Click on this link to purchase "Go Birds" on Amazon
Click on this link to read a "flip version" of "Go Birds
SEATTLE – Ken Foreman to Ken Bone. Doris Heritage to Les
Habegger.
Buzzer beaters to balance beams. Curling a corner kick through the box to sprinting down the straightaway to the finish line.
For more than 80 years, athletes adorned in maroon and white uniforms have carried the Seattle Pacific banner into all manner of competition.
Some of those competitive events were long-forgotten local contests. Others were national championships at venues all around the country. Still others brought the Falcon legacy to the world stage.
From the start of the program in 1933 all the way up through the university's 125
th anniversary in 2017, all of that athletic history now can be held in one 's hands with the publication of "Go Birds!: A Concise History of Varsity Athletics at Seattle Pacific University."
The book was the brainchild of Falcons Hall of Fame tennis coach and retired SPU chemistry professor Dr. Wes
Lingren. It ultimately was spearheaded by
Lingren along with John
Glancy, who served the school in various capacities for five decades, longtime sports information director Frank MacDonald, and Seattle Pacific archivist Adrienne Meier.
The 244-page paperback takes a year-by-year look at the athletics program and the people who shaped it, both out front and behind the scenes.
It is further filled with photos, lists, charts, rosters . . .
. . . and memories galore.
"Looking at old Falcons, memories of athletes I had seen compete when I was growing up around campus … to relive that was probably the most interesting part,"
Glancy said. "The search for photographs to illustrate these stories was a challenge. We had a lot of help from different alums who would send me photos or identify pictures.
"Coming up with names of people on different teams was fun,"
Glancy added. "That was fun. It was like being a detective."
The book currently is available for sale on Amazon by clicking on
this link.
In addition, an electronic "flip version" is available on issuu.com by clicking on
this link. (The book is not downloadable.)
It was in 2015 when
Lingren first approached
Glancy with the idea for the book. As is often the case with such projects, it quickly evolved into something more complex than they originally anticipated.
That made the moment of seeing the final product in print an even more joyful one.
"It's sort of surreal, actually,"
Glancy said in looking back at all the effort that went into the book. "But It's very satisfying to finally push it over the finish line.
"I'm so grateful to all the people who helped. It really was an effort by a lot of different people to make it come together,"
Glancy added.
The final part of the project is letting everyone know that the book is out there and available.
"We packed it with as many names, photos, and highlights as possible,"
Glancy said. "I believe "Go Birds" is a keeper."
