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Bill Bowerman's daughter-in-law out as Condon/Wheeler track coach after taking student to prom
The daughter-in-law of Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman has been dismissed as a volunteer track coach at a small Eastern Oregon high school because she escorted a 17-year-old boy to last month's prom.
Melissa Bowerman, 41, who had been coaching the Condon/Wheeler track and field team with her 73-year-old husband, Jon Bowerman, was ousted this month in a phone call from the superintendents of the Condon and Fossil school districts.
"There was an investigation done and through that investigation, there were some potential details that arose," Condon superintendent Jan Zarate told the East Oregonian. "We started an investigation that led to us asking her to un-volunteer."
Zarate declined to provide details of the investigation.
Brad Sperry, athletic director of Wheeler High School and superintendent of the Fossil School District, met Monday with Jon Bowerman.
"All I will say for the record is that there is way more to that story than just a date to the prom and no comment on anything else," Sperry said when reached by The Oregonian. "It's very unfortunate it ever got to this point. ... A thing like this, there's two sides. One side normally talks, and the other can't talk."
Gilliam County Sheriff Gary Bettencourt, who received a complaint from a chaperone, said he has found no evidence that Melissa Bowerman broke the law.
Melissa Bowerman, whose late father-in-law invented the waffle-soled running shoe and co-founded Nike with Phil Knight, said attending the Condon High School prom with a boy from the track team was an error in judgment. But she said the two did not have an inappropriate relationship. She said they danced to a few slow songs but mostly played ping pong and foosball.
Melissa Bowerman, who has a son on the track team, said she went to the prom because the boy felt bad that he lacked a date and had been struggling in English class.
"If they go on (academic) probation and suspension, then they can't go to the track meets," Melissa Bowerman said. "I said, 'OK, I will go with you, but we've got to talk about English first. You're going to do better in English.'"
The boy's father said he gave Melissa Bowerman permission to take his son to the dance.
"The first thing I thought, 'Maybe this isn't a good idea.' But Melissa has been like a surrogate mom to these kids for years," Bob Thomas said.
"It is very much as if I had sent (my son) to the prom with his mom," Thomas told The Oregonian on Monday. "Now how much would you worry about your kid going to the prom with his mom? Other than people making fun of him, but he's a pretty tough kid."
Jon Bowerman said he met Monday with Sperry to "give the school one more opportunity to recant, to apologize."
"So I went to the superintendent (Monday) and basically gave him that message. It fell on deaf ears, so to speak," he said.
Bowerman said Sperry told him the school has the option to renew or not renew contracts.
"I told him, we're not talking about renewing, or not renewing. We're talking about what you have done to my wife, to my wife's life. You've made it pure hell, essentially. It's 'you're guilty until proven innocent' and I didn't spend six years in the Marines defending 'guilty until proven innocent.' ... We don't want to fight, but if that's the attitude, we will fight."
In 2009, the Bowermans volunteered after finding the team on life support: no coach or uniforms, no transportation and no pole-vault pit. They couldn't bear the thought of Bill Bowerman's hometown going without track, so they began commuting 90 miles round trip to Condon High from the family ranch in Clarno.
The track and field program has ballooned from six athletes to more than 30 in four years under the Bowermans' watch. That turnaround was helped, in part, after Melissa discovered the original waffle iron her father-in-law used to make iconic track shoes. The family gave the relics to Nike; Nike gave a "generous sum" to Condon/Wheeler track.
Last week, as the team prepared to leave for the state track meet, Condon athletic director Ron Kopp told the Bowermans that Melissa would not be allowed to ride on the team's charter bus with the athletes. With the bus only half full, parents have historically accompanied their sons and daughters for the ride.
"After all we've done for the track program, you would think our friends would have given us the benefit of the doubt and it was just the opposite," Jon Bowerman said. "She should have at least had the opportunity to explain before they fired her."
The Condon/Wheeler girls team won its first state title Saturday.
Now Jon Bowerman, who has fielded calls from "Good Morning America" and CBS, said he might resign because of the situation.
"The only thing we've done wrong is build them a new track and get uniforms and build them a powerhouse program," he said. "If she doesn't come back, I'm not coming back."
Source: oregonlive.com