EUGENE, Ore. - Ask Oregon athletic officials about the dozen or so Ducks who have been hired by Cal in the past five years, and they smile. Then they talk about it being a compliment. Then they start reeling off the names. Assistant football coach Bob Gregory, director of football operations Mike McHugh, strength coach John Krasinski, equipment manager Ed Garland, recruiting assistant Kevin Parker -- the list goes on and on. But one name does not bring a smile to the faces of Oregon officials: Jim Bartko, fundraiser extraordinaire. It's not that the Ducks aren't happy for Bartko; they are. But his departure in July was a body blow to Oregon athletics. ``Our loss is Cal's gain,'' said Jeff Hawkins, Oregon's director of football operations. ``There's a real grace about him. He can work the room without looking like he's working the room.'' As Cal's senior associate athletic director for development, Bartko's challenge is to revitalize Cal's fundraising efforts -- starting with the drive to raise approximately $125 million so the school can break ground on the Student-Athlete High-Performance Center this winter.
``We need another $15 million by the end of December,'' said Bartko, who grew up in Modesto and attended Washington State. ``I'm very confident we'll get it done. Failure is not an option, and we have donors that are there to help.'' During his 17 years at Oregon, Bartko played a central role in some of the Ducks' most impressive and innovative projects -- from the giant billboard of quarterback Joey Harrington that hung in Times Square to the $60 million in private donations that Oregon raised to renovate Autzen Stadium in 2002. And for his last decade in Eugene, Bartko served as Oregon's liaison to Nike CEO Phil Knight, who has given tens of millions of dollars to his alma mater during that time. ``Whether you give $10 or $10 million, he makes you feel good,'' Ducks football coach Mike Bellotti said. ``He treats you the same.''
No comments:
Post a Comment