Kidd Field

Last updated
Kidd Field, top left, and its replacement, Sun Bowl Stadium, as seen from the air. UTEP Sun Bowl Stadium Aerial View Sept 6 2009.jpg
Kidd Field, top left, and its replacement, Sun Bowl Stadium, as seen from the air.

Kidd Field is an athletic facility used primarily by UTEP in El Paso, Texas. Constructed for its then-primary use as a football field in 1938, it was the site of the Sun Bowl until 1963 when Sun Bowl Stadium opened. Kidd Field is used for track and field meets today. Kidd Field cost $2,000 to build, and El Paso holds an annual Easter festival there. Built in the early 1930s, Kidd Field has been home to numerous All-Americans, national champions, national record-holders and Olympians. Named after UTEP (then Texas College of Mines and Metallurgy) professor and athletic booster John W. Kidd, the facility was shared with the UTEP football team until 1962, when the facility became sole home to the track and field team. The track features an eight-lane Mondo Track, the same surface used for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. The track was made possible by generous donations from Wayne and Russ Vandenburg of EPT Management and Mark Fry. The track was dedicated in former Miner legend Larry K. Durham's name. His contribution gave Kidd Field a makeover in 2011, and it was dedicated in his name in April 2012. A state-of-the-art Daktronics video board was added in January 2008. The 9x15-foot LED video display plants fans right into the action on the track, providing graphics and video elements that display real-time highlights throughout a meet. The lit facility also houses throws and jumps arenas, making Kidd Field one of the top track-only complexes in the country. Coordinates: 31°46′28″N106°30′21″W / 31.77444°N 106.50583°W / 31.77444; -106.50583

Related Research Articles

University of Texas at El Paso Public university in El Paso, Texas

The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American student population after the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity." The university's School of Engineering is the nation's top producer of Hispanic engineers with M.S. and Ph.D. degrees.

Sun Bowl annual American college football postseason game

The Sun Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played since 1935 in the southwestern United States at El Paso, Texas. Along with the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl, it is the second-oldest bowl game in the country, behind the Rose Bowl. Usually held near the end of December, games are played at the Sun Bowl stadium on the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso; since 2011, it has featured teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the Pac-12 Conference.

Border Conference

The Border Conference, officially known as the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association, was an NCAA-affiliated college athletic conference founded in 1931 that disbanded following the 1961–62 season. Centered in the southwestern United States, the conference included nine member institutions located in the states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.

Sun Bowl (stadium)

The Sun Bowl is an outdoor football stadium in the southwestern United States, on the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso. It is home to the UTEP Miners of Conference USA, and the late December college football bowl game, the Sun Bowl. The stadium opened in 1963 and has a current seating capacity of 51,500.

Mike Brumbelow American football and basketball player and coach

Lester Michael Brumbelow was an American football and basketball player and coach. He played football and basketball for Texas Christian University from 1927 to 1929 and was the captain and most valuable player of the TCU Horned Frogs undefeated 1929 football team that won the school's first Southwest Conference championship. He later served as an assistant football coach and head basketball coach at TCU from 1936 to 1941. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II in the athletics program at the Navy Pre-Flight School, and attained the rank of lieutenant commander. After the war, he served as an assistant football coach at the University of Mississippi from 1946 to 1948. From 1950 to 1956 he was the head football coach at Texas Western College, now the University of Texas at El Paso; he also served as the school's athletic director from 1950 to 1959.

Mack Saxon

Mack Saxon was an American football and baseball player, coach of football, basketball, baseball, and track, and athletic administrator.

Wayne Hansen American football player

George Wayne Hansen was an American football linebacker in the National Football League for the Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at the University of Texas, El Paso.

UTEP Miners Athletic program of the University of Texas at El Paso

The UTEP Miners is the name given to the sports teams of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). They are informally referred to as the Miners, UTEP, or Texas–El Paso. UTEP was a member of the Western Athletic Conference from 1967 to 2005, when they joined Rice, Tulsa, and SMU in leaving the WAC for Conference USA. The UTEP Miners are best known as the first team in Texas to win an NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. UTEP's colors are orange and blue and the mascot is a miner named Paydirt Pete.

Battle of I-10

The Battle of I-10 is the name given to the New Mexico State–UTEP football rivalry. It is a college rivalry game between New Mexico State University (NMSU) and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). It is called the Battle of I-10 because the two universities are located along Interstate 10 connecting Las Cruces and El Paso. The teams compete for the Silver Spade Trophy and the Mayor's Cup.

The 2007 UTEP Miners football team represented the University of Texas at El Paso in the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team's head coach was Mike Price. The Miners played their home games at the Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso. UTEP averaged 36,569 fans per game, ranking 64th nationally.

UTEP Miners football

The UTEP Miners football program represents University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in the sport of American football. The Miners compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the West Division of Conference USA (CUSA). They are coached by Dana Dimel. UTEP has produced a Border Conference championship team in 1956 and a Western Athletic Conference championship team in 2000, along with 14 postseason bowl appearances. The Miners play their home games at the Sun Bowl which has a seating capacity of 51,500.

The 1947 Sun Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game between the VPI Gobblers of the Southern Conference (SoCon) and the independent Cincinnati Bearcats. It took place on January 1, 1947, at Kidd Field in El Paso, Texas. Cincinnati won, 18–6, in cold and icy conditions that led to a scoreless first half and three blocked extra points by VPI. The game was the first NCAA-sanctioned post-season football contest for Cincinnati, and was the first bowl game in VPI history. The 1947 game was also the 13th edition of the Sun Bowl, which had been played every year since 1935. In exchange for their participation in the event, each team received $9,438.

Texas vs The Nation Former college football All-star bowl game

Texas vs The Nation was an American college football all-star bowl game played from 2007 to 2013. Originally played at the Sun Bowl Stadium, the format of the game pitted 50 top-rated college seniors who played college or high school football in Texas against a squad of 50 top-rated seniors from the other 49 states. In its first year, 73% of players who participated in the game were signed by National Football League (NFL) teams. In 2011, the game moved from El Paso to San Antonio, and the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) became the named sponsor of the game. In 2012, the NFLPA began its own all-star game, the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, and the Texas vs The Nation game was not held. The game was revived in 2013 at Eagle Stadium in Allen, but did not return in 2014.

The 2004 UTEP Miners football team represented the University of Texas at El Paso in the 2004 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team's head coach was Mike Price. The Miners played their home games at the Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, Texas. This was the team's final season participating in the Western Athletic Conference. UTEP averaged 41,209 fans per game.

The 1957 Sun Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game between the George Washington Colonials and the Texas Western Miners.

The 1937 Sun Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game between the Texas Mines Miners and the Hardin–Simmons Cowboys.

The 1988 Independence Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game between the Southern Miss Golden Eagles and the UTEP Miners.

The 1950 Sun Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game between the Texas Western Miners and the Georgetown Hoyas.

The 1954 Sun Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game that featured the Texas Western Miners and the Mississippi Southern Southerners.

The 1936 Texas Mines Miners football team was an American football team that represented Texas School of Mines as a member of the Border Conference during the 1936 college football season. In its eighth season under head coach Mack Saxon, the team compiled a 5–3–1 record, finished second in the conference, lost to Hardin–Simmons in the first Sun Bowl game, and outscored all opponents by a total of 92 to 86.

References