Spartan Daily - Serving San Jose State University since 1934

Issue date: 10/9/08 Section: Still Standing Tall

Most of the San Jose community remains unaware of the history of the decrepit piece of land on the corner of Alma and Tenth streets.

That piece of land is Bud Winter Field, the practice space of some of the world's fastest runners.

Lloyd "Bud" Winter was SJSU's track and field coach from 1944 to 1974 and coached 37 world record holders, 102 NCAA All-Americans, 49 NCAA record holders and 27 Olympians, according to the SJSU Track & Field Web site.

"Bud Winter was one of the finest creative coaches ever produced at the school or in the country," Bob Poynter said in an e-mail. Poynter was a sprinter for SJSU's track and field team from 1959 to 1961. "He invented many of the techniques and drills that sprinters use today on a limited budget."

"Speed City" was the nickname of San Jose during the 1950s and 1960s when SJSU was known for its world-ranked sprinters such as Lee Evans, Tommie Smith, John Carlos, Bob Poynter and many other athletes who participated in the program until it was disbanded in 1988.

"Speed City before it was 'Speed City' was an incredible experience just being on that track team at San Jose State at that time," said Robert Griffin, vice president of student services and institutional research at De Anza College and relay runner at SJSU in the late '60s. "San Jose had put together a phenomenal track team both in an athletic performance but also in political philosophy based on the environment of the times."

In 1988, three years after Winter's death, SJSU cut the track and field program.

"The reason given was that the athletic department was in a half-million dollar budget deficit," said Frank Jewette, a member of the SJSU track team from 1983 to 1986.

Along with the track and field program, SJSU cut men's wrestling, women's field hockey and men's cross country.

The cutting of the track and field program has caused disappointment among former SJSU athletes.

"I think it was the wrong thing to do," said Ernie Bullard, assistant to Bud Winter and head track coach at SJSU from 1974 to 1984. "(Cutting the track and field program) was to save money. ... There is no income in track; it doesn't pay for itself."

Currently, Bud Winter Field is a ghost of its former self. The all-weather track is filled with holes, while weeds and bits of trash litter the field area. The university uses the field as overflow parking during baseball, football and soccer games.

"I think it's a travesty, a sin. It's a shameful thing," John Carlos said. "It's a smack in the face to Bud Winter and all he's done for the school and for the city of San Jose that they would let his history go down to that level."

According to Urla Hill, the curator of the "Speed City" exhibit at San Jose City Hall, a lot of the former track athletes have dropped their alumni memberships due to the current condition of the field. "They don't really care about SJSU anymore," Hill said.

Current students took it upon themselves to form the SJSU Track & Field Club and to honor the history associated with it.

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