“Boy in the Mirror” is a rare, heartfelt, timely memoir that breaks new ground on a subject that’s shaming such stalwart institutes as the Roman Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts of America.
As an associate athletic director for 20 years, Jim Bartko helped drive the University of Oregon's innovative athletic program to unprecedented levels of success. Among his key responsibilities? Being a liaison to super donor Phil Knight. Meanwhile, though, he harbored a secret that nobody knew but two other people — his best friend and the Catholic priest who sexually abused them both when they were children. When, after forty-four years, Bartko finally went public with his story, he was lauded for his courage by many, particularly those who’d experienced childhood sexual abuse themselves. But within a year he’d lost his job as athletic director at Fresno State and been served with divorce papers. Bartko’s story is one of tragedy and triumph. And as much as the sports-loving author regrets his past, he has emerged on the national scene as an advocate for those who’ve lived through the same pain he has, reminding readers: “I bat last.”
Bob Welch
Bob Welch is a speaker, author, award-winning columnist and writing teacher who has served as an adjunct professor of journalism at the University of Oregon in Eugene.
He is the author of more than 20 books, his latest being “The Wizard of Foz: Dick Fosbury’s One-Man High-Jump Revolution” (Skyhorse Publishing, New York, Sept. 2018, hardback, $24.99).
As a columnist for The Register-Guard, Oregon’s second-largest newspaper, he has twice won the National Society of Newspaper Columnists’s highest award for writing. In addition, he has won dozens of other journalism awards, including the 2010 and 2011 Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association’s “Best Writing” awards. Other honors include the Seattle Times C.B. Blethen Memorial Award for Distinguished Feature Writing.
San Diego author Mike Yorkey calls Welch “the most eclectic writer in America” because the Oregon author has written World War II and children’s books, hiking books and collections of columns, books inspired by his favorite movies and plays and books about fathers and sons, sports and military nurses.
His book about a heroic World War II nurse, American Nightingale (Atria Books, 2004), was featured on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award. A follow-up book, Pebble in the Water (AO Creative, 2008), amplifies the author’s American Nightingale experience from an idea written on a Wendy’s napkin to the four years it took before the book was published. And details the life lessons learned along the way.
In 2012, his book “Cascade Summer” chronicled his 452-mile hike on the Oregon portion of the Pacific Crest Trail.
Articles of Welch’s have been published in more than a dozen books, including seven in the popular “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series. In addition, he has had articles published in such magazines as Los Angeles Times, Reader’s Digest, Sports Illustrated and Runner’s World.
As head of Pebble in the Water Inspiration, Welch has keynoted conferences, workshops and retreats across America, tugging at hearts, tickling funny bones, and inspiring people to be ripples on life’s waters. Among his speaking highlights was being asked to keynote the dedication ceremony at the Massachusetts Statehouse for a plaque honoring WWII nurse Frances Slanger. It was Welch’s book about Slanger, American Nightingale, that convinced legislators to honor the Boston nurse.
“Forget the hyperbole,” said Julie Zander, organizer of the Association of Personal Historians conference in Portland in 2006. “Our 261 participants scored Welch a 4.81 on a 5.0-scale.”
In 2005, Welch founded the Beachside Writers Workshop in the Oregon coast town of Yachats. Since then, more than a thousand students have attended the more than 30 workshops, which are now held mainly in Eugene.
Welch has spoken at the National Writers Workshops and has served as a judge for numerous writing contests, including the Erma Bombeck Humor Writing awards.
He and his wife, Sally, live in Eugene. They are parents of two adult sons, who also live in Eugene with their families, and grandparents of five.
Welch enjoys sailing, backpacking (he’s walked 1,244 miles of the 2,650-mile PCT), used-bookstore browsing and University of Oregon sports-spectating. He and Sally attend Grace Community Fellowship.
“Jim Bartko’s book is a wake-up call for all of us. Yes, sexual abuse happens to all kinds of people, even those who become charming, successful adults. The abuse itself is only the beginning. An overwhelming load of memories, coping methods, and guilt about keeping the secrets threaten all that happens afterward. Jim’s book is a courageous invitation to take child abuse seriously.”
Judy Langford, Senior Fellow, Center for the Study of Social Policy, Washington, D.C.
