heat. After a while people would peek into the window to see if Bill was really working that hard in there. It became a U of O training room legend.

Steve, a few Nelson's passed through the U of O also, did you know any of them?