by Chris Kuykendall

I kept a diary of my 2008 trip to Eugene as part of the T&FN Olympic Trials tour. The diary, if I knew where it was at this moment, would have more exact details. Absent review, my possibly faulty memory is that I went to a laundromat one morning to refresh my supply of clean clothes, and while I was there Jen Rhines and Sara Slattery showed up with the same chore.

Some time later in the Trials, they finished 2-4 in the 5000. My memory was foggy, and after the race I was asking several people in the stands what Slattery's maiden name was. Nobody in a very distinguished set of fans and officialdom recalled, but one of them suggested, "Ask Cordner," and presented the question to him.

Cordner kind of blinked like he was wondering if there was a track nut trivia game going on or something, but then after no more than about a second or two he came forth with, "Gorton."

So I got the impression that at age 90 (or nearly) he was probably equally up on 2008 athletes as he was on 1932, 1936, etc., athletes. I believe this memory ability is typically given the adjective "encyclopedic."

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