RIP Bill Dellinger

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Former Oregon All-American, Olympic Bronze medalist, and Hall of Fame track coach Bill Dellinger has died at age 91.

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[TheDrake]

Nice article from Runners World


https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a6495 ... at-age-91/

[pezsez1]

I was chatting with Coach Dellinger back in my college days about an upcoming cross country meet. He told me 95 percent of winning a race was preparation, and then he asked me to guess what made up the remaining 5 percent. I can't remember which incorrect answer I gave, but he said the final 5 percent was luck. You might wake up on the right (or wrong) side of the bed, or the guy running in front of you might trip and roll his ankle. I always found this outlook fascinating because of how one could interpret it. Some might say not to stress too much about winning or losing, because that final 5 percent is always beyond your control. For me, I always took it as do all you can to control the 95 percent so that hopefully bad luck doesn't kill you.

Anyway, that random little convo with Dellinger ended up being a figurative pillar to how I live my life. Who would have known? He was an incredibly nice guy and I always loved talking with him. RIP, coach.