Collegiate Track & Field
Most Outstanding Athlete.
The Bowerman, which debuted in 2009 and is named after former University of Oregon coach Bill Bowerman, is presented annually by the USTFCCCA to the most outstanding male and female athlete in collegiate track & field.
And, as of January 2023, 19 winners of The Bowerman have won 16 Olympic medals — including eight gold medals — 34 World Championships, 15 Indoor World Championships and 65 total World Championship medals.
Julien Alfred, Texas
Jayden Hibbert, Arkansas
Bill Bowerman served the sport of track and field in numerous ways. His leadership as president of the USTFCCCA’s predecessor organization, the National Collegiate Track Coaches Association, and his contributions to NCAA track and field and the running community as a whole are among his many lasting legacies.
The greatest improvement is made by the man who works most intelligently.– Bill Bowerman
Bill Bowerman’s legacy in track and field is undeniable. He served as the University of Oregon’s head track and field coach from 1949-72 and remained active at the University and in the coaching world even as the shoe company he cofounded, Nike®, grew into a global sports giant.
Bowerman was born in Portland, Oregon and graduated from Medford High School before attending the University of Oregon. At Oregon, he played basketball and football and joined Bill Hayward’s Ducks as a quarter-miler. After graduation in 1934, he began his coaching career at the high school level, first in Portland and then as the head football and track and field coach at Medford. He continued to coach at the high school level until 1948, with an interruption while he served in the Army during World War II.
In 1948, Bowerman returned to his alma mater, and a year later, with Hayward retiring, Oregon hired him as the head track and field and cross country coach. Over the next 23 years, the Ducks experienced new levels of success, winning four national team titles and finishing twice as runner-up. Individually, Bowerman’s athletes were equally successful; he coached 24 NCAA individual champs, 33 Olympians, 64 All-Americans, and athletes who have achieved 13 world records and 23 American records. Among his Olympians were Gold Medalist Otis Davis, Dyrol Burleson, Jim Grelle, Bronze Medalist Bill Dellinger, Ken Moore, Wade Bell, and Steve Prefontaine.
The Bowerman Trophy.
The Bowerman is designed by former University of Oregon and Bill Bowerman‐coached track and field student-athlete Tinker Hatfield. As an athlete, Hatfield was a talented pole vaulter who held the Oregon school record in the event and finished 6th in the vault at the 1976 Olympic Trials.
Trained in architecture, Hatfield initially joined Nike® as a corporate architect. In late 1985, he moved from designing workspaces to designing Nike® products, becoming Creative Director of product design in 1989. By 1993, Hatfield had become Vice President of Nike® Design.
Hatfield is now the overseer of Nike’s® “Innovation Kitchen”. He is perhaps best known as the designer of 13 designs in the iconic line of Air Jordan shoes, but his accomplishments also include creating the first-ever cross training shoe and designing the Air Max 1.
In 1998, Fortune Magazine named Hatfield one of the 100 Most Influential Designers of the 20th century.About the Trophy
The Bowerman trophy is a stunning, one-of-a-kind figure that embodies the spirit of Bill Bowerman, combining aspects of speed, shape, and asymmetry to forge a symbol of excellence in track & field.
In its first iteration, weighing over 35 pounds and standing at 20 inches tall and 20 inches wide, the body of the trophy is milled from a solid block of aluminum and plated with 18-karat gold. An acrylic fin is attached at the top portion of the trophy embossed with a three-dimensional image of Bill Bowerman. One of the most unique, and telling, characteristics of the trophy is its use of a rubber, waffle-shaped outsole for its bottom layer, a tribute to Bowerman’s invention of the waffle-shaped shoe sole.