41 Year-Old Daughter-in-law of Nike Founder Fired for Taking 17 year-old Student to Prom

41 Year-Old Daughter-in-law of Nike Founder Fired for Taking 17 year-old Student to Prom

The daughter-in-law of Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman, who served as a volunteer high school track and field coach in Oregon, was fired on Monday after an investigation proved that she escorted a 17-year-old member of her boys track squad to the school's prom.

As reported by the Associated Press, 41-year-old Melissa Bowerman, the daughter-in-law of waffle-sole inventor Bill Bowerman, escorted an unnamed 17-year-old student on the Condon Oregon High Track Team to the school’s prom after the athlete told her he did not have a date for the prom.

Bowerman, who is married to 73-year-old co-coach Jon Bowerman and who also has a son on the same team, told the AP that she volunteered to take the runner to prom to motivate him to improve his grades in his English class.

"If they go on academic probation and suspension, then they can't go to the track meets," Melissa Bowerman told the AP. "I said, 'OK, I will go with you, but we've got to talk about English first. You're going to do better in English.'"

Melissa Bowerman insisted that she and her date only danced to "a couple" of slow songs and spent the rest of the evening playing foosball and ping pong.  The student's father also said he was OK with the coach escorting his son to the prom.

The handling of Bowerman's dismissal wasn't done in the most tactful manner, either. With the Condon team preparing to load a bus for the state track and field meet, the Bowermans were told that Melissa could not ride on the team bus with her husband, the athletes and other parents.

As a result, Jon Bowerman said he will consider resigning from the program if his wife is not allowed to return, a shocking turn of events only weeks after the school officially inaugurated a brand new, high-end track made possible by the trade of the family heirloom Bowerman waffle iron.

"The only thing we've done wrong is build them a new track and get uniforms and build them a powerhouse program," Jon Bowerman told the AP. "If she doesn't come back, I'm not coming back."

Posted by James Fried on Wednesday May 23 2012, 1:52 AM EDT. Ref: Google. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Nation. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0