Chester "Stack" Stackhouse was Willamette's head football coach and track and field coach for three years- his track squad winning Northwest Conference titles in 1951 and '52. He is considered the father of Willamette's storied track history. His greatest contributions to Willamette's athletic heritage were starting the popular Willamette Relays for college and high school track and field athletes in 1951, which lasted for 36 years, and the founding of an innovative athletic equipment company, which is still in business today in Salem. Just prior to coming to Willamette, Stackhouse initiated the first-ever inter-racial collegiate athletic competitions during his first year at Lincoln University (1947), the nations oldest black university in Pennsylvania. Lincoln competed against some 35 white colleges and universities. Stackhouse died June 29, 1978.