Hosting the World Athletics Championships in 2022 marked a historic milestone for Eugene as the first U.S. city to host the event, but TrackTown USA’s roots run much deeper. For more than a century, Eugene has served as a proving ground for Olympians, record breakers, visionary coaches, and groundbreaking innovations that helped shape the sport of track and field. From Bill Hayward and Bill Bowerman to Steve Prefontaine and Bill Dellinger, generations of athletes and coaches have helped establish a legacy that continues to draw competitors and fans from around the world.
Then came the 1970s. Bill Bowerman brought out the best in his runners while coaching here, and he also developed the lightweight waffle sole that turned into the company we all know as Nike. This legendary coach brought the Olympic Team Trials to Eugene in 1972, 1976, and 1980 — Eugene is still the only site to host three consecutive trials. Steve “Pre” Prefontaine enrolled at the UO to train under Bowerman. Pre competed in the 1972 Olympic trials, which got him a spot at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. At the time of his untimely death at age 24 in May 1975, while he was training for the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Pre held every American outdoor track record between 2,000 and 10,000 meters.
University of Oregon head coach and associate athletic director Vin Lananna helped bring the Olympic trials back to Hayward Field in 2008. We also hosted the trials in 2012 and 2016.
Steve “Pre” Prefontaine
Sports Illustrated featured Prefontaine on its cover in 1970, and he helped fuel running’s surge in popularity at the time. Pre’s memory lives on here through the Prefontaine Classic, held at Hayward Field, which invites only eligible athletes who are ranked in the Top 50 in the world. Athletes and track fans from all over visit Pre’s Rock, which marks the spot with an engraved stone where the runner perished in a car accident. The visitors left flowers, notes, T-shirts, running shoes, and other mementos honoring him. In April, the city of Eugene enhanced safety at the site by adding a new railing to protect visitors from road traffic and an expanded sidewalk and viewing area.
Hayward Field
Back in 1895, UO students first started running laps on a crude track at 13th and Kincaid (now the Lillis Business Complex). Bill Hayward coached the Webfoots from 1904 to 1947 (we didn’t officially become Ducks until 1978), ultimately coaching four world record holders and nine Olympians. He was on the Olympic Track & Field coaching staff in 1908, 1912, 1920, 1924, 1928, and 1932. He was so well-respected that when the new stadium was constructed at 15th Avenue and Agate Street, it was named after him.
The original site of Hayward Field was marshland — there is a reason we are called the Ducks, after all. Before it was transformed into a football field in 1919 it had been a cow pasture where the university kept cattle to supply milk to the dormitory students. The field served both football and track and field for half a century. According to the UO’s Hayward Field website, Bill Hayward didn’t know that Hayward Field had been named for him until the day after the dedication, which was held during halftime of the first football game, because he had been in the locker room with the team. In 1967, football relocated to Autzen Stadium, leaving the field’s focus on track and field.
The venue became much loved over the course of its history, but eventually it fell into disrepair. In 2018, Hayward Field underwent a significant remodel, completed in spring 2020. The remodel expanded seating from 12,650 to almost 25,000. A new addition as of this year is the Visual Experience Board, which houses more than 5,000 square feet of video screen, making it the largest permanent video screen for a track and field stadium in the country. Coach Hayward is honored here as well, in a metal image that greets fans arriving from Powell Plaza, blending past and present. (Powell Plaza marks the northeast entrance and is named for Lloyd Powell, a beloved UO football and track athlete.)
Nike and the Waffle Sole
Bill Bowerman was a protégé of Bill Hayward. Bowerman, born in Portland, came to the University of Oregon in 1929 to play football and study journalism. It was Hayward who suggested he join the track team. He took over the track program in 1949 and ran it until 1973. Assistant coach Bill Dellinger took over the program after Bowerman’s retirement in 1972.
Dellinger would go on to become one of the most respected figures in American distance running. An Olympic bronze medalist, University of Oregon coaching legend, and mentor to Steve Prefontaine, he carried forward the tradition established by Hayward and Bowerman while helping shape generations of athletes. His influence remains an integral part of TrackTown USA’s identity today.
Bowerman led his teams to four NCAA Championships and coached the likes of track all-stars Jim Bailey, Bill Dellinger, Harry Jerome, Kenny Moore, Lloyd Powell, and Steve Prefontaine. Bowerman played a key part in attracting the track trials to Eugene in ’72, ’76, and ’80, and enhanced the athletics program with ideals such as high-altitude training. His personal and professional interest in jogging and track helped propel interest in the sport, starting in the late 1950s when he helped form what grew into the Oregon Track Club.
Bowerman’s book Jogging, which was published in 1967, sold over a million copies. Enter Prefontaine, who enrolled in the UO in 1969. In the midst of this surge of interest, Pre immediately started shattering records. In 1970, Hayward Field installed an all-weather urethane surface, and Bowerman started looking for a way to make track shoes lighter, faster, and able to grip the new surface. He noticed the grooves on his wife’s waffle iron one day, and it dawned on him that the shape might perform in the way he was envisioning for shoes. Bowerman started Nike in 1971, complete with the swoosh, and in 1973 signed its first star runner — Prefontaine.
Running Into The Future
More than a century after Bill Hayward first coached Oregon athletes and decades after Bill Bowerman, Steve Prefontaine, and Bill Dellinger helped establish Eugene’s identity as TrackTown USA, the city’s running legacy continues to evolve.
The transformation of Hayward Field and the successful hosting of the 2022 World Athletics Championships further cemented Eugene’s place on the global stage. Today, athletes from around the world continue to travel to TrackTown USA to compete, train, and experience one of the sport’s most storied venues.
That tradition continues this summer as Hayward Field welcomes many of the world’s top athletes for the 51st Prefontaine Classic on July 3–4, 2026. One of the premier stops on the Wanda Diamond League circuit, the annual event celebrates the enduring legacy of Steve Prefontaine while bringing world-class competition to Eugene.
Just a month later, Eugene will host the World Athletics U20 Championships, August 5–9, 2026, introducing the next generation of international track and field stars to TrackTown USA. The event will once again place Eugene at the center of the sport while showcasing the community’s long-standing commitment to athletics.
At the time Bill Bowerman experimented with a waffle iron in his kitchen, when Prefontaine shattered records on the track, or when generations of athletes chased Olympic dreams at Hayward Field, few could have imagined where Eugene’s running legacy would lead. Yet more than 100 years after it began, TrackTown USA continues to honor its history while inspiring the future of the sport.
