Considering Oregon's deep-rooted ties to Nike, it shouldn't surprise anyone that Tinker Hatfield is the designer of the floor. Hatfield, a former Oregon track and field star and vice president of design and special projects for Nike, designed many of the shoes from the famed Air Jordan line.
"When I was asked to work on the new floor for Matthew Knight Arena, I really boiled it down to three things," Hatfield said. "I really wanted to pay tribute to Matthew Knight himself, to the Kilkenny family and lastly but maybe not least, I wanted to pay tribute to the Pacific Northwest and the Tall Firs, the original basketball team that won a national championship for the University of Oregon in 1939."
