Flashback
15 years ago this summer
World University Games
Fifteen years ago this July, the World University Games were held in the United States for the first time in the 80-year history of organized international university sports competition. Second in size only to the Olympics, the World University Games were held at UB and elsewhere in Western New York July 8-18, 1993. Over these 11 days, 5,000 athletes from more than 120 nations vied for medals in 12 sports, including track and field, volleyball, soccer, water polo and, for the first time at the World University Games, baseball.
UB played a key role in hosting the games, with faculty, staff and students serving as volunteers. Ronald H. Stein, associate professor emeritus, Graduate School of Education, and former Erie County Executive Dennis Gorski provided the impetus to bring the games to Buffalo. The Greater Buffalo Athletic Corporation, headed by the late Burt P. Flickinger Jr., was responsible for organizing the games.
UB provided the venues for track and field, diving, tennis and volleyball, and the Ellicott Complex housed the games’ 5,000 participants. University Stadium, UB’s 18,000-seat stadium, was built specially for the games and remains one of the World University Games’ most recognizable legacies.
—William Offhaus, University Archives
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