Art was Oregon’s wrestling coach from 1965 to 1969. He coached Oregon’s first NCAA wrestling Champion, John Miller. He also was the HS coach of OSU national champion Don Conway and Olympian Ron Finley. Art was recently inducted into the Oregon Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame for outstanding contributions and service to the sport of wrestling.

To live in hearts we leave behind
Is not to die. ~Thomas Campbell

Ron Finley

We are moving forward with our efforts to get the wrestling program reinstated as an intercollegiate sport at the University of Oregon. We are building a self-sustaining endowment for the future of UO wrestling. We need not only your continued financial contributions, but also your commitment to mail letters to the UO administration and government officials. We are confident, that with your help, the current athletic director, Mike Bellotti, will make the right decision and reinstate wrestling.

But I cannot stress how important it is for you to continue to send letters to the university administrators as well as our state representatives. We must let them know we support our children’s aspirations to work hard, make good grades and earn that Division 1 scholarship to the University of Oregon. This is their dream, to have the opportunity to walk on the mat and represent the Ducks.

Let’s all do what we can to help make their dream a reality. Let’s help provide educational opportunities for our young athletes, and future teachers and coaches of America. It all starts right here, right now.    

I plan to have a face-to-face meeting with the new athletic director, Mike Bellotti sometime in the future. Because he is new to his position, and is currently under a lot of pressure due to the econimic downturn, and with all the budget issues going on with the new basketball arena and new baseball stadium, it may be some time before we meet. But once we do, my goal is to get his commitment to support our efforts to build our endowment.

When that day comes, we expect to have a huge showing of support, nationally. We want to be a leader in showing that it is possible to rebuild a wrestling program at the Division 1 level, and restore the dreams of our student athletes. Please join me now. If you have already shown support, thank you and please commit to continue your support. Please do whatever you can to help. Let’s make a commitment and do this together. Together, we can win this fight. Do not think others will take your place. We need your support. Please help by writing letters and doing whatever you can to help grow our endowment fund.

At this time, we need donations to our Foundation and letters mailed to the University’s administrators and other government officials. Please commit to writing one or more letters per week, and mail copies to all contacts listed on our “Contact UO” page.

Good Morning Ron,

My wife and I would like to send our support to you, and all Oregon (past & future) wrestling affiliates as you seek to gain momentum for the reinstatement of wrestling at Oregon. As a Command Staff Officer at the Pentagon, my wife and I strongly feel that wrestling has been such a great support foundation that we would like to forward our recommendation for your efforts. Good luck Ron, you will prevail.

Thanks,

Scott & Arely Faucett

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

University of Oregon,

It is with great sadness that my wife and I are placed within this position to write such a letter on behalf of the wrestling community. These unforeseen events surrounding the elimination of the University Wrestling program at Oregon will undoubtedly effect future leaders (male & female) who would have benefited from the discipline, structure and educational aspect wrestling provides.

Wrestling not only benefits the young male athlete, but has now evolved into the female sector within high school, college and international wrestling as well. Please note that FILA, World and Olympic sponsorship for wrestling (male & female) has never been stronger than in today’s athletic venue.

Oregon, and other colleges, will only benefit from strong support for such programs. Unfortunately, Title IX has nothing to do with a university’s decision to eliminate a targeted program… Please – look at the flavor and politics surrounding this decision.  

As a past competitor and former Wrestling USA Hall of Fame Inductee, and 2007 Wrestling Man of the Year recipient, we respectfully submit our support to all Oregon University leaders in an effort to reconsider reinstating wrestling at your great institution. Without wrestling, I can easily state that I would not be in the position within the Government that I am today without the support mechanism wrestling offers a young man or woman. Please remember than all of this is but a small part of forever. Your personal quest and struggle to make the right decisions will occur, it is just a matter of when and how.

We wish you, and all University leaders well on your new journey as you seek to make life changing decisions that will effect hundreds of families and future leaders who will benefit from the oldest of mankind’s sport – Wrestling!

I have been humbled to have been given the greatest opportunity any young athlete could have received, and that was to be in a position to step onto a wrestling mat and represent my school, wrestling club and country. My wife and I now focus our energy by assisting underprivileged young men and women within urban environments the multitude of benefits wrestling can provide.

In closing, to all University officials – Please reconsider, and give careful thought to the reinstatement of wrestling at the University of Oregon.

Respectfully Submitted,

Scott & Arely Faucett
Wrestling U.S.A. Hall of Fame
2007 Wrestling Man of the Year
2x Olympic Greco-Roman Qualifier

Tickets are $10 for the meet with 100 percent of the admission cost being contributed to the endowment. The meet is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m.

Also taking place during the meet, a banner displaying all of Oregon State’s National Champion wrestlers will be unveiled before the Wisconsin dual. And before the Boise State match up, the induction of Robin Reed and Les Gutches into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame will be celebrated.

While single-meet tickets are not available to the general public at this time, by printing off the flier attached HERE, fans can purchase tickets to this meet.

The Oregon State wrestling team kicks off its 2009-10 campaign at the Best of the West Tournament in Ashland, Ore., on November 13-14 before returning home to host this historic meet.

Ron Finley  

We’re excited to unveil our new web site design and hope it provides you with the best experience possible. Below are some of the new features we’ve added. If you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to let us know.

New Design: One of the biggest design elements introduced here is our “Main Menu”, located along the left column. All web pages accessed here will have this new menu element so you’ll always know where your menu choices are located.

Another design element to look for is our “bread crumbs” menu history located at the bottom of each page. This element lets you know where you are and allows you to easily navigate back from where you came.

New “Polls” element: You can now place your “vote” on which selection best answers the poll question. Currently, there is only one poll, at the “Home” page, but we can place a different poll on any page of our web site, or change the poll from time to time.

New Shopping Cart: Our new web site design has a shopping cart system where you can purchase your favorite Save Oregon Wrestling apparel and other items, which proceeds go directly towards our endowment fund. Enjoy!

The Beavers wrestle at home for the final time this Sunday, Feb. 15, against Boise State.  The meet begins at 2 p.m. in Gill Coliseum.

Portland State wrestles at home Friday night, Feb. 13, against South Dakota State and Sunday night against Boise State.  Both matches begin at 7 p.m. in PSU’s Stott Center.

Large crowds would be particularly significant in light of a committee report on the future of PSU wrestling that is scheduled to be submitted to Portland State’s president on Monday, Feb. 16.  Two public hearings have been held by a committee charged with recommending either the termination of wrestling, its downgrade to a club sport, or its elevation to a full complement of 9.9 scholarships.

Messages of support for the Viking wrestling program can also be mailed to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Larry Joseph, one of Equity in Athletics in Oregon’s attorneys, expressed surprise that Judge Ashcroft found that the University’s decision was not based on gender. “The athletic director testified that the University would require wrestling to pay for both itself and an offsetting women’s sport as the cost of reinstatement, but did not require the new competitive cheer team to pay for itself, much less an offsetting men’s sport. That seems gender based to me,” he said.

According to Mr. Joseph, Equity in Athletics in Oregon’s other disagreements with Judge Ashcroft’s decision flow from whether the University relied on gender in deciding to eliminate wrestling. If the University acted based on gender, then Judge Ashcroft could not sidestep the question of whether Oregon law provides the wrestlers to a pre-termination hearing. The University admitted that it did not provide notice of the right to hearing.

Coach Finley said that “it was bad for Oregon athletes when the University of Oregon stops supporting one of our strongest sports.” He added that the University expects to have a new president and a new athletic director in the next two years and he hopes to continue working to raise support for reinstating the wrestling team with the new administration.

Equity in Athletics in Oregon has not had time to assess its next steps in court.

Text of Judge Ashcroft’s Ruling

Attorneys for Equity in Athletics, Oregon, a state of Oregon-chartered non-profit corporation that represents Duck varsity wrestlers and their backers, argued that the UO athletic department violated Oregon law and university procedures when it announced the elimination of varsity wrestling on July 13, 2007.  The plaintiff contended that the wrestling team was entitled to a contested-case hearing before a final decision to eliminate the wrestling team, and petitioned the judge to order those hearings before the University’s decision could take effect.  EIA-O also argued that the original decision to drop the team had been flawed by inaccurate information and discriminatory practices against male athletes.

Lawyers representing the Oregon Department of Justice asked that the lawsuit be dismissed based on alleged irregularities regarding the legal standing of plaintiffs, statute of limitations considerations, and their contention that the athletic department had the right to eliminate teams at its discretion.

Judge Ashcroft took oral and written arguments under advisement and indicated he would issue a ruling at  later date.  He also indicated he would combine his ruling on EIA-O’s earlier motion for a preliminary injunction to reinstate the wrestling team with its decision on whether Oregon law required a pre-termination hearing.

Wrestling backers filed suit against the University of Oregon and named school and system administrators on June 6, 2008.  Litigation followed eleven fruitless months of efforts to reverse the university’s decision.  The Save Oregon Wrestling Foundation raised approximately $3 million in cash and pledges to provide facilities, operational funding, and scholarship endowment for the Duck wrestling team.

The University of Oregon has had a wrestling team since 1913, when the sport emerged on the Eugene campus as a club sport.  Wrestling became a varsity sport in 1953.  It is the only Duck varsity sport that relies on native Oregonians to fill most of its roster positions.  Some 70% of UO wrestlers were graduates of Oregon high schools during the three wrestling seasons between 2004 and 2007.  The Duck wrestling team has produced 31 All-Americans, 69 conference champions, five Olympic wrestlers, and one Olympic coach.

EIA-O, an Oregon non-profit corporation representing members of the Duck wrestling team and its boosters, will ask Judge Lynn Ashcroft to rule on three motions. The first, considered the best opportunity to save wrestling at Oregon for the 2008-09 academic year, contends that the UO athletic department violated Oregon law and university administrative procedures by not holding a series of required contested-case hearings prior to dropping the sport. The second and third motions contend that Oregon officials discontinued wrestling based on erroneous information and discrimination against male sports teams.

Oregon DOJ lawyers, representing the University and other defendants in the lawsuit, have moved for dismissal of the lawsuit in its entirely, based on the status of the plaintiffs, statute of limitations considerations, and the university’s prerogative to cut sports.

Arguments begin in Marion County Circuit Court, 100 High Street NE, Salem, at 9:30 a.m.  No witnesses will be called, but the proceedings are open to the public.  Partisans of Oregon wrestling are urged to show their support by attending.

EIA-Oregon filed suit on June 6, 2008, after eleven months during which the Save Oregon Wrestling Foundation sought to reverse the university’s decision.  During that period, former Duck wrestling coach Ron Finley raised $3 million in cash and pledges, which included a promise to build a new on-campus wrestling practice facility.

In a preliminary hearing held on July 7, 2008, Athletic Director Pat Kilkenny and Associate Athletic Director Renee Baumgartner each testified that federal Title IX gender equity provisions did not compel the University to cut wrestling in order to accommodate the rebirth of UO men’s baseball.  Another athletic department assistant, Neal Zoumbouklos, made similar comments to two publications in February and March of this year.

At that July 7 hearing, Judge Ashcroft indicated initial reluctance to grant EIA-O’s motion for a preliminary injunction that would prevent Oregon from dropping wrestling.  However, that motion has not subsequently been granted or denied.  A favorable ruling on the merits of the contested case hearings could result in the judge’s granting of that injunction.

Wrestling at the University of Oregon began as a club sport in 1913 and advanced to varsity status in 1953.  The Ducks have produced 32 wrestling All-Americans and 69 individual conference champions.  Wrestling is the only varsity sport at the UO to rely on graduates of Oregon high schools for the preponderance of its athletes.  During a three-year perod from 2004-07, some 70% of Duck wrestlers were Oregon high school graduates.  The women’s cross-country team during the same period listed 51% Oregonians on its roster.

Oregon administrators, members of the wrestling team, wrestling alumni and a former coach took the witness stand in Judge Lynn Ashcroft’s court in response to a lawsuit filed by Equity in Athletics in Oregon, a non-profit corporation that represents returning Oregon wrestlers and other supporters of the team.  Oregon announced it was cutting wrestling on July 13, 2007.  After the Save Oregon Wrestling Foundation raised nearly $3 million in cash and pledges in a futile attempt to convince the University to keep the sport, EIAO filed suit on June 6.

Athletic Director Patrick Kilkenny and Associate Athletic Director Reneé Baumgartner took the stand Monday in Salem to deny allegations made by several wrestling alumni and program supporters who charged that Kilkenny and other Oregon administrators cited Title IX as the reason for cutting wrestling in public gatherings and private meetings.

Former UO wrestling coach Ron Finley, wrestling lettermen Chael Sonnen and Buck Davis, and current Oregon wrestlers Zach Frazier and Jeremy McLaughlin testified for the plaintiff.  Finley coached Oregon wrestling for 28 years and coached the 1984 US Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling team.  Sonnen testified regarding the importance of college wrestling to the thousands of Oregon high school students who compete in the sport.  Davis alleged Kilkenny told a meeting of Oregon alumni in Central Oregon that wrestling was being cut for gender equity purposes.  Frazier and McLaughlin told the court about the importance of wrestling in their lives and the opportunities they will miss if the University’s decision is not overturned.

Judge Ashcroft deferred ruling on EIAO’s motion for a preliminary injunction to prevent the school from cutting wrestling for the 2008-09 season.  Instead, the judge indicated a desire to have expedited briefing and oral argument on the merits of the University’s decision. He scheduled a merits hearing for Sept. 8 at 9:30 a.m.

Even if Judge Ashcroft rules against EIAO’s request for a preliminary injunction, a decision favoring the Oregon wrestlers in September could result in the resurrection of a wrestling team that could compete in tournament competition and dual meets during the next academic year.