Can The Track Come Back?

While you could fill dozens of libraries with things that I didn’t know, I was surprised that I didn’t know about the existence of Van Cortlandt Stadium. There it is, right across from the end of the subway line that I have taken several times, but I never noticed it.

I found it on the new website for the Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy, a non-profit organization begun in 2009 to sustain and enhance the park. The 3,000-seat Stadium itself was a development project of the Works Progress Administration following the Great Depression. The 1939 opening ceremonies of the Stadium were overseen by then-NYC Mayor Fiorello La Guardia.

As I further explored the Conservancy’s website, I discovered that Yale standout and former world recordholder Wendell Mottley is a member of the board of directors for the organization. Fellow Olympian and Ivy League Meredith Rainey Valmon featured Mottley a few years ago in the League’s 50th anniversary celebration.

So I called Margot Perron, the administrator of Van Cortlandt Park, to talk about the Stadium and the Park’s initiatives. The track was resurfaced about 10 years ago and a new synthetic turf infield was installed just last year. But the 71-year-old grandstand is in desperate need of repair, which has become one of the focuses of the Conservancy’s fundraising.

The track itself could benefit from smoothing its tight turns and would need additional lanes to be put to use for any kind of championship event. Yet it seems that it could host a non-championship event, potentially as a fund and awareness raiser.

The Wendell Mottley Invitational, perhaps?

UPDATE: Shortly after putting this story online, I received an email from Princeton Coach Fred Samara, who wrote that the Stadium (along with McCombs Dam Park, next to Yankee Stadium) hosted most of the AAU development meets of the 1960s and 1970s. Samara, who had his long jump PR of 24-11 at VCP Stadium, recalled:

Most of the New York City track and field athletes competed at both venues at one time in their careers. I competed against John Carlos in a handicap 100 yard race during my frosh year in high school, 1966. Handicap races were very unique in that you registered your best time and were given a lead in yards in front of the starting line, where the top runner had to start from. I think I had a five or six-yard handicap! I led the race for about 90 yards and then Carlos passed me like a bullet. It is a good memory.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 12th, 2010 at 12:54 pm. It is filed under Alumni, Yale and tagged with Fred Samara, Meredith Rainey Valmon, Van Cortlandt Park, Van Cortlandt Stadium, Wendell Mottley. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.