University Southern California Trojans
USC Receives $2 Million Gift from Katherine B. Loker
June 21, 1999 | Track & Field
June 3, 1998
LOS ANGELES -- USC will construct a track and field stadium on Cromwell Field, thanks to a $2 million gift from university alumna Katherine B. Loker, athletic director Mike Garrett announced today.
Mrs. Loker's donation is the largest gift the athletic department has ever received from an individual. The new facility will be named The Katherine B. Loker Track and Field Stadium.
"USC can claim a number of great women athletes among its alumni, including many Olympians," Garrett said, "and now we will have a world-class venue for track and field that bears the name of a woman. This will be inspiring to all of our students, but especially our women students.
"Mrs. Loker is a great fan of track and field and wonderful for the morale of our young athletes. She attends meets on a regular basis, and her enthusiasm is contagious."
Plans are to create a 3,000-seat stadium that will house both men's and women's track and field offices and locker room facilities, plus storage space under the stadium that will also serve several other sports. Concession stands and restrooms will be built at both ends of the stadium, and the area will be landscaped to provide an attractive public walkway with an archway at the entrance.
The stadium should provide a boost to a program that already has the nation's greatest heritage in track and field. USC athletes have won 28 men's national titles, set 61 world records, provided 87 Olympic team members and won 34 gold medals.
Ron Allice, USC Director of Track and Field, was enthusiastic about the announcement.
"When Mike Garrett hired me, he said he wanted to bring track meets back to campus," Allice said. "Now we have a stadium for those meets -- and it will be right in the center of campus.
"Our history in this sport is second to none. Speaking on behalf of all of our student-athletes in track and field and the generations of students to come, we are elated by Mrs. Loker's generosity."
The $2 million donation for the stadium was part of a $17 million gift from Mrs. Loker to USC that President Steven B. Sample announced today. Mrs. Loker also gave $15 million to support hydrocarbon research at the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute. Mrs. Loker and her late husband, Donald, were the principal contributors to the establishment of the facility in 1977.
