Oregon Sports History Program
Legacy In Motion.
At the University of Oregon, our leadership in sports isn’t just a point of pride — it's a cornerstone of our identity.
From pioneering athletes to championship moments, our achievements have shaped the world of sports and continue to inspire generations. To ensure that future generations can appreciate the full scope of our athletic history, we are committed to preserving the rich legacy of the UO. Through the careful collection and curation of historical documents, photos, films, and more, we honor the victories, milestones, and stories that have defined our journey.
Launched last fall, the Oregon Sports History Program is dedicated to preserving and sharing Oregon’s athletic legacy with the world.
Our sports history isn’t just written in records and statistics; it’s alive in the moments captured on film, the photographs that tell our story, and the documents that recount the struggles and triumphs of our athletes. By safeguarding these pieces of our past, we ensure that UO’s influence on sports — past, present, and future — remains a source of pride and inspiration.
Help us preserve and celebrate Oregon Duck history.
Through the OSHP, UO Libraries aims to:
- Develop a student internship in tandem with the UO’s 150th anniversary in 2026
- Present at the North American Society for Sports History conference
- Explore approaches to collecting materials related to NIL
- Attract new collections representing women in sports
- Co-curate an exhibit featuring the UO athletic photography of Brian Lanker
- Create interdisciplinary opportunities in Journalism, Business, and Human Physiology
"The Oregon Sports History Program is closely aligned with both University Archives’ mission to preserve and tell the story of the University’s history and impact and the UO Libraries’ strategy of enhancing community and civic engagement."
— Alicia Salaz, Vice Provost and University Librarian
Meet Lauren Goss, UO's inaugural Athletics Archivist
Lauren Goss, a third-generation UO alumni, has recently become University of Oregon’s first Athletics Archivist, the only person on the West Coast to hold this position after a lead gift from an anonymous donor. In just a few months, Lauren has already hit the ground running, growing our sports history collection and promoting the UO’s strong athletics brand and legacy through academic and public outreach. A few of her accomplishments include:
- Giving expert commentary in multiple media outlets
- Teaching in classes in the Clark Honors College and the School of Law
- Starting a partnership with the new Olympic Studies Hub in the Lundquist College of Business
- Acquired new collections
- Visited a peer archivist at the University of Michigan, a national leader in athletic archiving
The Long Game
Our vision is to make this program permanent with a blend of spendable and endowed funds, so that the story of UO sports will be curated, preserved, and communicated for generations to come. We are actively seeking further investment from the UO community to accomplish this goal.
Empowering this program with a gift of your own will allow us to bridge athletics to academics as more collections become discoverable for emerging studies in sport.