Canzano: Oregon's window to win it all is open
Phil Knight fueled the enterprise.
The University of Oregon will host James Madison University on Saturday in a College Football Playoff game.
Kickoff is 4:30 p.m.
JMU’s trip westward became a fun storyline this week, but it’s UO’s journey I’m thinking about on the eve of the first-ever home playoff game at Autzen Stadium.
None of it happens without Phil Knight.
The Nike founder and his wife, Penny, have poured more than a billion dollars into his alma mater. That investment has lifted the brand and fueled the enterprise. It opened the window for UO to matter on a national scale. The window to win it all comes with urgency.
Knight has seen some unthinkable stuff. In 2003, I was on the field beside him after the Ducks beat No. 3 Michigan, 31-27, at Autzen Stadium. He didn’t join the midfield mosh pit. He just stood on the fringe of it and looked around at the fans pouring over the railing and darting past him.
I’ll never forget his grin.
Last season, I saw Knight on the field in Indianapolis after the Big Ten title game. His Ducks beat Penn State for the conference championship. Confetti fell from the rafters. Security guards in yellow jackets moved in and sectioned off the celebration stage with barricades.
Knight was in a black windbreaker, jeans, sneakers, and a baseball cap. Security staff didn’t recognize the founder of Nike and shooed him behind the railing.
The Ducks celebrated on one side of the fence.
Knight stood on the other side.
He didn’t make a fuss. The benefactor just stood against the railing like an outsider, his eyes glassy, watching the scene he built. His trusted sidekick, Ken O’Neil, was with him. So were a handful of other high-level long-time donors.
I admired that the billionaire didn’t object and insist on being let into the celebration pit. He just watched. When Dan Lanning noticed, the Ducks coach eventually hopped the railing and came over to introduce Knight to his mother and father.
It’s like Eleanor Roosevelt said: “Today is the oldest you've ever been, and the youngest you'll ever be again."