Bald Faced Truth by John Canzano

Bald Faced Truth by John Canzano

Share this post

Bald Faced Truth by John Canzano
Bald Faced Truth by John Canzano
Canzano: Oregon Ducks in a Penn State of mind

Canzano: Oregon Ducks in a Penn State of mind

Nike influence? A Pac-12 documentary? And... some UNLV chatter.

John Canzano's avatar
John Canzano
Dec 04, 2024
∙ Paid
63

Share this post

Bald Faced Truth by John Canzano
Bald Faced Truth by John Canzano
Canzano: Oregon Ducks in a Penn State of mind
75
2
Share
Former Oregon coach Rich Brooks reflects on the last time the Ducks faced Penn State.

Rich Brooks called me this week. The former University of Oregon football coach and his wife spend the winter months in the golf haven known as La Quinta, Calif.

Oregon will play Penn State on Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium in the Big Ten Conference championship game. Brooks was the UO coach the last time the Ducks and Nittany Lions met — the 1995 Rose Bowl — a 38-20 Penn State victory.

“They had a lot of weapons,” Brooks, 83, said.

It’s what he told me about Phil Knight and Nike, though, that I left our conversation thinking about. Brooks said Bill Bowerman, the UO track coach and co-founder of Nike, showed up at a Ducks’ practice in the late 1970s with an experimental football shoe that he wanted Oregon players to test.

This post is for paid subscribers

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 John Canzano
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share