Thank You Phil Creighton

Outgoing Pacific President Phil Creighton poses with Director of Athletics Ken Schumann with a personalized jersey presented at May's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) Awards Banquet. SAAC presented the jersey and a photo collage to Creighton as a thank you for his years of support to the Pacific Athletics program.

This is Phil Creighton's last week as president at Pacific University. Next week, he will hand the reins over the Dr. Lesley Hallick, who arrives at Pacific after two decades as the top provost at Oregon Health Sciences University.

It is an understatement to say that many of the advances that Pacific Athletics has made would not be possible without the unending support of Dr. Creighton. He was behind the planning and construction that eventually led to our top-rate Lincoln Park Athletic Complex. He has given unprecedented support in the growth of athletics, realizing the quality of students that athletics brings to the campus. While president, the University has added two new programs (men's swimming and women's lacrosse) and aggressively support the return of football to the Forest Grove campus.

A couple of personal comments and stories about Phil Creighton. In my 15 years of involvement in intercollegiate athletics, I have only seen one other small college president as visibly supportive of athletics as Phil has been. The late Martha Ann Dow at Oregon Tech was the same way, and it is no coincidence that he considered Dr. Dow a friend and mentor from their Oregon University System days.

Phil's attendance at Boxers' sporting events was a regular occurence, and his voice was a loud as anyone in the PAC or on the fields. He would cheer players on by name, ride officials with the best of fans and was not afraid of letting his passion come through.

In one of his first years at Pacific, Phil was sitting at Tom Reynolds Field in what we called the "President's Box," which was two folding chairs placed near the tent that acted as the press box. In one ealry non-conference men's soccer tilt against Humboldt State, Phil loudly called out an opposing player who referred to Pacific player in derrogatory fashion. "I'll have you thrown right off of campus!" he yelled.

The best part of Phil's passion is that it wasn't exclusively for the athletic fields and the student-athletes. He was just as passionate and present as music events, theatre performances and many other student functions. Phil is passionate about Pacific, no matter what the venue.

I am guessing, however, that Phil had a soft spot for athletics. He played two years of football at the Air Force Academy before a knee injury brought that and his military career to an end. While we never wish injury on anyone, I am thankful that the fateful injury brought him on a path that passed through Pacific.

I had the pleasure to first know Phil Creighton well before he came to Pacific. We first met in 1998 when I was the fresh voiced reporter for KCMB radio in La Grande, and Phil the newly minted president of Eastern Oregon University. I had always remembered in one of our first interviews that he he felt the shelf life of a president was five years.

When he arrived at Pacific in 2003, I publicly challenged Phil on this same point. Even without PR handlers around, he effectively dodged the question. After May 2008 past, I felt a little comfort in the fact that there was no retirement announcement. Once Phil's State of the University address in September, however, I could feel from the start that the announcement was imminent. It was.

I have every confidence that Dr. Hallick will provide great support for Pacific athletics. That support, however, will be built on the foundation that Phil Creighton has helped set in place.

For that, Phil Creighton, all of us in Pacific athletics say thank you. Godspeed, but please do not be a stranger.