ete Dufour is a glass-half-full kind of guy and he says it started with a life-changing moment at Olympic College.
The 90-year-old Dufour, ’50, attended OC after serving in the U.S. Navy as a medic. He paid his way with the G.I. Bill, a track scholarship and an early-morning job lighting oil furnaces around the Bremerton campus.
In the days before his financial aid came through, Dufour often was hungry. “That might be why they called me the ‘Slender Sprinter,’” he recalled. “I didn’t have breakfast and I wasn’t sure about lunch.”
Track Coach Doc Rethke found Dufour on one of those lean days and discreetly left a bag of food at his side. When Dufour reminded him to take his groceries, Rethke took the younger man by the shoulders, looked him in the eyes and said: “Remember what I’m saying to you. I want you to be strong and run fast. You have the makings of a champion.”
Thinking about that moment still makes Dufour emotional. “That just hit me like a ton of bricks and it resonates with me to this day. I had never been told that and it made such a difference in my life. And, I thought isn’t it possible that I could make a difference for others by telling someone when I see them doing something outstanding.”
“The best teaching I ever had was at Olympic. It was superior even to UW,” he said. “I fell in love with literature, botany and psychology. I fell in love with nearly every class I had because the teachers were so motivating. Ever since then, I’ve been a big champion of community colleges because their open-door policy provides people with a second chance, maybe even a third chance.”
Dufour said Doc Rethke helped set him on the path to his eventual career as a counselor and hypnotherapist. He’s been practicing in Corvallis, Ore., since 1989. Before that, he taught political science at Grays Harbor College and managed educational services for the Department of Defense in Europe.
“A very special moment can change your life in a split-second,” he said. “(As a therapist) I’m sending a message to people who are willing to listen that whoever they think they are, they’re always more than that.”
Rethke was right about Dufour being a champion. In 1949, he helped the OC track and field team place third in the Washington State Junior College Conference Championships, winning the 220- and 440-yard races and setting new conference records of 22.6 and 50.8 seconds.
The “Slender Sprinter” went even further in 1950, qualifying for the National Junior College Championships in Los Angeles with teammate Merle Pierce and setting personal records in both races. He won the L. Hum Kean “Most Inspirational” award both years he was at OC and Rethke called him one of the finest competitors he had ever seen and “an ideal man to coach.”
Dufour continued his track career at the University of Washington and in 1952, he won a silver medal in the 400-meter race at the Pac-10 Championship, missing first place by a tenth of a second. Last year, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the OC Athletic Hall of Fame, along with Rethke.
The native Californian has been a runner his entire life, starting on the beaches around Los Angeles as a 3- and 4-year-old and running “like a deer” through the woods of Stanley Park in Vancouver, B.C., when he was 9. During his Navy years, he recalls outrunning a rabid dog in Shanghai and impromptu races in Asian ports against other servicemen.
“In those days, there was no training. I just liked to run like the wind. People would say, ‘If you look, one minute he’s there and the next moment he’s gone,’” Dufour said. “I actually think I was running to something. I was running toward life itself.”
The nonagenarian, who describes his running style as “floating and gliding,” was planning to compete in a master’s race in Spain this year until a recent illness stalled his training. As he regains his strength, he’s looking forward to getting back to the track.
“I often visualize myself running and I always remember winning. Champions never think about losing.”
Dufour plans to attend the second annual OC Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremony June 9 at the Bremer Student Center and he still feels great affection for the college that gave him his positive start.
“The best teaching I ever had was at Olympic. It was superior even to UW,” he said. “I fell in love with literature, botany and psychology. I fell in love with nearly every class I had because the teachers were so motivating. Ever since then, I’ve been a big champion of community colleges because their open-door policy provides people with a second chance, maybe even a third chance.”
