in their words
THE AUTHO R
In the Long Run
IS A DUK E P RO F E SSO R OF ME DICINE A ND IMMUN OLOGY WH O HAS LIVE D IN D URH A M S IN CE THE L AT E ’ 7 0 S .
B Y DAV I D S . P I S ET S KY, M.D., PH.D.
D
URING MY 40 YEARS IN Durham, I have driven past the Durham County Memorial Stadium many times without thinking much about this structure that sits just off North Duke Street. Built in 1960 and reopened in 2010 after an upgrade, the stadium is constructed of concrete in an unadorned and utilitarian style. The stadium seats about 8,500 people. For comparison, Wallace Wade Stadium seats 40,000 people and Durham Bulls Athletic Park seats 10,000. County Stadium is a hot spot for high school football, lacrosse, and track and field. The Northern High School Knights have played home games on the Stadium’s Willie Bradshaw Field, which is artificial turf. County Stadium is home of the Division II Shaw University Bears football team. Shaw is located in Raleigh, but its home games are played in Durham. That’s why, on Saturdays in the fall, I see so many people around Durham wearing Shaw garnet and white regalia. The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association held its championship games there from 2008 to 2012 and then again in 2014 and 2015. The Carolina Phoenix, which were the 2013 World Champions of the Independent Women’s Football League, has had home games there, as does the Tobacco Road FC, which plays in the USL League Two of the American soccer pyramid.
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durhammag.com
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april 2019
Track and field events are one of the major attractions at the County Stadium. In recent years, the stadium has been the site for the Russell E. Blunt East Coast Invitational, the Bershawn “Batman” Jackson Youth Invitational and the Durham Striders Developmental Invitational. Along with Wallace Wade Stadium, the County Stadium is an important part of the rich history of track and field in Durham and remains a choice venue for meets. The reason I am writing about the County Stadium is that it was the site of the 2018 North Carolina Senior State Games Finals and, as readers of the magazine might recall, I was the representative of Durham in the men’s 70-74 age group for the 50-meter and 200-meter sprints on the basis of two gold medal performances in the Durham City Games. The finals were originally scheduled for September, but had to be postponed until November because of Hurricane Florence, which soaked North Carolina and did incredible damage. I was ambivalent about the scheduling delay since I was anxious to compete and did not want to train two more months, lest injury strike. The day of the finals was like winter. Dark gray clouds covered the sky. The wind swirled and a cold rain pelted Durham. Like me, most competitors wore heavy jackets, sweatpants and gloves. We looked ready for the Iditarod rather than a run around the track. As I entered the stadium to register and get my race number, I heard clicking. The clicking was incessant and inescapable. I quickly discovered the source of the clicking, which came from the spikes on the track shoes that just about every competitor wore. I had never thought about running with real track shoes. Having not competed in the Senior Games before (or read the race instructions carefully), I was unaware that spikes were allowed. Because of the rain, the track was wet and slippery, and I worried that my regular running shoes would lose traction, and I would have to be cautious to avoid an ignominious spill. Every click sent the same message: You will lose.