Inside The Sisters Athletic Club hangs a 13-foot banner of Ashton Eaton. Its proud owner, Tate Metcalf, remembers the day he met Ashton like it was yesterday.

"He was a fifth-grader, and his mom had just moved him from La Pine and we had just started Central Oregon Track Club," Metcalf said. "We saw Ashton, and I remember a conversation after he was high-jumping, just thinking, 'Wow -- that's a great athlete! Great person, great mom.' She said they were going to move to Bend and we all started thinking, 'Hmm, I wonder what school he'll go to?'"

As it turns out, Ashton became a Cougar at Mountain View High School, where Metcalf is the head track coach -- and the two quickly developed a special connection.

"I would show him things that it would take other athletes weeks, months, or years to pick up. And he would just pick it up immediately," Metcalf recalled.

Through four years of hard work, Metcalf and John Nosler helped Ashton become a top 25 nationally ranked long jumper and capture state titles in the 400 meters and long jump as a senior.

After some consideration, the coaches thought they should spread Ashton's talents across more events. And he needed little convincing to take on track and field's signature event - the decathlon.

"Midway through his senior year, basically six months before graduation, it really hit me that that's where we should be focusing our attention," Metcalf said.

Except for one problem -- Ashton had never even tried competing in half of the 10 decathlon events. But that didn't stop him.

"It was a beautiful spring day here, and Nosler and I approached Ashton and I'm like, 'Hey Ashton, what do you think about doing the decathlon in college?' And he goes, 'Sure!' Then there's this long pause and he goes, 'What's the decathlon?' Metcalf recounted.

  "What I love is his immediate response of 'sure!' He didn't question us, thinking that if we believe he would have that success, then he had faith in us that that was the right decision."

All that was left: Convincing a college coach that it was the right decision. And that's where the University of Oregon comes in.

"I did a quick search, showed that Dan Steele was the coach there," Metcalf said. "I called him and specifically, and in my voicemail I said, 'Coach Steele, this is Tate Metcalf, the coach at Mountain View High School., I've got an athlete you might be interested in for the decathlon, and his name is Ashton Eaton.'"

Two weeks later, Ashton took a recruiting tour of the Oregon campus. And by the end of his senior year, he signed on with the ducks track program.

Freshman year was all about learning -- practicing each event in the decathlon.

His first time in a Duck uniform and at the pole vault, he went somersaulting over the top. That was at 10 feet; now he's at 17 feet.

Ashton went on to win three NCAA decathlon titles for Oregon. He also won the decathlon at the USA Championships last year and finished second at the World Championships.

Then the event that changed it all. The 2012 Olympic Trials, at the perfect location -- the U of O's storied Hayward Field. Trackdown, USA.

"We had talked that the world record would be his some day, but more like age 27 or 28," Metcalf said. "But after that first day, I went back and thought, 'Wow, he can actually do this.'"

As the trials came to a close, Ashton had one last race. -- the 1,500.

"With 400 to go, I went bonkers," Metcalf said. "I turned to my wife and said, 'He's rolling! He's rolling!' With 200 to go, I thought, 'Unless he totally falls apart, he's gonna get this!'"

In the front row at Hayward Field, Metcalf sat in awe as he watched Ashton cross the finish line, breaking the world record.

"When he crossed the finish line, I literally collapsed. And everything that he had worked for, from his freshman year, everything just started rolling back," Metcalf said. "All these different meets, the Centennial, the Ice Breaker -- all these meets encapsulated in one moment, it was truly overwhelming."

"Then he saw me, his eyes teared up and we just hugged for what seemed like forever. He let go and we hugged again, and it was just this moment of connection -- of, 'Ashton you have arrived, you've done this!'"

Metcalf tries not to miss a single one of Ashton's races, so he's flying to London next week to watch his former student go for the gold.

Ashton made sure to leave behind a piece of history for Metcalf to hold on to -- the orange spikes he broke the world record in and a whole collection of shoes he donates to the students at Mountain View.

The banner inside the Sisters Athletic Club is one of many pieces Metcalf hangs on the wall to honor Ashton. And any time anyone asks about the track star, Metcalf is quick to say, "He's doing us all proud."