Food Test Kitchen. Chime In. Wild Animal Weekend. Power of Goodwill. About Us. Contact Us. Latest Newscasts. Operation Victory. Investigate TV. Gray DC Bureau. Auburn University increasing stadium capacity for A-Day football game. By Katie Kamin. Updated: Apr. Ultimately, however, the answer lies in the vision of a handful of men who, over the years, believed in the potential of Auburn's football program, and who worked to bring the dream to fruition.
Both now lie under concrete, asphalt, and floral arangements. In the shadows of the chemistry lab building between Samford Hall and Foy Union, currently a park and parking lot, Auburn hosted football games from until the s. Abandoning the "drill field," the Tigers moved to Drake Field, currently the site of the upper Haley Center parking lot, next to the Eagle's Cage. Athletic Director Emeritus, Jeff Beard, a student at the time, helped assemble the temporary bleachers at Drake Field. We had one home game a year.
By the late s, crowds were too large to be adequately accomodated in the temporary bleachers at this location, and Auburn found itself forced to play most of its games on the road, usually in Birmingham's Legion Field, Montgomery's Cramton Bowl, Mobile's Ladd Stadium, and Memorial Stadium in Columbus, Georgia. From this unhappy situation, with the team forced to play home games far from home, came the seeds of the mighty edifice which now graces the Auburn campus.
As the end of the s neared, Auburn leaders understood they simply had to build a home stadium for their wandering team. He continued to improve the team and the schedule.
As early as , the university's Physical Plant had considered building a "concrete stadium to put Auburn on the map," though with the lingering effects of the Depression, nothing had come of it. By , the decision had been made to build, should the funds be available.
Moving to a third site, preparations were begun for the construction of a permanent facility, Auburn Stadium. A young Jeff Beard, helping to survey the area, drove in the first stake to mark off the future stadium.
Auburn has played on this site ever since. By , the economic situation had improved to the point that Auburn President Dr. Engineering work was indeed needed at the new site. A meandering stream at the bottom of the valley had to be diverted and filled in. In addition, before a stadium and field could be built there, the previous tenants needed evicting. These inhabitants consisted of a herd of goats, belonging to the dean of the school of veterinary medicine, which grazed in the valley.
These goats exhibited a severe nervous condition, one which would be duplicated by supporters of many visiting teams over the years. The original grandstand, "Auburn Stadium," was designed by Arnold G.
Wurz, who passed away in , just weeks before the stadium's fiftieth anniversary. The name choice, "Auburn Stadium," is significant in that it reflects the tendency of all associated to refer to the team and school as "Auburn," even in the s. The school was actually designated Alabama Polytechnic Institute and officially became Auburn University only in Having played Florida in a number of different cities over the previous years, the Gators seemed a good opponent with which to christen the new, 7,seat facility.
Restrooms in particular were a concern, as the town itself had only two gas stations at the time. The field house, now Petrie Hall, was also under construction and not completed in time for the game.
Florida players were forced to dress in uniform in their hotel in Opelika before riding to the stadium. Incidents such as this over the years further complicated Auburn's efforts to move important games to the campus. Auburn and Florida tied, The game was a success. The original 7, seats remain today as the lower half of the west stands. Only a year later 4, wooden bleachers were added to the east side, demonstrating the viability of a home field and dispelling the doubts of the naysayers.
Auburn Stadium was a success, and it seemed there was nowhere to go but up. We could still make more money by playing in the bigger stadiums on the road. Fortunately, even in the lean times, the seats had been filled. With such an obvious financial incentive, by the end of , the time had come for expansion.
The Board also voted to name the newly expanded facility Cliff Hare Stadium. He also played backup quarterback on Auburn's very first football team, in The caption in the Auburn-Georgia game program calls Cliff Hare "one of the most beloved characters connected with athletics in the South. Sanford--for whom the stadium in Athens is named--used to come to Auburn every year after the Auburn-Georgia game in Columbus and divide the money.
They would sit down in the Hare kitchen, take the money out of an old cigar box, and spread it across a marble table top and say, 'a dollar for you and a dollar for us' until the game proceeds were divided equally between the two schools. Quickly reversing the Tigers' football fortunes, Jordan took the team to two straight bowl appearances. Success on the field quickly led to financial success. The Board of Trustees, in a resolution dated April 29, , gave a number of factors which weighed into the decision.
The resolution stated:. Draughon and Beard had come to realize that by playing at Auburn, they could save the money they were paying Columbus and other cities to rent out their stadiums. Draughon stated that the project would be "started as early as possible The resolution was adopted without dissent, although in a bow to the true mission of the college, a resolution adopted several weeks later took pains to note the expansion was actually "for the benefit of the college and the students in attendance thereat.
Beard remembers that the crews "walked off the job on the last day of August. The stadium was complete. With the capacity of the stadium having reached 34,, Auburn could host four home games in This, Beard says, "was a great feeling for those of us who were tired of traveling. Four games showed us what a great advantage it was to play at home. Even so, still no major rivals would play in Auburn. Beard and Jordan next would turn their attention to this problem, with their focus first on Georgia Coach Wally Butts.
Coach Jordan had demonstrated that the Tigers were a force to be reckoned with, and this gridiron success provided leverage in Auburn's negotations with other schools.
The first to be persuaded to come was Georgia. Georgia won the first game played in Athens in , ironically with Georgia guard Pat Dye, later Auburn's coach, recovering a fumble to win the game for the Bulldogs. The next year's game would be played in Auburn, and Jordan and Beard realized they would need still more seats in the stadium.
The time had come to close in one of the end zones, connecting the two stands at one end. A memorandum from L. Funchess, Director of the Campus Planning Committee, to Beard, dated March 3, , reports approval of the plan to close in the south end zone, at a cost of nearly a half-million dollars. The bleacher seats which had stood there were moved to the north end, providing still more seats.
A large scoreboard replaced the previous one which had been built by an engineering class years earlier. In addition, dressing rooms were built under the new stands. An overall plan for the stadium's development began to take shape with the expansion. The sidelines stands had been built into hillsides, so the closing of the endzones would have blocked air circulation within the stadium. To remedy this, risers were left out of the lower seats in the south end zone. This, along with construction of a continuous interior concourse, was modeled on the Rice Stadium in Texas.
The concourse allowed direct access for first aid vehicles and transports to any point within the stadium. The project was a success. The Georgia game sold out quickly, with Auburn winning this time, and both Georgia and Auburn officials were pleased with the results of their new arrangement. The city of Columbus, however, felt betrayed, a sentiment to be reflected in Birmingham nearly thirty years later. Horseshoe to Bowl Winning seasons and bowl invitations continued through the s, and thoughts quickly turned to another expansion.
Beard sums up the feelings of Auburn's leaders at the time: "Adding The Board of Trustees, on October 25, , unanimously approved a proposal to begin study for enlarging Cliff Hare Stadium, "due to the continued increase in student enrollments and the demand for football tickets at home games in Auburn.
The Board agreed by June of that "it appears necessary and advisable to enlarge the capacity of Cliff Hare Stadium, enlarge the present press box facilities, and construct a new running track facility.
The coach feared visiting track teams might hide fresh runners under the stands to sneak in during a race. The new track would be named in Hutsell's honor. The resolution also called for modification and enlargement of the dressing facilities.
The June resolution noted that an act had been passed in the first special session of the state legislature "to permit such construction and to make provisions for the financing of same. In the mean time, the Board's Naming of Buildings Committee recommended that the former field house, which would be sealed off from the stadium by the north stands enclosure and which was being renovated for classroom and lab use, be named for the late Dean George Petrie, who had connections with both the sciences and athletics at Auburn.
Turf had become popular among colleges in the late s, but despite consideration, Beard and Jordan rejected the idea. They had misgivings about the safety of the artificial surface. Expansion plans were finalized at a Board meeting on November 22, The Trustees were clearly enthusiastic about Auburn football: "Dr. Philpott the university president reviewed several details concerning Auburn's invitation to play the University of Houston in the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl on December 31, The Board unanimously approved a nineteen year bond issue to finance the north stands construction, and then gathered around Dr.
Philpott to look at an artist's conception of the finished stadium. Auburn added an additional detail to the north end zone enclosure, one that made school officials proud. This really attracted a lot of attention in the state.
The final cost of the addition, including the relocation of Hutsell Track, was just over one and a quarter million dollars. Tiny Cliff Hare Stadium had grown into a full-fledged bowl, and time had come to honor the coach whose success enabled the growth to occur. The honor recognized "Jordan's lasting contributions to Auburn football. Jordan would coach the remainder of that season and two more before retiring after the season. Writing in the program for the dedication game in , David Housel, current athletic director and former sports information director, reflected back on the competitive advantage Auburn had gained with its fine home stadium.
He called the newly-christened Jordan-Hare Stadium "perhaps the hardest place in the country for a visiting football team to win. Bar none. During the Cliff Hare Stadium period, from to , Auburn posted a record of , which included a run of thirty straight wins at home with thirteen shutouts.
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