Allyson Felix Field is now official at USC

LOS ANGELES (News4usonline) – It’s always good to come back home. Especially if your home base is at the University of Southern California. For Allyson Felix, that home will always be a place where she can look up and see her name etched in stone. 

Felix, a seven-time Olympic champion and 14-time world champion was bestowed one of the highest honors an alumnus can receive when the school unveiled the renaming of the sports complex at Katherine B. Loker Track Stadium in her honor. 

The field has been renamed the Allyson Felix Field. On April 10, Felix, along with her husband, young daughter, mother, father, and brother, as well as a throng of well-wishers and USC officials, made it official. The 11-time Olympic medalist looked to be overjoyed and beamed with graciousness as she accepted the latest honor that has come her way. 

“I just feel like when I was sitting in my seat listening to everyone speak, you know, there’s nothing that I accomplished by myself,” Felix said. “There have been so many people that have poured into my life and made it all possible. So, I’m beyond grateful for that.”

Since she first burst onto the track and field scene as a prep phenom while attending Los Angeles Baptist High (now Heritage Christian School) School here in Los Angeles, Felix has always represented the sport with dignity and class. USC Athletic Director Mike Bohn said that Felix epitomizes grace and the Trojan Way everywhere she goes. 

“All you have to do is look at that smile and you see a competitive confidence, a sense of humility, a sense of pride, a true champion in every way,” Bohn said. “That embodies everything about being a Trojan. Whether you’re a student-athlete, a current student here, or alum, or a community member…she’s a big part of what being a Trojan is all about.”   

Paul Felix, the father of the most decorated U.S. track and field athlete of all time, was moved with joy at the renaming ceremony.   

“It’s hard to really fathom what has happened,” Paul Felix said. “Just kind of looking at her career and looking at her life, it’s just an extremely positive, great, great honor. I used to go to USC. I was a poor boy from LA, and would ride my bicycle to school. That’s how poor I was, but to have her and my son come here and graduate, to have the track field named after her is mind-boggling to me.” 

For Marlean Felix, the way that Allyson has always carried herself off and on the track in an exemplary manner creates an even bigger legacy for her daughter than just someone who won a whole bunch of races and collected a ton of medals.   

“To capture it in words is really tough. It’s a huge moment for us. I mean, just what it stands for,” stated Marlean Felix.  “I think that’s what is so special, that it’s just not the medals, and it’s just not the accomplishments on the track, physically. But it’s her character and her integrity that they wanted to honor that as well. That’s a quality that you really want to continue as a legacy. I couldn’t be more proud of her. I couldn’t be more thrilled about this moment.”