Opinion: Greenlick wasn’t just a health-care champion. He changed the face of college athletics in Oregon.

As many Oregonians reflect on the life and the legacy of Oregon legislator Mitch Greenlick, they recall his tireless efforts towards health equity and health care – a champion for both.

He asked me to enlist then State Sen. Suzanne Bonamici to co-sponsor the bill, and she did. Other legislators signed on as well and the rest, as they say, is history. In the 2009 session, legislators unanimously passed House Bill 3118 and Oregon became the first place outside of the NFL to have such a law or policy requiring the interviewing of at least one qualified minority candidate when hiring for any head coach or athletics director position in Oregon's publicly-funded universities.