BLUE RIVER, Ore. -- With all of Eugene in the grips of Duck football fever, it's sometimes easy to forget that the city is also known by the nickname "Tracktown USA."
And while KEZI has talked about the legendary Steve Prefontaine, he's not the only running advocate worth mentioning.
For decades, Jeff Sherman fhas helped guide young runners at McKenzie High School in Blue River. His dedication goes back to 1979.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: The Running Man
For decades, Jeff Sherman has helped guide young runners at McKenzie High School in Blue River. His dedication goes back to 1979.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: Architect Grant Seder
Down on Franklin Boulevard, a new architectural style was taking shape in the 1960s.
Fifty Years of KEZI 9 News: The Fight Over Field Burning
The grass-seed industry has a long and proud tradition in the Willamette Valley. But, as often as growers have been planting their crop, they've also been burning field stubble.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: Saluting Our Vietnam Vets
1973 marked the signing of the Paris Peace Accords and the end of US involvement in Vietnam. But for the many who served in Vietnam, the war never really ended.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: Remembering Wayne Morse
Wayne Morse represented Oregon in the U.S. Senate for 24 years.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: Olympic Trials Come to Eugene
With the track world beating a path to our door, local business owners geared up for record crowds.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: Losing Pre
Oregon running standout Steve Prefontaine was just coming into his own when he lost his life in Eugene in 1975.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: Eugene Symphony
The current season marks 45 years as the city's premiere arts organization.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: Inside Hyundai
In 1995, Hyundai Electronics announced plans to build a semiconductor plant in west Eugene. Its name was later changed to Hynix Semiconductor.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: The Great Migration to the Coast
In 2004, the city of Florence was named the best city in the entire country for retirement.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: New Carissa Founders Off Coos Bay
The rusting hulk on a beach in Coos Bay initially was considered an unwelcome eyesore.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: The Legacy of JFK
Forty-seven years ago, President John F. Kennedy was killed in Dallas, Texas.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: Thurston High School Shootings
On May 21, 1998, the tragedy in Springfield was difficult to comprehend that day and still is.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: A Look Back at Woodstock
In 1989, KEZI reporter Jean Powell rounded up some local residents who remembered the iconic concert and the turbulent times.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: 2002
Oregon fishermen are still talking about the restrictions imposed back in 2002 on both the commercial and recreational fishing of endangered rock fish.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: The Nation at War
Taking cues from Veterans Day, we take a look back at a story from 1968 that brought some unwanted publicity to the town of Creswell.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: Ken Kesey's Memorial Service
In 2001, a memorial service was held for the best-selling author at the McDonald Theater.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: The Art of War Reporting
From the beginning, the American invasion was controversial, and even Oregon's newspapers struggled with how to report the story.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: The Hult Center Opens
Though it was hailed as Eugene's finest hour, there were other arts stories that made headlines that year in 1982.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: The June 1 Protest
In 1997, a group of eco-protesters tried to save a stand of 40 large trees that were slated to be removed in downtown Eugene.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: The Diane Downs Case
Over the years, there have been several high-profile criminal cases that kept us glued to the TV.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: 1962 World's Fair
The fair offered a glimpse of what the future might bring.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: Beached Whale Blown Up
The carcass of an eight-ton grey whale had washed up on a beach near Florence in November 1970.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: 1996
As KEZI celebrates 50 years on the air, we take a trip back in time to Mapleton, 1996, courtesy of reporter Doug Barber.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: Comedy Writer Mason Williams
As sometimes happens in Hollywood, he was in the right place at the right time.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: Not Exactly Happy Holidays
It 1977 during the week of Christmas, TV news stations had to cover a lot of ground to fill the newscasts each and every day.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: The Year That Was 1994
When it comes to a year jam-packed with interesting stories, you'd be hard-pressed to find one more compelling than 1994.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: "Animal House" Animates Eugene
When the movie opened in 1978, it put a little-known city in the Northwest on Hollywood's radar.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: Origins of the Oregon Country Fair
What makes the fair unique is that it hasn't changed all that much from its renaissance fair roots in 1969.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: First Woman Mayor of Eugene
As the city's first female mayor, Ruth Bascom proved that gender should not be a barrier to effective leadership.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: The Legend of Steve Prefontaine
If anyone can be credited with making Eugene "Track Town U.S.A.", it's Steve Prefontaine.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: "Progress and the Past"
In 1986, the city of Eugene celebrated its past with an event called Historic Preservation Week.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: Debate Over West Eugene Parkway
Planners said the parkway was necessary to deal with expected growth, but critics said it would be environmentally destructive.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: Ducks Go to the Rose Bowl
The weather in Pasadena was perfect. And though the outcome wasn't, it was still a spectacular achievement for the Ducks and their new head coach Chip Kelly.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: Sweet Home Reacts to Job Losses
In 1990, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the spotted owl as endangered. The listing turned Oregon's timber industry upside down, and timber communities suffered.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: "Survival on the Seas"
Fishing Oregon's waters is dangerous work, and it often runs in families.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: Rolls-Royce Raja Arrives in Oregon
In 1981, an Indian mystic named Bhagwan Shree Rajneeshand arrived in Oregon to establish a commune.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: The Race Into Space
In 1961, the Soviet Union was making great strides in rocketry and threatening to make the United States an also-ran, but then our new president saw an opportunity to boost his profile and rally the nation.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: Riding the Coast Starlight
In 1991, Amtrak teamed up with the Forest Service to provide a guided tour for passengers.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: Former Eugene Mayor Jim Torrey
His term in office was marked by controversy, but there were also projects that can be looked back on with pride.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: Ken Kesey
In 1987, the author of classics like "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" sat down with KEZI for a rare interview.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: Timber Industry Turmoil
In the late 1980s, the federal government was on the brink of protecting the northern spotted owl and reducing the amount of forest that could be logged in Oregon.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: The Good Friday Earthquake
It was Good Friday when a 9.2 magnitude earthquake lasting nearly five minutes hit south central Alaska.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: The Diane Downs Case II
It was one of the most high-profile murder cases in Oregon history -- the story of Diane Downs and the events surrounding the shooting of her three children -- one of them fatally.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: 1985
In 1985, several business developments had Eugene city leaders excited. But from the vantage point of 2010, the celebrating might have been premature.
50 Year of KEZI 9 News: UO Professors Visit Chernobyl
KEZI 9 News traveled to the region with a team of researchers from the University of Oregon.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: The Eruption of Mt. St. Helens
We're looking back at events that have come to define the rich history of the Pacific Northwest including events like the eruption in 1980 of Mt. St. Helens.
50 Years of KEZI 9 News: 1976
Each night, we'll dip into the archives and bring back some of the memorable stories from the past 50 years.