He attended Central Linn High School, where he was an exceptionally talented basketball player, an All-State football running back, and an All-American track-and-field star in hurdle events and pole vaulting.

[8][9] At the University of Oregon, Hatfield studied architecture and continued his track and field career under the coaching of Bill Bowerman, co-founder of Nike.

[citation needed] He claims to have designed the cross-trainer as a "multi-sport" shoe when he realized people at his Oregon gym brought various sneakers with them for diverse activities such as basketball, aerobics, weightlifting and jogging.

[12] He also created the graphic design on the basketball court at the Matthew Knight Arena at the University of Oregon; the facility opened in 2011.

[13] In 2014, Hatfield indicated that Nike would unveil a shoe with power-lacing technology, as worn by Marty McFly in the 1989 film Back to the Future Part II, which partially takes place in the year 2015.