The Multnomah Athletic Club (MAC) is a private

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...

and athletic club in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, United States. It was founded in 1891 as the Multnomah Amateur Athletic Club, a coordinating body for team and individual sports such as

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and fielded its own competitive teams against collegiate competition. It is currently a 21,000 member institution, providing athletic and dining facilities to its dues-payers.

History

The Multnomah Athletic Club was originally founded in 1891 as the Multnomah Amateur Athletic Club. It is located in

's Goose Hollow neighborhood, occupying two buildings adjacent to the

Providence Park Providence Park (formerly Jeld-Wen Field; PGE Park; Civic Stadium; originally Multnomah Stadium; and from 1893 until the stadium was built, Multnomah Field) is an outdoor soccer venue located in the Goose Hollow neighborhood of Portland, Oregon ...

sports stadium. The club hosted an annual outdoor athletic games in Portland, with the inaugural event taking place in September 1891."Athletics,"
alem, OR''Capital Journal,'' Aug. 25, 1891, p. 3. The event included a traditional spectrum of

events, including sprints, middle distance races, and a one-mile run,

hurdling Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today ...

high High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...

and

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

ing,

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a #bar, bar. Pole jumping was already practiced by the ...

ing, the

hammer throw The hammer throw (HT for short) is one of the four throwing events in regular outdoor track-and-field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and Javelin throw, javelin. The hammer used in this sport is not like any of the tools a ...

and

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

, as well as a one-mile race walk and a two-mile bicycle race. These annual competitions were open to any member of a valid athletic club, military unit, or institution of higher learning. Bicycle racing was an important part of the club's activities during its first decade, with one of its members claiming world records in the one-mile and ten-mile bicycle race from a standing start in 1894. Multnomah Amateur Athletic Club also served as the organizer of its own teams, playing

against other clubs from its inception.C.N. MacArthur, "Foot Ball in the Pacific Northwest," in Walter Camp (ed.), ''Spalding's Official Foot Ball Guide, 1907.'' New York: American Sports Publishing Co., 1907; p. 81. Chief rivals on the gridiron during the ensuing two decades included the teams of the Seattle Athletic Club and Spokane Amateur Athletic Club; regular games against Oregon college teams were also played. The club is known for its exclusivity and was historically male-dominated. Women members were not given full voting privileges until 1977.

Facilities

The club's primary facility is an eight-level main clubhouse located adjacent to

. The club's facilities total , making it the largest indoor athletic club in the world.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Athletics clubs in the United States Clubs and societies in Oregon Sports in Portland, Oregon Gentlemen's clubs in the United States Sports organizations established in 1891 1891 establishments in Oregon Civic organizations in Oregon Buildings and structures in Goose Hollow, Portland, Oregon