More Than a Uniform

“WHAT IS YOUR name? Do you know who the president is? What day is it?”

Pilot cross country runner Eliason Kabasenche asked the man question after question, holding him upright with fellow teammate Chris Anderson. Only moments before, they had found him down in the gravel on Leif Erikson Drive, deep in Forest Park, a rock near the side of his head, knees bloodied. They learned his name was Gaylord Davis, but he answered each question with less and less clarity, clearly disoriented. All Kabasenche and Anderson could do was keep Davis upright and awake as they got help.

This was the scene on September 25, 2022. Little did Kabasenche and Anderson know that what they did, as well as the other runners that joined them that day, would result in brand new uniforms for Pilot track and cross country, new uniforms that made their debut late last season at the NCAA West Region Preliminaries.

“The end result of helping this man has been way more than what we ever thought it could be,” Anderson said. “I think what we wanted to do that day specifically in that situation was just to help someone who was in need.”

It was your average fall day in Portland—overcast, a little chilly, but surprisingly no rain. Perfect conditions for a run. It was Sunday, which meant a long run day in the middle of cross country season. So, the usual group of about 30 runners hopped in vans and went off to Forest Park.

Once at the park, they split up into groups of about 10 and started running, beginning their 16-to-18-mile run, which takes them through Leif Erikson Drive. The road is a rocky, winding one that’s difficult for just about every runner. Both Kabasenche and Anderson can attest to its difficulty, as they’ve fallen many times themselves.

About three miles in, Kabasenche and Anderson’s group made a hairpin turn around the corner. As they made their way around the corner, they saw someone lying on the ground. Naturally, they made their way over to check on the person. He was an elderly man, who was clearly scratched up from top to bottom.

“We went over there and quickly realized that it wasn’t just a fall,” Kabasenche said. “This guy was kind of older, he maybe looked like he could be in his 60s or 70s, and he was on the ground, but it didn’t look like he really knew what was going on.”

That man was Gaylord Davis, an active athlete who loves biking, golfing, and running. He was a three-year letter winner at the University of Oregon in golf, winning the Pac-8 Northwest Individual Championship in 1968. He was part owner of Pumpkin Ridge Golf Course until 2015 after purchasing part of the land in the 1980s, and he played in five USGA championships over the course of his career and co-chaired six championships.

While golf usually comes first, running is a close second. He’s run 12 half-marathons and plans to run his 13th this fall here in Portland. Running runs in the family, with both his daughters following in his footsteps as student-athletes at University of Oregon, both running cross country and track. One daughter, Marie, currently coaches at Lincoln High School, who recently took second at the 6A OSAA Track & Field State Championships. “I’ve been running for a long time,” Davis said. “I think our daughters started running because my wife and I would go run a 10k or something and our daughters would run along…it’s pretty fun.”

Being involved in running to any extent in the Pacific Northwest means you’ll eventually come across the Portland Pilots, who have consistently reached levels of national success since Portland head coach Rob Conner took over in 1991. Davis would see the Pilots not just run at all his daughters’ meets, but also on the trails of Leif Erikson Drive, gliding past with a grace and speed that’s just different than the average runner. “I really enjoy watching them,” Davis said of both the men’s and the women’s teams. “I’m always amazed at how many runners there are. It’s pretty cool.”

When Davis was out running that day in Forest Park, he was training for the Portland half-marathon, which was about a month away. He started on Germantown Road and worked his way to Leif Erikson. The day before he had played some golf and was out all day in the sun, and he believes he was dehydrated.

Suddenly, Davis blacked out, falling into the gravel. A few moments later, the Pilots came by.

Kabasenche and Anderson quickly helped get Davis up onto a picnic bench. They could tell he was slipping in and out of consciousness, so they needed to keep his head above his heart and make sure he wouldn’t fall unconscious. Then they began asking the questions.

To this day, Davis doesn’t remember much of what happened on that road.

They needed someone to call 911, but none of the runners had their phones on them. Kabasenche had shadowed EMTs back in high school and Anderson had lifeguard experience, but neither could do much more to help Davis than keep him upright and steady.

The rest of the team splintered off to go grab help, looking for someone with either more medical experience or a phone to call 911. Henry Mong, a former Pilot runner, got lucky—a group of doctors was already walking that way and was able to help.

“I think that the important thing is just that visceral reaction of the team to ask ‘How can we help this person?’” Kabasenche said. “I think RC has done a good job of curating a team that knows how to help. As a team, that’s our culture.”

They got Davis an ambulance and off to the hospital. After that, the Pilots finished their run, but they couldn’t help but worry afterwards about what was going to happen to him. They told Portland head coach Rob Conner about the situation and then played the waiting game. A day later, Davis’s daughter reached out—he was going to be okay.

About a month after, Davis reached out to coach Conner to give an update. Davis was still in tough shape—he needed over 50 stitches from top to bottom and dealt with a cranium bleed in the immediate aftermath—but he wanted to make one thing clear: that the team stopping by to help him onto the table that day was an extreme act of kindness that not everyone would’ve shown, and he wanted to repay that kindness by donating to the program.

“I wanted to do something specific for the kids,” Davis said. “And he (Conner) said they hadn’t had new uniforms in a while. Done, let’s do it.”

After some discussion, it became clear that donating the new uniforms was the best way forward. The Pilots all worked together in the creation of the uniforms, deciding on what both looked good and made sense practically for the runners.

They decided on white shorts—a look they liked from a few years back—and a mix of white and purple for the top. They also added speed suits.

“Speed suits are becoming more popular every year,” Anderson said. “I think they’re just a statement that you just want to run fast.”

Overall, the Pilots were happy with how the designs turned out.

These days Davis sometimes has trouble remembering things he used to remember quickly. He struggles to do math that he used to do quickly in his head—the golfer’s proclivity towards accurate adding and subtracting. He’s not in quite the shape he used to be before he planned to run his half marathon. But he’s healthy and grateful still for the grace the team showed that day.

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KYLE GARCIA ’20 is University of Portland’s Assistant Athletic Director, Communications.