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Date: April 16, 1997
Investment Banker William M. Weaver Jr. Gives Track and Field Stadium to Princeton
PRINCETON, N.J. -- A gift to Princeton University from investment banker William M. Weaver Jr. will be used to construct a state-of-the-art stadium for outdoor track and field sports. Weaver, a limited partner emeritus in the firm of Alex. Brown and Sons, was a varsity runner and jumper at Princeton and has been a long-time supporter of the University's track program.
The new stadium has been designed by noted architect Rafael Viñoly as part of the landmark complex that will replace Palmer Stadium and will be named the William M. Weaver '34 Track and Field Stadium.
"Bill Weaver has gone the distance," said Princeton's President Harold T. Shapiro, "to give our students the kind of outstanding setting where they can run their fastest and jump their highest. This stadium will be a wonderful legacy for Princeton athletics."
Until demolition of Palmer Stadium began in March, Princeton's football and outdoor track programs shared the horseshoe-shaped arena. In designing the replacement for the 82-year-old Palmer, however, the University and its architects broke with tradition and moved the track stadium to an adjoining field south of the horseshoe.
The new stadium will give Princeton's track and field programs their own spacious setting where they can continue their record-setting tradition. Princeton, in fact, has the longest tradition of collegiate track and field competition in the United States, since the first meet was held at the University in 1873. During the Palmer Stadium years, nine world records were broken, and since 1980, the University's men's team has won 17 Ivy League titles in track and field, while the women's team has garnered 11 titles since its inception in 1979.
When the new stadium is completed, it will offer many advantages for both the athletes and the fans who cheer them on. Most notably, the track itself will have more running lanes, and they will be wider and have a greater radius on the turns than would have been possible within the confines of a football stadium. Overlooking the track will be a grandstand with a seating capacity of 2,500, making Weaver Stadium one of the outstanding venues for track and field in the nation.
"Princeton's track program is so strong today and the young men and women who participate are so talented," Weaver said, "I am delighted to be able to give them a stadium of their own. The lessons I learned at Princeton about training and competition have served me well throughout my life, and this is one way I can thank the University for all it has given to me."
At the center of Weaver Stadium will be the innovative track designed by Don Paige, once the best half-miler in the world and now the foremost track and field consultant in the United States. The track is eight lanes across -- each lane an expansive 1.22 meters wide -- and features an impressively long radius of 36.5 meters on the turns. It will be covered with a high-tech polyurethane surface precisely formulated to optimize both cushioning quality (to protect against injuries) and rebound effect (to enhance performance). And in this exacting era when records are measured in milliseconds and millimeters, the track will be free of the swirling winds that can be such a significant problem in semi-enclosed structures such as Palmer.
"Bill Weaver has been a truly great friend to Princeton track and field," said Fred Samara, the William M. Weaver Jr. Head Coach of Men's Track and Field/Cross Country, a position that Weaver endowed in 1986. "He understands that this world-class stadium will make a tremendous difference to all of us at Princeton, students and coaches alike."
Weaver, who lives in Smith Valley, Nev., and Easton, Conn., has been a staunch supporter of Princeton since his graduation in 1934. Before joining Alex. Brown as an investment banker in 1966, he headed several mining and metals manufacturing companies.
The gift for the William M. Weaver '34 Track and Field Stadium is among the leadership gifts to the Anniversary Campaign to Princeton -- a five-year effort to raise $750 million to strengthen Princeton's programs of teaching, research and campus life. The Campaign, which ends in the year 2000, has already raised some $375 million toward this goal. It was launched as part of the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the University's charter in 1746.