To call him a jerk is a bit of an anachronism. You are applying modern day sensibilities back on the 1940s - 1970s. It was a different time, and people weren't as sensitive as we are now.
Joe Paterno explained away Sandusky 's behavior with that reasoning at Penn State.
He was the classic alpha football/basketball star growing up who later found himself coaching scrawny soyboy distance runners like “Buck” Knight. Of course he was going to eff with them a bit.
If people were willing to be peed on by him so he could couch them then there must be an underlying reason. Most likely he was doping them. They were probably begging him for EPO but they had to let him pee on them first before giving it. Maybe Bowerman is a doper also?
He was the classic alpha football/basketball star growing up who later found himself coaching scrawny soyboy distance runners like “Buck” Knight. Of course he was going to eff with them a bit.
So did this behavior continue at Nike? Did Knight get wee'd on?
To call him a jerk is a bit of an anachronism. You are applying modern day sensibilities back on the 1940s - 1970s. It was a different time, and people weren't as sensitive as we are now.
I know his peeing on Phil Knight resulted in Knights daddy syndrome need for attention and approval from Bill during Nikes rise. A psychologist could have a field day with this.
Thing is, Bowerman only peed on you, if you were a potential champion.
If you weren't good enough, you didn't get "branded," or initiated.
He was a country boy, farm boy, rural boy at heart. This was just a practical joke, in his view, and also a weird kind of honor, but seen as a badge of honor.
In his later years he was kind of a loon, prone to fits of temper and black and white thinking, quitting Nike often, firing employees over nothing.
The dude lived into his 90's I believe, was an eccentric genius for sure, and a WW2 hero for sure.
Peeing on his runners is beyond bizarre and I don't think you had to be sensitive to be offended. It's actually kind of perverted.
I thought the OP was joking but googling "urine" and "Bowerman" was enough to confirm the story. If him doing that doing that was common knowledge at the time, I can't imagine people wanting to run there. Certainly, if he peed on my idol, Pre, he would have had his lights punched out.
I’m not buying it. Bowerman peeing on his runners is an urban legend. How could he even do that? It would be pretty difficult for a coach to sneak up on an athlete and do that. They could see that coming a mile away. Or is the suggestion that they just sat there and let him? Either way, not buying it.
To call him a jerk is a bit of an anachronism. You are applying modern day sensibilities back on the 1940s - 1970s. It was a different time, and people weren't as sensitive as we are now.
Why'd the broads have to come in and ruin everything?
Peeing on his runners is beyond bizarre and I don't think you had to be sensitive to be offended. It's actually kind of perverted.
I thought the OP was joking but googling "urine" and "Bowerman" was enough to confirm the story. If him doing that doing that was common knowledge at the time, I can't imagine people wanting to run there. Certainly, if he peed on my idol, Pre, he would have had his lights punched out.
I’m not buying it. Bowerman peeing on his runners is an urban legend. How could he even do that? It would be pretty difficult for a coach to sneak up on an athlete and do that. They could see that coming a mile away. Or is the suggestion that they just sat there and let him? Either way, not buying it.
100 % true and the keys in the sauna is also true. His guys loved him, though he was loyal and so were they.
Different times for sure. I only met this guy as old grandpa and ran some hills on his property that Pre supposedly loved to run.
To call him a jerk is a bit of an anachronism. You are applying modern day sensibilities back on the 1940s - 1970s. It was a different time, and people weren't as sensitive as we are now.
Joe Paterno explained away Sandusky 's behavior with that reasoning at Penn State.
Didn't we cancel Columbus, Jefferson and Robert E. Lee for just this?
Or as Yogi would say when I jerked, I didn't have any chronism.