Wade Bell (January 3, 1945-July 4, 2024) put his name in the University of Oregon track and field record book during a short-but-stellar career that included a trip to the 1968 Mexico City Summer Olympic Games. He remained in Eugene and served as an official at meets at Hayward Field for over 55 years.
Bell came to the UO in 1965, specializing in middle distance. He was a Utah high school champion in the mile and the 880 and had dreamed from early on of runni ng a sub-four minute mile. He was one of the first athletes to run in coach Bill Bowerman's home-made spikes, the precursor to Nike products. Wade ran in the NCAA championships for three consecutive years under coach Bill Bowerman. In 1966, he realized his dream, breaking the 4-minute barrier in the mile by running 3:59.80 seconds in a meet at Hayward Field.
As a senior in 1967, he won the NCAA title in the 880-yard run as well as the national AAU title. He set American records in the 1,000-yard and then 1,000-meter events and won the Pan-American Games title the same year in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Bell ran a leg on the Oregon Track Club 4×4 mile relay team that established an unofficial world record. In the '68 Games in Mexico City, he finished fifth in his first heat, but did not qualify for the final. Later, he coached a USA team that visited China in 1975 and served as an athlete member of the US Track & Field Olympic Committee.
He became a partner a Eugene accounting firm and was a familiar face at the starting line at all levels of events at Hayward Field from all-comers community meets to the 2022 World Championships.
Bell was inducted to the University of Oregon Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998.
