"We Grew Wings", The Story of the Championship level University of Oregon's Women's Track & Field team.

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In the culture of track and field and especially distance running it is unusual to find anyone who has not heard of Prefontaine and furthermore the history of the University of Oregon men’s track and field teams.  With the 40^th anniversary of Title IX, it appears that the history of the University of Oregon women’s program is missing. “We Grew Wings,” a documentary film chronicling the untold story of the championship-level University of Oregon women’s track and field teams, will make its debut on June 30 in Eugene Oregon and will look to fill in the holes in that story.  This film will take a closer look at the 1985 University of Oregon team and the 2011-2012 University of Oregon team.

We Grew Wings/ Fall Teaser from Ellen Schmidt-Devlin on Vimeo.

The project was created and has been led by Executive Producer Ellen Schmidt-Devlin. Schmidt-Devlin grew up in Oregon watching the meets in Eugene. She later went on to compete for the University of Oregon and later on for the Oregon Track Club in the seventies and eighties. Schmidt-Devlin went on to have a very successful career working at Nike. She came back to Oregon several years ago and was really astonished by the diversity and accomplishments of the program. “I started to hear about all the history that had been put together. But there seemed to be a gap in that history. That gap being that no one talked about the women’s team” she goes on to explain, “My first thought was how unfair and my next thought was what a great opportunity.”  

From this opportunity, the idea for a documentary came to forefront. Schmidt-Devlin enlisted the help of Portland filmmakers Erich Lyttle and Sarah Henderson, who had just wrapped up “There is No Finish Line,” a documentary about running legend Joan Benoit Samuelson. The group began to collect stories of these women athletes.

 “I started hearing the stories and they are so powerful. I started hearing about the women today and how little they knew about the history of their program” Schmidt-Devlin said. She goes on to give one example in particular that stood out. “Grace Bakari was from Ghana and was an Olympian in seventy-six. She came to the University of Oregon in 1980. Grace is still in Eugene and is a race official on Hayward field. The women today did not know she had contributed to the first national championship that the University of Oregon had won. They just saw her as one of the race officials. I guess I recognized the strength of a legacy and tradition and what that can offer to the women competing today as well as the women that will compete in the future. It made sense to record these stories and offer them to the next generation of student-athletes” she states.

The history of the University of Oregon women’s track and field program began with Title IX and its passing. Women’s athletics started out in the P.E. department but as more runners came out of high school there was a demand for the University to begin offering intercollegiate athletics. Though track and field had been a tradition at the University of Oregon for the first time the women were put on Hayward field with the men despite worries that the meets would be longer. "But once we started competing, they (the fans) understood that these women train hard, they put on a good show just like the men and we should support them just like we support the men” Schmidt-Devlin said. They did not see much resistance to the addition of women’s sports; it was just a matter of educating the general public on what good times were for women and the differences in the events.

Recruiting women to the program was not difficult for there were strong club programs across the west coast. When women first started competing it was under a different organization called the AIAW and not the NCAA. The rules were different; colleges were not allowed to visit the athletes during recruitment and were not allowed to pay for athletes to come to their college or university. It was a different playing field until women’s athletics was added to the NCAA in 1981. This documentary focuses on the stories of these women around this time period and how it connects with today’s athletes.

 “I think one of the reasons we created ‘We grew Wings’ was the stories that have not been told. You are going to learn about groups of women and particular individuals like a Leann Warren who was running a 4:05 in the 1500 meters which could put Leann on the Olympic team today in the United States or get her pretty close to that team” Schmidt-Devlin continues, “Not every little girl should have to look up to one Oregon runner, that runner being Steve Prefontaine. There should be other athletes and role models that they look up to.”

Schmidt-Devlin will admit that Title IX has brought women’s athletics a long way but the support of women’s sports are still inconsistent. Despite the inconsistent support, Title IX has helped changed the role of women in our culture. “I think Title IX was so important because it opened up opportunity for women in both sports and education. And those women it initially opened up the opportunity for was my generation. We are in our fifties now and we are giving back. We have learned so much from sport that we participated in. And we were able to give back through our communities, through our jobs, through our families," she explains, “And for us, it is very much about looking forward versus looking back. I think the reason Title IX needed to be put in place is because we did not have that opportunity.”

Schmidt-Devlin also wants to point out that we need to not just focus on women’s sports nationally but look at it internationally. “I think my final message would be that the participation of girls in sports which we were able to take advantage of here in the United States and many countries in Europe is not always offered to girls around the world. I think another reason to raise awareness of our girls here is to help them understand that’s a right and that’s an opportunity we would like to see girls around the world gain” she stated.

“We Grew Wings” will premier in Eugene on June 30^th at the McDonald Theatre at 9:00 PM (more info here). It will also be shown throughout the month of July at the Hollywood Theater in Portland.  The movie (to be shown July 15, 22 and 29) will provide great inspiration for sports fans as they get ready to follow their favorite international track and field athletes when the London 2012 Summer Olympics start July 27.  For more information check out their website and follow them on Twitter @WeGrewWings.

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• Running
• Track & Field
• Discrimination/Title IX

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