Funny story from back in the day

[rainbowgirl28]

This whole article is actually really neat. He sounds like a really awesome coach.

http://www.columbian.com/03312004/sports/131061.html

   Eagle was best known for livening up a track meet. When one of his athletes broke through with a big mark, Boggs recalled that Eagle "would let out a real loud war whoop and everybody would chuckle at that." At other times, Eagle would create chaos by insisting the entire team leave their event to congratulate a Fort athlete who just accomplished a breakthrough mark or time.

    The bottom line for Eagle was smiles, not the final score.

    "There's too much emphasis on winning," Eagle said upon his retirement. "If you win a championship, you haven't necessarily had a winning season."

    Not that Eagle didn't mind winning a meet or two. His Fort Vancouver teams had a 24-year record of 244-41-1, including a streak of 56 consecutive wins from 1967-73.

    Today it's called gamesmanship. During Eagle's tenure, it was called getting an edge. Few were better than Eagle at working an obscure angle to get an edge.

    Prior to an all-city track meet, Eagle had one of his athletes take a broken bottle to the pole vault landing pit, which at the time was made of wood chips. Eagle instructed the athlete to look as if he was picking glass out of the pit as soon as the Hudson's Bay bus arrived.

    A dirty trick? Perhaps, but it gave the Trappers an edge, as they went 1-2-3 in the pole vault, as all of Hudson's Bay's vaulters failed to clear the bar.