Author of `The Pick' ready for next chapter.

Byline: George Schroeder The Register-Guard

The weirdest place ever was the Portland airport. In the restroom.

He was "doing what you do" when he noticed a complete stranger eyeing him. Creepy, sure. And it got more uncomfortable when the guy began channeling Jerry Allen:

"Kenny Wheaton's gonna score! Kenny Wheaton's gonna score!"

The lesson here is simple: Wherever Kenny Wheaton goes, so to speak, The Pick goes, too. Even when nature calls, Kenny Wheaton cannot escape The Call.

Not that he wants to.

"It is what it is," he says.

And Wheaton knows it is who he is - at least, to Oregon fans - and has been ever since a redshirt freshman snatched Damon Huard's pass near the goal line. He dashed madly up the field, and into history.

"I'm just glad to be remembered," Wheaton says. "If people only know Kenny Wheaton because of that play, I'm glad and proud to be associated with that play."

But along with history, there's his story.

It has been almost 15 years since Wheaton guessed right, jumped an out route and cemented victory over the Huskies.

He played two more years with the Ducks, then left early for the NFL. A third-round draft pick, he suffered a devastating knee injury in his third season with the Dallas Cowboys, and never played another game in the league.

After a stint in arena football, he caught on in the Canadian Football League, earning a reputation as a fierce hitter in six seasons with the Toronto Argonauts.

Since leaving Oregon, Wheaton has gotten married, had two kids. Also, Wheaton's younger brother was killed in a drive-by shooting, months before he would have joined the Oregon football team.

And those latter events, his life away from the field, helped him determine once football was finished, he would find a way to make a difference.

Wheaton turns 34 on Sunday. The Argonauts released him in January. He has been in Eugene this week, listening to more people mimic Allen's call (on Monday at a booster luncheon, they asked Allen himself for a reprise, for goodness' sake), enjoying every minute of it.

You figure Wheaton might never have to pay for another drink in Lane County, but that's not why he's here.

He's in the process of setting up the Kenny Wheaton Foundation, and he envisions an organization that identifies financial needs, then meets them - sponsoring kids to sports camps, or band camps; buying uniforms or school supplies.

The question he wants to ask is, "How can we help?" And if The Pick means he can supply the answers, well, "it's something positive I can bring to the table."

It's still in the embryonic stages - a Web site won't be up and running until Friday at the earliest, and there's still plenty of work to be done. But Wheaton plans to divide his time between here and Dallas, with an eye toward a complete move.

Sure, he hopes his name still resonates. And if it's because of The Pick, well, fantastic.

"It's a great feeling," he says, "that I was a part of that play, something special."

There was a time when Wheaton bristled, and maybe didn't completely understand why it was the only topic anyone ever brought up. He wanted people to recognize his other two seasons as a Duck, and also that he'd played pro football. He didn't want to be defined by one highlight, no matter how spectacular.

Now? Wheaton is quick to suggest credit should go to the rest of the 1994 Rose Bowl team, noting they were named as a squad to UO's Athletic Hall of Fame. Ask about the Washington game, and he reminds a questioner of the 98-yard drive led by Danny O'Neil moments before The Pick.

Yeah, there were plenty of other heroes. Also, many other factors in the rise of the football program to what it is today.

Never mind that, as Wheaton says, today's Ducks "were just getting out of Pampers."

No other moment had the impact of "Kenny Wheaton's gonna score!" The Pick (and Allen's accompanying description) has taken pre-eminence in minds, and more importantly hearts, as the play that changed the course of the program.

There's no doubt what it has meant to Wheaton, at least in terms of his status as a former Duck.

"As time goes on, the play gets more near and dear to me," he says.

This is a good thing. Because Wheaton knows wherever he goes, it goes with him. Even when he's, you know, going.

Listen to "The Writer's Block" Monday-Friday from 8-10 a.m. on 95.3 FM The Score. E-mail [e-mail].