With the Death of Bill Dellinger, the Track World Has Lost a Titan

It is a measure of the impact Bill Dellinger had on the sport of track & field that it is difficult to know where to start his obituary.

Do you begin with his athletic accomplishments? Dellinger won two NCAA titles while at the University of Oregon, the mile in 1954 and the 5,000 in 1956. He set American records in the 1500 and 5,000 (three times) and world records in the indoor 2-mile and 3-mile. He made three Olympic teams, and earned bronze in the 5,000 at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, a second behind teammate Bob Schul‘s gold. More than half a century would pass until the next American Olympic medal in that event.

What about Dellinger the coach? As Oregon cross country coach from 1969-98 (he became head track coach in 1973), Dellinger won four NCAA team titles and finished 2nd on five other occasions. His 1984 track team won the NCAA title at Hayward Field with 113 points, a record that, due to changes to the scoring system, may never be broken. He coached a number of the top US athletes of his era, including Olympians and American record holders Alberto Salazar, Matt Centrowitz, and Steve Prefontaine.

And what about Dellinger as the shoe innovator? He developed the eponymous “Dellinger webbing” for adidas’s training shoes in the 1980s, which distributed the impact of a heel strike across the entire shoe and helped return more energy for a runner’s next stride.

For those who knew him best, Dellinger, who died on Friday at 91, was all of that and more.

“He’s my coach,” said Centrowitz, who ran under Dellinger in the 1970s and remained close for the next five decades. “He’s my mentor. He was a father figure. He was my confidant. He was just everything.”

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A True “Man of Oregon”

Born in Grants Pass, Ore., on March 23, 1934, Dellinger was the epitome of the “Men of Oregon” who dominated US distance running under legendary coach Bill Bowerman in the 1950s and 1960s. At Springfield High, he won the first Oregon state cross country meet in 1949. In 1954, he became the first Oregon runner to win an NCAA title under Bowerman when he won the mile at the University of Michigan’s Ferry Field. Two years later, he moved up to the 5,000 and won the event at NCAAs (image, right) and the US Olympic Trials, breaking the American record three times that year. And while Dellinger would never break 4:00 in the mile, he did run the metric equivalent, clocking an American 1500 record of 3:41.5 in 1958 — this at a time when only one American, Don Bowden, had ever broken 4:00 in the mile.

Upon graduation from Oregon, Dellinger joined the Air Force and kept training through the next Olympic cycle, making the team again for Rome in 1960. Though Dellinger would miss the final by one place, one part of the trip would stick with him forever. The US Olympic team flew to Rome from New York, where they were honored at a New York Yankees game before their departure. Getting the chance to meet the likes of Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford in person made an impression on the young Dellinger, who remained a devoted Yankee fan for the rest of his life.

Back in those pre-professional days, mid-20s was considered retirement age and Dellinger, then 26, was no exception: after Rome, he stopped training seriously and took up a job teaching and coaching at Thurston High School in Springfield. But after three years away, Dellinger was motivated to return after running alongside some of his Thurston athletes in practice, eventually launching a comeback for the 1964 season. When he made the team for Tokyo, tying for the win at the Trials with Bob Schul, Dellinger became the first US distance runner in 32 years to make three Olympic teams.

Unlike his previous two Olympic appearances, Dellinger would be a major factor in the 5,000 in Tokyo, taking the lead and pushing the pace with 600 meters to go. In a wild last lap, Dellinger would find himself shuffled back to 5th with 150m to go only to mount a late charge down the wet cinder track, nipping France’s Michel Jazy at the death for the bronze medal in 13:49.8 — a personal best in what would prove to be the final race of Dellinger’s career.

Thanks to Schul’s victory and Dellinger’s bronze, the race endures as one of the greatest in the history of American distance running. It would be the last Olympic race for 60 years to feature two American distance distance runners on the podium, until Cole Hocker and Yared Nuguse finally matched the feat in the 1500 in Paris last summer.

Dellinger returned to Oregon as coach in 1967, initially as an assistant under Bowerman. He succeeded his mentor as cross country coach in 1969 and two years later managed something Bowerman had never accomplished by winning the NCAA cross country title in Knoxville. Underdogs to Washington State, who had beaten Oregon twice in the regular season, including at the Pac-8 meet just nine days earlier, the Ducks sprang the upset, 83-122, with Prefontaine winning the second of his three individual titles.

Two of the scoring members of that team, Pat Tyson (31st) and Mike Long (35th), were walk-ons. That was not uncommon under Dellinger, who kept large rosters of 30+ distance athletes. Dellinger discovered one prospect, Art Boileau, while teaching a PE class at UO; Boileau walked onto the team and eventually became a two-time Olympic marathoner for Canada. Another walk-on, Dan Nelson, made back-to-back Worlds teams for the US in the 1990s in the steeplechase and 10,000 meters.

Only two years before helping Oregon to the NCAA title, Tyson had been in danger of being cut by Bowerman, who remained the head track coach until 1973. But when Bowerman ripped off the athletic tape bearing Tyson’s name above his locker, Dellinger countered by doing the same to the tape above the locker of one of Bowerman’s favorite athletes, Mike McClendon. It was the only time, Dellinger told Tyson, that he thought Bowerman might fire him.

But Bowerman relented, Dellinger kept his job, and Tyson kept his place on the team. If you showed Dellinger you were worth the time, he would go to bat for you.

“He’s very loyal to certain people, probably because he saw the hard work ethic,” said Tyson, the longtime head coach at Gonzaga University. “He saw someone digging deep, trying to find their way. And he honored that…So many of Bill’s ex-athletes are doing so well in life because Bill gave us a chance.”

Centrowitz was another “walk-on,” in a way: he had a full scholarship at Manhattan College but chose to transfer to Oregon in 1974, even though he would have to sit out a full year before he could compete. Dellinger hadn’t shown much interest during the recruitment process, warning Centrowitz that transfers had little history of success at Oregon and that he would not be able to offer a scholarship while Centrowitz sat out in 1974-75.

Once he arrived in Eugene, however, Centrowitz found that Dellinger always had his back.

“He knew what I gave up,” Centrowitz said. “To come 3,000 miles, I don’t think anyone else had ever done that.”

Chronologically, Dellinger was the third of the “Three Bills” of Oregon track, succeeding Bill Hayward (head coach from 1904-47) and Bowerman (1948-73). Dellinger retired from Oregon in 1998 but coached one final season for Wake Forest in 1999, serving as interim cross country coach while living at a Residence Inn as a favor to Wake AD Barbara Walker, a former colleague at Oregon.

Photo by Jeff Johnson

At times, Dellinger was overshadowed in Eugene by his predecessor, notably when it came to the question of who coached Prefontaine. Bowerman and Prefontaine were undoubtedly close, with the latter often traveling to Bowerman’s house to talk about running and life. But the day-to-day coaching responsibilities fell to Dellinger, something Bowerman was often reluctant to admit.

“All of the workouts were Bill Dellinger,” Tyson said. “…Dellinger was the coach of Steve Prefontaine on the track.”

That led to a schism with Bowerman, which deepened when Dellinger brought his “Dellinger webbing” idea to adidas in the 1980s. That, in turn, led to adidas providing gear for the Oregon team, culminating in an image that would seem unthinkable now: Dellinger, as Oregon coach, being paraded around Hayward Field after winning the 1984 NCAA track title in a green-and-gold adidas pullover in front of a large adidas ad on the scoreboard. Dellinger said he only brought the idea to adidas because Nike had declined, but the proud and stubborn Bowerman, a Nike co-founder, still held a grudge. Eventually, Tyson said, the two men largely healed their relationship after a visit from Dellinger shortly before Bowerman’s death in 1999.

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“Whenever he would walk into a room, people would gravitate to Bill”

Dellinger being tossed into the Hayward Field steeple pit after coaching Oregon to the 1984 NCAA title (Photo by Jeff Johnson)

Dellinger inspired fierce loyalty in his charges, with non more loyal than Tyson and Centrowitz, for whom he served as far more than a coach. Tyson’s father died when he was 7, while Centrowitz had little contact with his own father after age 12. In recent years, Tyson would see Dellinger roughly once a month, often flying down from Spokane for visits with Dellinger who allowed him to stay at his house.

Centrowitz had a similar relationship, speaking with Dellinger two or three times a week. Writing in his memoir, Like Father, Like Son, Centrowitz said “it was in Eugene that I finally found the father I never had — a guy who would love me for who I was, who saw through all my bullshit.”

One year, Centrowitz said, his son Matthew, then a professional runner training in Portland as a member of the Nike Oregon Project, wanted to know what to get him for Father’s Day. The elder Centrowitz suggested he drive down to Eugene and visit Bill, and the two spent the day playing chess on Dellinger’s special hand-carved board.

“That was my gift to Bill and me,” Matt Centrowitz said.

A stroke in 2000 made it difficult for Dellinger to communicate for the last 25 years of his life. But Dellinger’s mind stayed sharp, and he remained a fixture of the Eugene community until the end. During meets in Eugene, dozens of coaches and athletes, from Tyson’s era all the way through Cole Hocker, would make the pilgrimmage to visit Dellinger’s house in the hills east of Hayward Field. The lucky ones ended up on Dellinger’s photo wall, which included everyone from Prefontaine and Rudy Chapa to Hicham El Guerrouj, who was in town for World Juniors in 2014 and visited to pay his respects to Dellinger’s second wife, Marol, who had passed away days earlier.

At his heart, Dellinger was not just a runner, but a competitor. He loved pool, darts, card games, and gambling. He loved jokes, too.

The first thing he told Tyson after Oregon won the NCAA XC title in 1971: How come you let Marty Liquori outkick you?

Liquori had been ranked the #1 miler in the world that year by Track & Field News. Tyson could only laugh.

Then there was the time, back in the 1970s, when Dellinger hustled Centrowitz in pool at the student union with the rest of the Oregon track team watching. Or the time when Centrowitz, then in his 20s, teased Dellinger about putting on a little weight in his 40s. Dellinger proposed a bet: if Centrowitz was neither fat nor bald by the time he turned 40, Dellinger would pay him $100. Otherwise, Centrowitz owed him.

On Centrowitz’s 40th birthday, he mailed Dellinger a check for $100.

More than anything, Centrowitz said, Dellinger had a presence — one that even non-runners could feel. He recalled a time, back when they were working together at a running camp, when they would end their nights playing pool at a local bar. One night, as midnight approached, the owner told Dellinger that he – the owner – had to leave. Despite having only known Dellinger for a few days, he felt he could trust him. Help yourself, he said — just put the money in the register when you’re done.

“Whenever he would walk into a room, people would gravitate to Bill,” Tyson said. “He had that gift.”

It was one of many Dellinger possessed. He leaves behind two sons, David and Joe (a third, Dan, died earlier), several grandchildren, and a legacy of success, both on and off the track. Father, athlete, coach, innovator — however you knew Bill Dellinger, the running world lost a legend last week.

You can pay your respects to Dellinger (and read others’ tributes) on the LetsRun.com messageboard:

MB RIP Bill Dellinger, 1934-2025
MB RIP Bill Dellinger – Olympian. Coach. Mentor. Friend.

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More photos of Dellinger by Jeff Johnson

Dellinger at the 1984 NCAA meet

Dellinger and David Mack, whom he coached to the 1982 NCAA title in the 800m

Dellinger and Prefontaine

Photo by Jeff Johnson

Photo by Jeff Johnson

Photo by Jeff Johnson

Photo by Jeff Johnson