McGee Field

Last updated
McGee Field
Former namesHardee Field
LocationFlorida Ave. Sewanee, Tennessee
Coordinates 35°12′33″N85°55′19″W / 35.209162°N 85.922023°W / 35.209162; -85.922023
Owner Sewanee: The University of the South
Operator Sewanee: The University of the South
Capacity 3,000
SurfaceTurf
Construction
Broke ground1891
OpenedNovember 7, 1891
Tenants
Sewanee Tigers (NCAA) (1891–present)

McGee Field/Harris Stadium (officially Benjamin Humphreys McGee Field at Eugene O. Harris Stadium) located in Sewanee, Tennessee is the home of the Sewanee Tigers football and lacrosse teams. It was dedicated as McGee Field at homecoming on October 22, 1977. Before then the stadium was known as Hardee Field, named for Lt. General William J. Hardee of the Confederate States of America. Thus sometimes the field is also called Hardee-McGee Field. McGee Field is the oldest stadium in the South still in use. [1]

Sewanee, Tennessee CDP in Tennessee, United States

Sewanee is a census-designated place (CDP) in Franklin County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 2,311 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Tullahoma, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Homecoming tradition of welcoming back alumni of a school

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William J. Hardee Confederate Army general

William Joseph Hardee was a career U.S. Army officer, serving during the Second Seminole War and in the Mexican–American War, where he was captured and exchanged. In the American Civil War, he sided with the South and became a general. Hardee served in the Western Theater and quarreled sharply with two of his commanding officers, Braxton Bragg and John Bell Hood. He served in the Atlanta Campaign of 1864 and the Carolinas Campaign of 1865, where he surrendered with General Joseph E. Johnston to William Tecumseh Sherman in April. Hardee's writings about military tactics were widely used on both sides in the conflict.

Contents

Benjamin Humphreys McGee

McGee was a Greenville, Mississippi native and 1949 graduate of Sewanee, known as "Ug." [1]

Greenville, Mississippi City in Mississippi, United States

Greenville is a city in, and the county seat of, Washington County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 34,400 at the 2010 census. It is located in the area of historic cotton plantations and culture known as the Mississippi Delta.

Eugene O. Harris

The stadium was dedicated to Harris in November 1957. [2]

History

McGee Field dates back to the first instance of the Sewanee–Vanderbilt football rivalry on November 7, 1891, and is the oldest in the south and the fourth oldest in the nation. [1] That day in '91 saw Sewanee's first ever football game and Vanderbilt's second. The Commodores won 22 to 0. Just eleven years before, Stoll Field at the University of Kentucky saw the South's first football game. For twenty years (1894-1913) Sewanee did not lose a game played "on the mountain." Perhaps the first big event happened in 1897 when Sewanee held John Heisman's Auburn Tigers to a scoreless tie on McGee Field.

Sewanee–Vanderbilt football rivalry

The Sewanee–Vanderbilt football rivalry was an American college football rivalry between the Sewanee Tigers and Vanderbilt Commodores. They were both founding members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA), the Southern Conference, and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Both teams' histories feature some powerhouses of early Southern football, e.g. 1899 Sewanee Tigers football team and 1906 Vanderbilt Commodores football team. It was the oldest of Vanderbilt's rivalries; dating back to 1891 when Vanderbilt played its second ever football game and Sewanee played its first. Vanderbilt leads the series 40–8–4. It used to be claimed as the oldest rivalry in the south, older than the "South's Oldest Rivalry" between North Carolina and Virginia. Usually played towards the end of the season on Thanksgiving Day, the two teams have not met again since 1944.

Stoll Field/McLean Stadium Football stadium on the University of Kentucky campus (closed 1972)

Stoll Field/McLean Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. It was the home of the University of Kentucky Wildcats football team. The field has been in use since 1880, but the concrete stands were opened in October 1916, and closed following the 1972 season. The stadium was replaced by Kroger Field, which opened in 1973 as Commonwealth Stadium. Memorial Coliseum is located across the street from the site.

University of Kentucky Public research university in Lexington, KY, USA

The University of Kentucky (UK) is a public co-educational university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state's two land-grant universities, the largest college or university in the state, with 30,720 students as of Fall 2015, and the highest ranked research university in the state according to U.S. News and World Report.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Williamson, S. and Smith, G. Yea, Sewanee's Right, p. 62, Published by the University of the South, 2011, ISBN   978-0-918769-63-3
  2. ↑ "Stadium Has Harris Name" (PDF). The Sewanee Purple. November 6, 1957.
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