The Other Bill

© Copyright 12/1/2017 Phil Sutton The Other Bill By Phil Sutton, OTC member Special to the Oregon Track Club Track and field fans know the names Bill Bowerman and Bill Dellinger. They both made their mark on the sport while coaching at the University of Oregon. Well, there was another “Bill” in sports at the University of Oregon. Bill Hayward coached at the UO for 44 years (yes, over four decades!). He was Oregon’s first full time track coach. He laid the foundation for the University Oregon’s track and field program and molded it into a national powerhouse. He is considered the grandfather of today’s Duck program. Historic Hayward Field is named in his honor. William Louis Heyward was born in 1868 in Detroit, Michigan. His last name was Heyward with an “e” but he changed the spelling to Hayward in the early 1890’s. His father was English and his mother Canadian. When Bill was ten, his parents moved to Peru to manage a rubber plantation. They left Bill, his brother and three sisters with grandparents. They raised the children for the next ten years, first in Detroit and then in Toronto, Canada. As a young man Bill lived in Vancouver, Canada. He was employed as a fireman in one of the city’s firehouse brigades. Bill and his wife also owned a fruit and cigar stand. The photo of Bill Hayward above was taken in the 1940's. All photographs and video in this article are credited to University of Oregon Libraries, Special Collections & University Archives unless otherwise indicated. The Vancouver B.C. Fire Department crew were the world's speed champions in 1889, Counting from the left, W.L. Heyward is the 12th man in the photo. Published in a Vancouver newspaper, 1935 Growing up, Hayward was an outstanding athlete. He excelled in ice hockey, rowing, wrestling, boxing and lacrosse. He was a member of the Ottawa Capitals Canadian champion lacrosse team. He was best known in the 1890’s as one of the top track and field and road racing athletes in Canada and parts of the United States. In that era, the best athletes traveled from town to town competing with the local athletes at carnivals, fairs and picnics. They also competed in events hosted by Caledonia Clubs around the country. Caledonia Clubs were formed by Scottish immigrants and Scottish Americans to maintain the tradition of Scotland’s Highland Games. Many historians point to the Caledonia Clubs as the single most important promoters of track and field in the United States during the middle and late 1800’s. Challenge Races for Money Often there were one-to-one challenge races with money at stake, and these races were publicized in advance by local papers. Hayward won a large amount of prize money from these competitions. A September 1890 article in the Vancouver paper touted a 100-yard challenge race in Victoria, B.C. between Hayward and a fellow named H. E. Peck. Hayward had defeated Peak in a previous race and Peck asked for a rematch. The winner would take home a $100 prize. $100 was a sizable sum in 1890! That amount is equivalent to over $2,500 in 2017. The winner would claim the honor of being the provincial champion of British Columbia according to the newspaper. The race took place in October and the stakes had increased to $150. The newspaper headlined the results of the race: "Hayward Won Easily". Vaulting with a Pole In one Vancouver track and field event held in August 1894, the Vancouver Daily World reported Hayward finished first in the running long jump, second in the “hop, step and jump,” first in the hundred yard race, first in putting the 14 pound shot and first in “vaulting with a pole,” (8 feet, 6 inches). The article said the vault winner gave an exhibition following the competition putting the vault bar at 9 feet and “clearing it handsomely.” Bill loved boxing. He was a trainer and sparring partner for Gentlemen Jim Corbett, former world heavyweight champion. Hayward toured the country with Corbett making vaudeville appearances. Bill had an Indian Club act that he performed. Years later while coaching at the UO, he would often be asked to referee boxing matches staged by promoters in Eugene or Portland. First Stop, Princeton In the 1800’s and early 1900’s a coach was called a “trainer” rather than “coach.” Hayward started his coaching career in 1898 as an assistant at Princeton University. Hayward met Walter Christie while competing at the Caledonian events where they were rivals on the track. Christie had taken the job as Princeton head trainer (coach) and asked Hayward to be his track and field assistant. In 1901 Christie was hired by the University of California and Bill followed him to Berkeley. Hayward was there only a year before he was hired as the head trainer (coach) at Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon. Hayward admitted that one of the reasons he took the Pacific job was to be closer to the great fly fishing rivers in the Pacific Northwest. He loved to fly fish. Hayward once said, “It is immoral to fish using bait or a lure.” An 1886 photo of Bill Heyward in his vaudeville costume and the Indian Clubs he used in his act. Photo from the Eugene Register Guard, 1933. Oregon Hires Hayward In 1903 the small Albany College, Albany, Oregon (later moved to Portland and named Lewis & Clark) hired Hayward as head trainer. His Albany team defeated the Oregon track team that year 76 1/2 to 49 1/2. The University of Oregon took notice and hired him to head its program. He officially started his new trainer job on April 18, 1904. There were 268 students enrolled at the University when Hayward arrived on campus. UO had five coaching changes in nine years before Hayward arrived in Eugene. The Eugene community and the state were excited about the new coach. A Portland newspaper story proclaimed, "Trainer Hayward will have the finest bunch of material that ever represented Oregon on the track." The story added, "Unless signs fail, Hayward, who by Bill's first season at UO was 1904. Hayward the way is one of the cleverest trainers in the business, (seated), team captain C. N. Perkins, (left), will develop a number of 'surprises'." manager V. W. Tomlinson. During this period, it was common for trainers to work with more than one team and be involved in more than one sport. For example, Hayward continued to help with the University of California track team for a few years after he was hired as the University of Oregon coach. He coached other teams like the Marine Corp football team during WW1, the Multnomah Athletic Club, and the Seattle Athletic Club. The undefeated 1906 Northwest champions. Bill Hayward (coat and tie) is center in the standing row. Dan Kelly seated right next to trophy. A Rough Start The University had no outdoor oval track when Hayward arrived on campus. In bad weather, the track team practiced in the shed behind the Kincaid Field football venue. The shed measured 110 yards long and 15 feet wide. Hayward’s first full season at Oregon (1904) was rocky. There were only three meets and he lost all three to Pacific University. University of Washington and Oregon Agricultural College, today known as Oregon State University. Hayward eventually found success. His 1906-1909 teams were dominant and undefeated. His teams won ten Northwest Championships by 1922. During his time at Oregon he coached four track world record holders, six American record holders, four NCAA champions, nine Olympians and helped coach six U.S. teams at the McKenzie River catch circa 1920's. Olympic Games from 1908 to 1932. Keep in mind that during Hayward’s era there was only a men’s track and field team. UO women did not compete in intercollegiate athletics until the 1970’s. First Full-Time Coach One of the reasons for Hayward’s early success was a freckle-faced kid from Baker City, Oregon named Dan Kelly. In June of 1906, Kelly set the world record in the 100- yard dash with a mark of 9.6 seconds. He also tied the 220-yard dash world record with a time of 21.2 seconds. In 1907, Kelly won the national broad jump title. Hayward and Kelly went to the 1908 London Olympics where Kelly won a silver medal in the broad jump. In 1906 the student association and the University made Hayward a year-around coach with a two-year contract. Thus Hayward became the first full-time track Hayward was an avid amateur photographer. This is a photo from his personal photo album showing Jim Thorpe competing in the decathlon coach at Oregon. broad jump at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. Thorpe won the gold medal in the decathlon and pentathlon. Hayward not only served as the track coach, but also during his Oregon career he was the primary athletic trainer for all the sports. He also helped coach the football team and served as the head basketball coach from 1909 to 1913 and 1917-1918. Other titles he held during his career were Director of Physical Education and Athletic Director. Hayward was well liked on campus. The 1915-16 UO yearbook was dedicated to him. Part of the tribute stated, “So far and wide has Bill's fame spread that his name is even lisped by the embryonic track athletes in their cradles, and the high school 'phenoms' look forward to the time when they can say they are one of his proteges.” One of Hayward’s nicknames was “Colonel Bill.” How he got that name is not clear.

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