Runner, coach, inventor, promoter: Bill Bowerman (February 19, 1911 – December 24, 1999) has earned his place on the Mt. Rushmore of Oregon notoriety.
Born in Portland in 1911, Bill grew up the son of the state’s 13th governor Jay Bowerman and attended Medford High School and the University of Oregon. Bowerman played on one of Medford’s multiple state championship football teams. At U of O, he also started running track and studied journalism.
Bowerman’s teaching and coaching career began at Franklin HS in Portland in 1934, he would move back to Medford and have his first major success, coaching the Black Tornado to the 1940 state championship in football.
Following service in World War II, Bowerman returned to Medford before taking over the University of Oregon track and field team in 1948, following the retirement of Bill Hayward.
Bill, who never liked the title ‘coach’, helped the program grow to a national level, and then moved it to championship level. Hayward Field hosted the NCAA finals in 962 and 1964. The Ducks won the national title both years, then again in ‘65 and ‘70. By that time, Bowerman had established an all-around track and field program. The Ducks eventually placed an individual champion in 15 of the 19 NCAA events. In 1964, the team swept the top three spots in the javelin. In his career as coach through 1973, Bill guided the team to four titles, 24 individual titles and 33 Olympians.
Bowerman recruited many future greats to Eugene including a young Steve Prefontaine from Coos Bay. He coached the 1972 U.S. Olympic team in Munich and would eventually hand coaching duties off to one of his former athletes, Bill Dellinger.
Then there was his little shoe project that became an athletic empire. Bowerman teamed with another former athlete, Phil Knight, to import and sell shoes under the name ‘Blue Ribbon Sports’. Bowerman helped promote those efforts writing the popular book “Jogging”. Then Bill, the inventor, capped his ideas for a better running shoe with his homemade waffle sole concept that launched Nike to prominence.
After retiring from Oregon, he helped develop the Athletics West team that supported amateur athletes.
Bill’s legacy is everywhere in sport, particularly track and field. The address of the Nike campus in Beaverton is One Bowerman Drive. The college track version of the Heisman Trophy is called, simply “The Bowerman”. He is a member of the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame, as well as the University of Oregon Hall of Fame. Even the National Inventors Hall of Fame inducted Bill in 2014 for his work with the “modern athletic shoe.”