Cromwell Field renamed

[DET59]

In this era of the "one and dones"" (or in the Felix Case "none and done") many schools maintain strange relationships with former student-athletes, make a big deal out of it when they complete a degree (Shaq, Steph Curry, etc) and try to use the relationships for the school's benefit. The upside of Felix as an alum is pretty positive, helps move USC out of a century of only naming things after "dead white men," honors someone from the neighborhood (though I think she spent much of her life "in the Valley" as they say in LA), and obviously sets them up for more "mentions" in preparation for LA-28 (only 5 years away). I can already hear the announcers saying "over on the warn up track at USC's Alysson Felix Field..." LA '84 transformed USC's facilities and master plan...I'm sure they are counting on LA'28 to do much of the same to the campus and surrounding neighborhood.

One thing USC won't be doing is re-naming the Olympic Swim facility after waterpolo legend/coach of 25 years Jovan Vavic.....

[Awsi Dooger]

I'm surprised this topic earned so much traction. I received the email from Carol Folt on Tuesday afternoon and nearly posted a related thread here, but decided it wouldn't receive many replies. As an alum I am surprised it took so long to remove Cromwell's name, especially after the Von Kleinsmid Center decision a few years ago. Those will always be the VKC steps to me. It's where I would sit to write my Daily Trojan articles before trudging up 4 flights and inputting into the computers at our office in Student Union. Once it was no longer VKC steps I knew the administration meant business.

I think the athletic department reluctance and delay may have stemmed from Tim Tessalone, who was sports information director for decades and always very loyal to the people and traditions predating him. I remember him gushing over O.J. Simpson when I was there. That probably contributed to the hesitancy to remove O.J from existence more than a decade later. Tessalone finally retired about a year ago. O.J. during my years was a frequent presence on campus, being used to woo football recruits. He also chased after a very shapely brunette who was helping us in the Daily Trojan sports office. Suzie told me that O.J. persisted for a full week, bringing flowers every day after using his connections to find out she worked in the fee bill office. She finally had to be very blunt to him. But I won't use her exact words. Let's just say he was shocked and never returned. Other than hair color, Suzie looked almost exactly like Nicole.

It was definitely called Cromwell Field from at least the early '80s. I covered duel meets there when the bleachers were nothing but a few temporary rows and for the press row we'd be handed a couple of tables and folding chairs. Mal Florence of the Los Angeles Times somehow thought he was too good for that and refused to participate. He walked away and demanded to be sent a press release with a few quotes. But I thought the experience was pretty cool. I moved the tables forward to the point we were within feet of the track. One meet they put the tape up one lap too early in the steeplechase. I was the only one who caught it. I stood up and yelled at the officials. By the time they realized I was correct it was too late. Everyone in the lead pack stopped except one guy who kept going. And he went all the way around.

Tonie Campbell was running 13.3 or 13.4 every meet. But that didn't make any noise simultaneous to what Renaldo Nehemiah or Greg Foster were doing. I'd interview Campbell and he'd be so frustrated at inability to drop that extra tenth or two.

BTW, I'm probably one of the few people who has ever hit golf balls from Cromwell Field, including smack over the top of Heritage Hall. We got drunk one night and wobbled over there beyond midnight. Drunk wasn't going to impact the dependable high draw I had in those days. I brought my Haig Ultra 8 iron. There was not much there during that era. I flew a few of them onto the Howard Jones Memoial football practice field. Plus there was a huge intramural field alongside Residence West. That intramural field caught a few 8 irons and not much later was torn up to make room for the McDonald's Swim Stadium, although I preferred the Dungeon.

[AFelixFan]

Good call.

[fourjz]

[QUOTE=Davidokun;n1779880]It does seem odd, but I'm sure they have their reasons. Given her events, perhaps it would have been more appropriate to name the facility Felix Track and Cromwell Field at Loker Stadium.

On a side note, I've always wondered how she earned an undergraduate degree in elementary education from a university that offers no such degree. Not at all suggesting that she didn't do the required academic work, just wonder what it was.[/QUOTE=
The Rossier School of Education actually has Undergraduate Programs,Masters Degree Programs,and Doctoral Degree Programs in Education at USC.

[Big Tusk]

Davidokun, I think that is a matter of semantics. In California almost no one has elementary education certification/degree as the license has been titled "Multiple Subjects Certification" for many years now and the corresponding degrees and testing bear all kinds of names and acronyms. People often lump it all together by calling the category/name/major "Elementary Education" (versus Secondary Education- which in California also doesn't exist.. it is called Single Subject Certification). I agree there's no way she has a USC Diploma stamped with the words Elementary Education (It probably just says Bachelor of Arts), what she probably has is a transcript with coursework lumped under some innocuous title like Liberal Arts or General Studies. USC is famous for it's creative degree names, constant changes of programs within schools and departments, always coming up with something "new" which is a repackage, etc. (I'm alumni from the 80's and my department/major no longer exists in the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences... but it's all still there with a 21st century new name in a different school : )

This makes sense, but why would she claim a degree in elementary education instead of saying what the actual degree title is?

[Merner521]

This makes sense, but why would she claim a degree in elementary education instead of saying what the actual degree title is?

Why would someone whose hometown is Joliet tell people that they're from Chicago?

[Davidokun]

The Rossier School of Education actually has Undergraduate Programs,Masters Degree Programs,and Doctoral Degree Programs in Education at USC.

Indeed, but as a graduate school, it offers no undergraduate degrees:

USC Rossier offers minors to engage undergraduate students in exploring the socio-cultural aspects of educational issues.

[Emphasis added.]

Source: Undergraduate Minors & Programs

[Dilan Esper]

It was definitely called Cromwell Field from at least the early '80s. I covered duel meets there when the bleachers were nothing but a few temporary rows and for the press row we'd be handed a couple of tables and folding chairs. Mal Florence of the Los Angeles Times somehow thought he was too good for that and refused to participate. He walked away and demanded to be sent a press release with a few quotes. But I thought the experience was pretty cool. I moved the tables forward to the point we were within feet of the track. One meet they put the tape up one lap too early in the steeplechase. I was the only one who caught it. I stood up and yelled at the officials. By the time they realized I was correct it was too late. Everyone in the lead pack stopped except one guy who kept going. And he went all the way around.

Tonie Campbell was running 13.3 or 13.4 every meet. But that didn't make any noise simultaneous to what Renaldo Nehemiah or Greg Foster were doing. I'd interview Campbell and he'd be so frustrated at inability to drop that extra tenth or two.

BTW, I'm probably one of the few people who has ever hit golf balls from Cromwell Field, including smack over the top of Heritage Hall. We got drunk one night and wobbled over there beyond midnight. Drunk wasn't going to impact the dependable high draw I had in those days. I brought my Haig Ultra 8 iron. There was not much there during that era. I flew a few of them onto the Howard Jones Memoial football practice field. Plus there was a huge intramural field alongside Residence West. That intramural field caught a few 8 irons and not much later was torn up to make room for the McDonald's Swim Stadium, although I preferred the Dungeon.

Ah, memories. (I sat next to my father when he was announcing most of those meets in the 1980's.)

1. It was definitely called Cromwell Field when USC started having meets there. I do know there was a practice track there (I think it was cinders) before USC started holding any meets there (in the 1970's they used to hold double-duels with UCLA at Drake Stadium), but it was around 1980 or 1981 when they installed a synthetic track, put up some temporary stands, started holding home meets there (but not UCLA- I don't think they held a USC-UCLA meet there until 1994), and hired my father to announce them. I don't know if the practice track that was there in the 1970's was called Cromwell Field or not. (Way back when, USC had its home meets at Bovard Field, which was located approximately where the Annenberg School of Communication is now located. USC also, historically, held a ton of home meets at the LA Coliseum as well-- the last one was the 1990 USC-UCLA meet, and the track was removed after the 1992 football season.)

2. Running the wrong number of laps in the Steeplechase is an LA track tradition, exacerbated by the fact that track configurations are so different-- some tracks had the water jump inside and some outside, and the number of laps, start and finish lines, and whether the first lap featured a water jump were all different. Most famously, they ran an extra lap in the 1932 Olympics Steeplechase-- look it up!

3. Tonie Campbell was great. Indeed, USC had a bunch of hurdlers on that team and even set a world record in the Shuttle Hurdles. BTW, all track meets should run the Shuttle Hurdles.

4. My favorite Cromwell Field memories:

a. Dennis Lewis high jumped 7-8 1/4 at a PCC-LBCC junior college meet hosted at Cromwell. This should have been an American record (and we announced it as one), but what we now call USATF refused to recognize it as 7-8 1/4 because it wasn't measured in meters, so only gave him credit for 7-8 and tying the record. BTW, the late Bob Hersh, memorialized in another thread, was a part of that decision process. It was dead wrong and this was a nice parable about everything that is wrong with forcing the metric system onto American track and field.

b. Mike Powell showed up one day randomly and signed up to compete in the Long Jump at some typically ordinary USC meet. He jumped 26-9 1/4, which of course was (and to my knowledge still is) a stadium record. For years after that, my father would see Powell at meets and always walk up to him and say "Cromwell Field recordholder Mike Powell". Powell loved that.

[DET59]

This makes sense, but why would she claim a degree in elementary education instead of saying what the actual degree title is?

Is she claiming it, or is someone interpreting what a USC student who becomes a teacher majored in? When asked "what did you study in college or What did you major in?" It might just be easier to say "Elementary Ed" then say, "I completed my California four strand multiple subject academic requirements at the College of Letters, Arts and Science in Liberal Studies (or Interdisciplinary Studies) and my state license certification course at Rossier Grad school's undergrad minor program to become an elementary school teacher..." Basically Elementary Ed

My hunch is she probably met the requirements for a BA in one of probably dozens of Interdisciplinary majors a big school like USC has. Whatever she majored in is probably gone by now, repackaged, or "re-named," into something more marketable in 2023 under a new name.... kind of like a playing field.

[Davidokun]

Is she claiming it, or is someone interpreting what a USC student who becomes a teacher majored in?

Dunno. I recall reading contemporary reporting back in 2008 which described it as a degree in elementary education. For example:

On Friday, Felix graduated from USC with a degree in elementary education.

Source: Track's class act

I also recall looking it up on USC's website at that time, and no degree by that name was listed. Your explanation for the apparent discrepancy is probably correct.

[Davidokun]

Whatever she majored in is probably gone by now, repackaged, or "re-named," into something more marketable in 2023 under a new name.... kind of like a playing field.

More recently, "elementary" has been dropped, but "Rossier" has been added. Perhaps the latter is a marketing ploy. Two examples:

Shortly after earning her bachelor's degree from the USC Rossier School of Education in 2008...

Source: Allyson Felix, a champion on the field and of women’s rights, named USC’s 2022 commencement speaker

While working on her undergraduate degree in education...
.
.
.
"She graduated with a degree from Rossier..."

Source: University Names USC Field After 11-Time Olympic Medalist, Alumna Allyson Felix

[DET59]

More recently, "elementary" has been dropped, but "Rossier" has been added. Perhaps the latter is a marketing ploy. Two examples:



Source: Allyson Felix, a champion on the field and of women’s rights, named USC’s 2022 commencement speaker



Source: University Names USC Field After 11-Time Olympic Medalist, Alumna Allyson Felix

Good research, the only place that changes titles and names more than USC is the Commission on Teacher Credentialing in California, which itself has had 4 different names as the state's licensing authority in my lifetime and has constantly changed what constitutes "elementary education". Definitely a marketing spin as it sounds better than "Alkyson got a bachelor degree in General Studies" or something generic like that.

Over the last fifty years USC has transitioned from a private school for middle class and rich kids to a major research university that is fairly high ranked and extremely diverse. (It's looked at a one of the top world university where I live in Asia). Back in "my day" they still offered two year degrees, there were public streets cutting through the campus, and dual meets were held in the coliseum....

[Davidokun]

Definitely a marketing spin as it sounds better than "Alkyson got a bachelor degree in General Studies" or something generic like that.

I was thinking that USC is marketing, not Felix. That is, USC is now taking advantage of her fame to market Rossier, and glossing over the fact that it's a graduate school, and doesn't offer the BA degree she actually earned.