This can be a story by Paul Merca about our buddy, Mike Fanelli, who we miss very a lot.
When you had been one in every of Mike Fanelli’s 5000-plus Fb mates, there was a better-than-even likelihood you’d obtain a every day submit of observe and discipline trivia, the most recent tackle who ran the best 4 x 400 relay legs on the Penn Relays, posts on the most recent sub-4 minute milers, and so forth.
Mike was a strolling, speaking Google (or, for you old-timers, encyclopedia) of observe and discipline data.
As has been effectively chronicled, Fanelli collected running-related memorabilia, which he saved within the “Monitor and Discipline Storage” at his house in Sonoma County, California. The expansive assortment had over 4,000 artifacts, together with the meet program from the primary indoor observe meet held in the US in 1868 and each Monitor and Discipline Information situation and Runner’s World.
After he handed away on November twenty fifth, 2023, from glioblastoma mind most cancers, on the age of 67, there was a celebration of life held for him in January in San Francisco, attended by a lot of his mates, whether or not in actual property, the athletic shoe trade, or almost definitely, followers of the game.
Even with the celebration of life, there gave the impression to be not fairly the closure you’d anticipate for a person with a ardour for observe and discipline.
Quick-forward to the US Olympic Trials in Eugene, the place two occasions had been organized by former Reebok executives Dwayne ‘Peanut’ Harms and Pat Devaney, in addition to famous distance coach and former Nike and Hoka sports activities advertising govt Peter Thompson.
The primary was the Hootie 5k on the primary Saturday of the Trials, renamed the Peter Brewer-Mike Fanelli Memorial 5k to honor Peter Brewer, a longtime observe and cross nation coach in Northern California.
Per week later, those that didn’t take part within the run gathered for a stroll from the Finest Western New Oregon Resort to the fishing pond on Pre’s Path, the place a commemorative bench honoring Mike shall be put in someday within the fall.
After Saturday night time’s session, a small gathering of shut mates of Fanelli’s happened on the Wild Duck, the long-time post-meet watering gap and gathering place. The Wild Duck reopened in late September after closing on the finish of 2022.
The Wild Duck was, most of the time, the place Mike made his Fb posts and takes come to life, speaking to anybody who wished to speak observe.
During the Olympic Trials, a photograph of Fanelli hangs over the massive desk within the restaurant part the place he usually held court docket earlier than and after meets.
Fanelli is immortalized on the Wild Duck with a small bronze plate on the again of a chair along with his identify engraved.
For a lot of observe and discipline followers, the Wild Duck was the place to assemble after a meet, whether or not you had been a fan, athlete, official, or a direct member of the family.
When Eugene was formally awarded the Trials, quite a few followers questioned whether or not the Duck would reopen and, if it didn’t, the place they might collect afterward.
Enter Charles Haasenritter, whose son, Kilo, performs on the College of Oregon soccer crew.
Haasenritter and spouse Kahea took over the enterprise to deliver the restaurant again to its glory days earlier than the pandemic hit.
The glory days included athletes making world championships or Olympic groups toasting patrons with bottles of champagne.
The Haasenritter household, who got here to Eugene from Hilo, Hawaii, didn’t considerably change the menu, conserving many elderly staples, similar to wings, burgers, and salmon, patrons loved over the earlier 30 years of operation.
The one tweak to the menu was the addition of Hawaiian-inspired delicacies, similar to spam musubi, a Hawaiian Loco Moco beef patty on rice with gravy and egg, and a Hawaiian plate that features rice, mac and cheese, and protein choices together with beef teriyaki and Hawaiian fried rooster, which I attempted upon Haasenritter’s suggestion.
The celebs got here out to the Wild Duck Saturday, together with world and Olympic lengthy bounce champ Brittney Reese, who’s on the meet as an envoy for TrackTown USA.
Different notables in the home included ESPN’s Larry Dawson, three-time Olympian at 800 meters Mark Everett, and 2012 Olympic 400-meter hurdles finalist Georgeanne Moline.
Tara Davis-Woodhall and Monte Nichols, who completed 1-3 in Saturday’s lengthy bounce finals, had been saluted by the patrons with champagne for punching their tickets to Paris.
Whether or not it’s an early spring College of Oregon house meet or an enormous meet just like the Olympic Trials, the Wild Duck is a must-visit!
