EUGENE -- Opponents of a plan to raze and rebuild Hayward Field won a small victory at a Monday meeting of the Eugene City Council.

After hearing passionate and at times emotional testimony, the council voted unanimously to consider at a future meeting forwarding an application to the Eugene Historic Review Board for Hayward's east grandstand to be considered as a city landmark.

"Historic preservation of a structure gives a community an opportunity to create a story from the past and interpret it for future generations," council member Jennifer Yeh said. "The east grandstand at Hayward Field has a lot of stories we don't want lost.

"There are many ways to accomplish historic preservation, but it is clearly an historic structure and at the minimum deserves a conversation about the options for preservation."

Should the east grandstand become a city landmark, it could slow an aggressive timeline for the project, scheduled to begin this summer and conclude in the spring of 2020.

Bob Penny, a Bellingham builder who grew up in Eugene and has been helping lead opposition to tearing down the east grandstand, said he was pleased by what he heard from council members.

"We're bowled over by the response of the council," Penny said.

Hayward Field needs to be renovated for Eugene to host the 2021 World Outdoor Track & Field Championships as scheduled.

Original plans had incorporated the east grandstand into the design. But those plans were scrapped in favor of a completely new, horseshoe-shaped, double-deck design expected to cost more than $200 million.

Funds for the project have been privately raised. Lead donors are Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife, Penny.

The new design was made public last week for the first time. It includes a nine-story tower on the track's northeast corner, planned in honor of longtime UO track coach and Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman.

The council heard from a parade of people opposing the plan, among them Bob Penny; his brother, Bill; Neta Prefontaine, sister of distance legend Steve Prefontaine; former University of Oregon runner and author Kenny Moore, and Peter Thompson, a retired senior manager of the IAAF, the governing body of international track and field.

In a statement read by former UO sprinter Michael Deibele, Moore referred to Bowerman and Nike's admonishment to employees to "Remember the Man."

"When I cast my eyes over the planned transformation of Hayward Field, all I can see is a perversely ignorant 'remembering' of the man, the character and the wishes of the man," Moore wrote.

Moore criticized the design's transparent roof that would cover some seats.

"Bill Bowerman would never expose fans to both heat and rains without proper protection," Moore wrote. "Bill Bowerman would cringe at the height and shape of his honorary tower. Bill Bowerman would look to preserve the east stands and president's box."

Neta Prefontaine said she spoke before the council with a heavy heart.

"I feel like I'm losing my best friend," she said.

Bill Penny, a Lake Oswego resident, said he competed as a high school and college athlete at Hayward, and saw every race Prefontaine ran there.

"The demolition of the historic structure that is the east grandstand essentially for a single event is most certainly not necessary," he said. "Once it's gone, it's gone forever.

"This hallowed place, where a 10-year-old boy comforted his tearful now late mother at Steve Prefontaine's memorial service, should be preserved and cherished."

The only person to speak in favor of the planned reconstruction was Lance Deal, Olympic silver medalist in the hammer and UO director of track & field venues and support.

Deal said he had a sentimental attachment to the east grandstand, as other people who spoke. But he said there are practical reasons it should be replaced.

"For the average modern sports fan, it is outdated and tired," Deal said. "Some of my older friends are no longer able to attend meets because of a lack of modern amenities. ...

"The east grandstand is in a continual state of repair. It's wood. It's Oregon. It rots."

-- Ken Goe

kgoe@oregonian.com | @KenGoe