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<br />- <br /> <br />STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS <br /> <br />January 9, 1989 <br />Mayor Jeff Miller <br /> <br />You have just given me one of life's great opportunities, and that is the <br />subject I want to talk to you about this evening: opportunities. <br /> <br />I began learning about opportunities when I was just 11 years old. I was the <br />youngest of a family of five living in a rough neighborhood in Cleveland, <br />Ohio. My father was a parts salesman and my mother worked in a bakery. And <br />one of my lifetime heroes comes from that period of my life: a man by the <br />name of Sam Muscal. <br /> <br />When I talk about my personal heroes, I list the influence of Sam Muscal <br />right along with that of Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Teresa, Saint Fran- <br />cis, Thomas Jefferson, and even Jesus. Sam Muscal was a big man: a meat <br />cutter by trade, a German Jew who was lucky enough to escape the Nazis during <br />a ghastly journey to Dachau. And Sam ran a three-aisle grocery store in our <br />neighborhood, and he got to know me because I spent a lot of time there <br />shopping for my family. Even today, I can hear that rich German accent and <br />see those big, gentle hands as he would lift half a beef as if it was a <br />toothpick. <br /> <br />- <br /> <br />One day Sam offered me a job <br />and eight hours on Saturday, <br />all the Pepsi I could drink. <br />drink a lot of Pepsi! <br /> <br />as a stock boy: five hours a day on weekdays <br />and the pay was great--fifty cents a day plus <br />Now that was a bargain for me because I could <br /> <br />I remember Sam would occasionally call me into the back room and hand me a <br />sandwich, and once in a while he would put a hot pepper in it. Held do that <br />just for the joy of watching my expression as I tried to act very cool eating <br />that hot pepper. Sam would sometimes leave change around the store to see <br />whether the boys he hired would report it when they swept up or discovered it <br />on the counter, and I always did. <br /> <br />For me, five years of working for Sam Muscal was one of life1s great opportu- <br />nities. It was Sam who took me off the street and gave me an opportunity to <br />go straight. Sam Muscal taught me the work ethic. Sam Muscal taught me to <br />respect all kinds of people. Sam Muscal gave me a stiff determination to <br />succeed. <br /> <br />Tonight, you the people of Eugene, like Sam Muscal 35 years ago, have given <br />me a great opportunity. And I can think of no more promising place to re- <br />ceive this opportunity than in a city that is accustomed to recognizing <br />opportunities and to making the most of them. <br /> <br />- <br /> <br />It was by recognizing and seizing opportunities that the people of Eugene <br />were successful in building the Hult Center, in widening 6th and 7th avenues, <br />in constructing Autzen Stadium and renovating Hayward field, in planning the <br />Riverfront Research Park, in developing one of the West's finest school <br />systems, in designing riverside parks and paths, in expanding a modest air- <br />port into a regional transportation center, and in developing a unique part- <br />