Reflections Magazine Issue #73 - Winter 2011 | Page 14

Athletics Feature 2010: Coach Bauer yells, “RUN FASTER!” 1980: Tim runs the mile at the NAIA Nationals at SHU, and earns All-American honors. 2009: Bauer poses with his defending National Champion men’s 4x800 relay team. continued from page 13 . . . The Tough Years However, Pat Palmer, the running coach at Findlay College, called and offered Bauer a scholarship. He remembers his first day of college cross country practice well. Sports like cross country and track are rarely considered “contact” sports. But Bauer coached like the Woody Hayes-led Buckeyes—which meant his athletes had to be tough both mentally and physically. “I hadn’t run in a while,” said Bauer, who admitted he spent most of the previous summer playing basketball. “Pat said, ‘OK guys, 20 miles.’ I go, ‘Is that 10 (miles) now and 10 later?’ He said, ‘No, 20 miles.’ … That’s how I started at Findlay.” In the fall of 1978, Findlay ran in a cross country meet at little-known Siena Heights. Siena was dedicating its new fieldhouse, and the race finished inside the facility to celebrate the occasion. For starters, Bauer brought his running spikes, which was a problem since some of the race was going to be run on the asphalt road. And when he and a teammate were the