Bowerman and the Men of Oregon: The Story of Oregon's Legendary Coach and Nike's Cofounder Book

In a sense, this three-star rating is an average: for those in the first group, this book may well merit four or five stars, but to the general audience (non-athletes in particular), the book would be of little to no interest. But if you fall into one of the former categories (runner, coach, or Nike fan), read on for a quick recap of the book's salient aspects.

First of all, I have to commend author Kenny Moore (former Oregon runner coached by Bowerman, and later Oregon MFA graduate) for his thoroughness: 400+ pages including 14-page index, and numerous photos covering everything from Bowerman's ancestors to his coaching heyday and early Nike days all the way up to near the end of Bowerman's life. As Moore notes in the acknowledgements, it took hundreds of sources, and the depth of source material comes through in the countless firsthand quotes and anecdotes from everyone from Phil Knight to long-forgotten collegiate runners.

What Moore does so nicely is weave the sprawling pile of material into a coherent narrative, centering on Bowerman's life and coaching (as the title would suggest), but also shedding significant light on the origins of Nike, the evolution of running coaching, the Olympics (including Munich), and the rise of the jogging movement (spurred in no small part by Bowerman, and his counterpart Arthur Lydiard, the great Kiwi coach). Moore also (at least to this runner) well conveys the thrill and suspense of races, the recounting of which plays a significant and regular role in the book. For the most part Moore's prose, like a good rabbit in a race, leads you along quickly and efficiently, but shines out with a bon mot or deep insight--often on running, but sometimes on life as well.

And after scanning through to write this review, I'm now inspired to go run myself--and that, for fellow runners, is always a valuable quality in a book.