As you, especially the alumni, have written so many wonderful letters in support of the campaign for a new track facility, it is clear that we need to put down in writing for all of posterity a history of this team. We hope that you will help with your own anecdotes, historical facts, clippings, pictures and memorabilia, names, events, date, high points and challenges of your time with the team. We will attempt some research of the archives, but the best words are those from you!
Write to us about your experience: Historian@FriendsofWilliamsTrackandField.org. Email digital versions if you have photos you wish to share, or programs, clippings or other memorabilia. If you are unable to submit your photos, etc. in digital form, you can mail them to Mel Ivey, P.O.Box I, Merrill, OR 97633-0609
We are also looking for a person (or people) who will take on the position of Historian. We can set you up with all the website access connections you would need to take on this project. Let us know if you are interested by emailing: Historian@FriendsofWilliamsTrackandField.org.
What glimpses of the history that we have received so far include the following excerpts from your letters in response to our campaign:
The first track at Williams: a not-so-oval cinder track of 1/3 mile length. Coach Farley “assiduously tended that cinder track” nurturing it into competition condition every season.
“As far as giving you some history of the track team in our day, a number of classmates probably can do a better job for you. One top sprinter from our class was Jack Brody, and I am sure he would be a good contributor of history and stories about Tony Polanski.” Fred Goldstein '52
“I ran track 4 years at Williams graduating in 1982. if you think the track now is a problem, you should have had the opportunity to run on the pre-1987 cinder track. It wasn't even an oval shape. When I was looking at colleges and visited Williams, I saw the track and assumed that it must have been some practice facility and that the real track was somewhere near Cole Field and I just hadn't seen it. I couldn't imagine that a college like Williams would have a track so much worse than my public high school in Worcester MA.” Steve Bellerose ‘82
Ed. Note: Does anyone know when the square oval, third mile, cinder track was built?
Does anyone have a photo of the track or any events there that they are willing to share? Is there any chance anyone has a program or news clippings from events held there?
In 1955 I organized the first Williams spring track trip to Davidson, Univ. of Richmond, and VPI. About ten Williams fellows were joined by four Harvard guys I had met while I was working out at their indoor facility over Christmas vacation. The meets were more or less scrimmages. The coach did not go with us; we drove private cars.
Harvard got into the spring trip mode in a big way after that. Williams was slower. Harvard had a "Friends of Harvard Track" organization which bank-rolled flights to Puerto Rico and other exotic places.
I ran on that 1/3 mile rectangular cinder track for four years. It encircled the baseball field, so we had to look out for foul balls. The corners were tight, difficult for a 220 yard runner (me) to navigate. There were no all-weather tracks in those days, but there were many better cinder tracks.
I'm told that the 1500 meter race in the Olympics was originally a three-lap race when early tracks were 500 meters long. Thus the 1/3 mile track echoed the European plan: three laps for a prime event.
I coached at Tower Hill School in Wilmington, Delaware where we had the first all-weather track ('62) in the Middle Atlantic States. It was rubber-asphalt. When I came back to Williams as Director of Annual Giving in 1981, I started a personal campaign to get rid of that old 1/3 mile monster. My lobbying was eventually successful, but now that 400 m. track has run its course (pun intended). The archivist at Williams can fill you in on many of the legends, including an Olympic gold medal. BOB BEHR ’55 Captain
Ed. Note: The present track was built in 1987, with generous support of George Steinbrenner ‘52, and the new and modern facility stimulated a surge in interest in the program.
“When I was a prospective in the summer of '88, Coach Farley took me out to the brand new track and walked me around on it. I still remember how beautiful it was -- I knew that it was exactly where I wanted to spend my time during the following four years. It may sound silly, but it was actually the track that sealed my decision to come to Williams!” Katherine Lee Kiechel Koles ‘93
“I was a co-captain of the track team in 1991 and watched as the team grew significantly over the 4 years that I attended Williams. I was fortunate to be a freshman at the dedication of the outdoor track and it was a really top track at that time. When I was a freshman, the men and women’s team could travel to a meet in one van – by the time I was senior we needed a bus for each team. We went from a small organization with a few people to field as many events as we could, to a pretty dominate force in NESCAC…” Kim Barndollar Oliver ‘91