Memorial Stadium (University of Minnesota)

Last updated
Memorial Stadium
"The Brick House"
Memorial Stadium, Minneapolis, 1926.jpg
Stadium in 1926
Memorial Stadium (University of Minnesota)
Usa edcp relief location map.png
Red pog.svg
Minneapolis
Location in the United States
USA Minnesota relief location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Minneapolis
Location in Minnesota
AddressUniversity Ave SE
Location University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Coordinates 44°58′32″N93°13′45″W / 44.975535°N 93.229192°W / 44.975535; -93.229192
OwnerUniversity of Minnesota
OperatorUniversity of Minnesota
Capacity 56,652 (1970–81)
52,809 (1924–69)
SurfaceNatural grass (1977–1981)
Tartan Turf (1970–1976)
Natural grass (1924–1969)
Construction
Broke groundMarch 6, 1924
OpenedOctober 4, 1924
ClosedNovember 21, 1981
Demolished1992;32 years ago (1992)
Tenants
Minnesota Golden Gophers (NCAA) (1924–1981)
Original entrance, now inside
the McNamara Alumni Center Memorial Stadium arch.jpg
Original entrance, now inside
the McNamara Alumni Center

Memorial Stadium, also known as the "Brick House", was an outdoor athletic stadium in the north central United States, located on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. It was the home of the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team for 58 seasons, from 1924 through 1981. Prior to 1924, the Gophers played at Northrop Field.

Contents

Starting in 1982, the Gophers played their home games in the new Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, and Memorial Stadium was demolished a decade later. After 27 seasons indoors, the Gophers returned to campus in 2009 at the new Huntington Bank Stadium, a block from the site of Memorial Stadium.

History

Opened 100 years ago on October 14, 1924, the stadium was dedicated to the 3,527 students, graduates, and workers who served in World War I, which had ended six years earlier. It sat on approximately eleven acres (4.5 ha).

While Memorial Stadium was its home, the football team won six national championships, including three consecutive (1934–1936). The championship years were 1934, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941, and 1960. The official capacity of the stadium during the 1970s was listed as 56,652. From the 1940s onward, temporary bleachers were occasionally brought in to boost capacity to approximately 66,000, though many of the seats were far away from the field. The stadium's attendance record was 66,284, set in 1961 against Purdue on November 18. [1]

Memorial Stadium also served as the university's track and field venue, and was an occasional back-up venue for professional football and soccer. In 1969, the NFL's Minnesota Vikings played a regular season game on October 5 against the Green Bay Packers at Memorial Stadium. It was due to a conflict with a Minnesota Twins playoff game at Metropolitan Stadium, game three of the 1969 American League Championship Series the following day. The Vikings also played a pre-season game at Memorial in 1971, its second season with artificial turf. The artificial Tartan Turf was removed after seven seasons and returned to natural grass in 1977. [2]

The Minnesota Kicks soccer team of the NASL played once at Memorial Stadium, a 1981 playoff game on September 6 against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers and lost 3–0. The game was moved due to a schedule conflict with the Twins at Met Stadium. It was the last game in Kicks' history.

Ancel Keys founded the Laboratory of Physiological Hygiene underneath Memorial Stadium, on the ground floor accessed at Gate 27. Here thirty-six conscientious objectors were confined during the yearlong Minnesota Starvation Experiment. [3] [4]

Memorial Stadium served as the anchor for Stadium Village, a small commercial area at the southeast portion of the Twin Cities campus.

Move to Metrodome 1982

Pressured by downtown Minneapolis business interests and athletic boosters, the school elected to move out of the stadium to the new Metrodome, about two miles (3 km) away, during the spring of 1982. Athletic director Paul Giel cited the advantages of recruiting by playing in a new NFL venue. Also, the attendance was expected to go up in the late fall with protection from harsh weather. [5]

Memorial Stadium had been neglected by that time, and was badly in need of renovation. [5] New head coach Lou Holtz gave an impassioned speech when the time came in 1984 to decide whether to remain at the Metrodome, and declared that "Athletes want to play at the Dome." [5]

University Aquatic center

Following the move, the University of Minnesota proposed a new natatorium that would extend into the field at the open end of the horseshoe and ensure that there could be no return to Memorial Stadium. After legal challenges to halt construction of the natatorium failed, the Aquatic Center opened in 1990 and the stadium was torn down two years later. The original brick entrance arch was preserved, and when the McNamara Alumni Center was built on the same site it was installed in the interior atrium over the entrance to a small museum.

Aftermath

The move to the Metrodome proved to be a dismal failure in the long run, as Gophers home games lost the charm of being on a college campus. [6] The Gophers had the lowest priority in scheduling, behind the Twins and Vikings, and had to move games if the Twins were in the baseball playoffs. The university also gave up most concession and parking revenue, although their portion of the rent was the lowest of the three Metrodome tenants.

On May 20, 2006, the state legislature passed a bill providing funding for a new on-campus stadium. It opened in the fall of 2009 as TCF Bank Stadium. The original Memorial Stadium site could not be used, due to the construction of the aquatic and alumni centers. The new stadium is located about a block from where the old stadium once stood and was designed so that the alumni center on the old site is visible through the open end of the horseshoe.

Dedication above the main entryway Memorial Stadium inscription.jpg
Dedication above the main entryway

Attendance

Stadium grandstand in 1925 University of Minnesota, University band, 1925.jpg
Stadium grandstand in 1925
YearTotalGamesSeason highestAverage
1924139,7726Illinois (35,341)23,297
1925193,7077Notre Dame (49,009)27,672
1926156,0325Michigan (58,362)31,206
1927166,8485Wisconsin (48,443)23,126
1928146,1855Chicago (53,016)29,237
1929204,0836Michigan (58,160)34,014
1930167,7286Northwestern (50,225)27,955
1931115,6315Wisconsin (48,443)23,126
1932113,9565Northwestern (52,426)43,557
1933164,3016Iowa (41,177)27,384
1934192,9225Michigan (59,362)38,584
1935217,7855Northwestern (52,426)43,557
1936247,6535Iowa (61,172)49,531
1937254,1885Notre Dame (63,237)50,838
1938237,0005Michigan (54,212)47,400
1939229,9545Northwestern (52,372)45,991
1940234,9905Michigan (61,976)46,998
1941239,2275Northwestern (61,784)47,845
1942231,3076Michigan (52,351)38,551
1943182,7797Purdue (38,709)26,111
1944179,9796Northwestern (39,997)29,997
1945246,9316Ohio State (55,789)41,155
1946328,0036Michigan (59,037)54,667
1947289,6125Purdue (61,087)57,922
1948308,5565Purdue (65,549)61,711
1949305,2005Wisconsin (63,139)61,040
1950267,0155Iowa (60,312)53,403
1951224,7595Nebraska (54,573)45,152
1952270,2925Iowa (60,376)54,058
1953293,3135Michigan (62,795)58,663
1954347,5556Iowa (65,464)57,926
1955305,5815USC (64,074)61,116
1956372,6546Iowa (64,235)62,109
1957314,7695Purdue (64,629)62,954
1958282,2305Iowa (63,726)56,446
1959256,0395Michigan (56,082)51,208
1960342,1996Iowa (65,292)57,033
1961361,9296Purdue (66,284)60,322
1962368,2006Iowa (65,061)61,367
1963286,7975Michigan (61,817)57,759
1964268,9085Iowa (62,514)53,782
1965302,7476Michigan (58,519)50,458
1966248,2485Iowa (62,631)49,600
1967237,7986Michigan State (56,334)39,633
1968312,8066USC (60,820)52,134
1969272,4496Ohio State (52,972)45,417
1970225,4685Nebraska (52,539)45,093
1971207,6626Michigan (44,412)34,610
1972222,0796Iowa (44,196)37,013
1973252,9176Nebraska (56,782)42,153
1974226,1276Ohio State (45,411)37,688
1975220,0817Wisconsin (37,578)31,440
1976262,8786Iowa (53,222)43,813
1977247,1187Michigan (44,165)35,303
1978231,4116Ohio State (52,209)38,569
1979241,9526Purdue (47,281)40,325
1980265,1056Iowa (58,158)44,184
1981301,2487Michigan (52,875)43,035

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minnesota Vikings</span> National Football League franchise in Minneapolis, Minnesota

The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion team, the team began play the following year. They are named after the Vikings of medieval Scandinavia, reflecting the prominent Scandinavian American culture of Minnesota. The team plays its home games at U.S. Bank Stadium in the Downtown East section of Minneapolis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome</span> Former stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota

The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome was a domed sports stadium located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It opened in 1982 as a replacement for Metropolitan Stadium, the former home of the National Football League's (NFL) Minnesota Vikings and Major League Baseball's (MLB) Minnesota Twins, and Memorial Stadium, the former home of the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metropolitan Stadium</span> Baseball stadium in Minnesota, US

Metropolitan Stadium was an outdoor sports stadium in the north central United States, located in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Williams Arena</span> Multi-purpose arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Williams Arena is an indoor arena located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the home arena for the University of Minnesota's men's and women's basketball teams. It also housed the men's hockey team until 1993, when it moved into its own building, 3M Arena at Mariucci. The building is popularly known as The Barn, and its student section is known as "The Barnyard".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pitt Stadium</span> Defunct outdoor stadium

Pitt Stadium was an outdoor athletic stadium in the eastern United States, located on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Opened in 1925, it served primarily as the home of the university's Pittsburgh Panthers football team through 1999. It was also used for other sporting events, including basketball, soccer, baseball, track and field, rifle, and gymnastics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Brown Jug (college football trophy)</span> Michigan–Minnesota football rivalry

The Little Brown Jug is a trophy contested between the Michigan Wolverines football team of the University of Michigan and the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team of the University of Minnesota. The Little Brown Jug is an earthenware jug that serves as a trophy awarded to the winner of the game. It is one of the oldest and most played rivalries in American college football, dating to 1892. The Little Brown Jug is the most regularly exchanged rivalry trophy in college football, the oldest trophy game in FBS college football, and the second oldest rivalry trophy overall, next to the 1899 Territorial Cup, contested between Arizona and Arizona State.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huntington Bank Stadium</span> Home venue of the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team

Huntington Bank Stadium is an outdoor stadium located on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The stadium opened in 2009, after three years of construction. It is the home field of the Minnesota Golden Gophers of the Big Ten Conference.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northrop Field</span>

Northrop Field was the on-campus stadium of the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team from 1899 to 1923. The original field had seating of around 3,000 and was named for University President Cyrus Northrop. After the 1902 season, the playing field was moved and new seating was added that allowed for crowds of up to 20,000. The stadium was sometimes referred to as Greater Northrop Field after 1902. In 1903, the first season at the enlarged field, the Gophers played the Michigan Wolverines in the first Little Brown Jug game. The stadium continued on as the football team's home until the end of the 1923 season. The U of M then built Memorial Stadium and moved there in 1924.

Throughout the years, a number of teams in the National Football League (NFL) have either moved or merged.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minnesota Golden Gophers football</span> American football team

The Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represents the University of Minnesota in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Founded in 1882, Minnesota has been a member of the Big Ten Conference since its inception in 1896 as the Western Conference. The Golden Gophers claim seven national championships, including four from the major wire-service: AP Poll and/or Coaches' Poll.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stadium Village, Minneapolis</span> Area of Minneapolis, Minnesota, US

Stadium Village is an area of Minneapolis, Minnesota near the East Bank campus of the University of Minnesota. While not an official neighborhood of Minneapolis, the area is an important commercial district that serves university students with many bars and restaurants. There are plans to incorporate it into an official neighborhood of Minneapolis along with the surrounding area. It is part of Southeast Minneapolis, that part of Minneapolis on the East Bank of the Mississippi River and south of Hennepin Avenue

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Downtown East, Minneapolis</span> Neighborhood in Hennepin, Minnesota, United States

Downtown East is an official neighborhood in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It is in Ward 3, currently represented by council member Michael Rainville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Minnesota Marching Band</span> Marching band of the University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota Marching Band is the marching band of the University of Minnesota and the flagship university band for the state of Minnesota. The Pride of Minnesota serves as an ambassador for the university, representing the school at major events both on and off campus. The band performs before, during, and after all home Golden Gopher football games and bowl games, occasional away games, local parades, numerous pepfests, exhibition performances, as well as a series of indoor concerts toward the end of the regular football season. Members of the band, along with non-member students, also participate in smaller athletic pep bands that perform at other major sporting events, including men's hockey, men's basketball, women's hockey, women's basketball, and women's volleyball.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minnesota–Wisconsin football rivalry</span> American college football rivalry

The Minnesota–Wisconsin football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Minnesota Golden Gophers and Wisconsin Badgers. It is the most-played rivalry in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, with 133 meetings between the two teams. It is also the longest continuously played rivalry in Division I FBS, with an uninterrupted streak of 117 games through the 2023 season. The winner of the game receives Paul Bunyan's Axe, a tradition that started in 1948 after the first trophy, the Slab of Bacon, disappeared after the 1943 game when the Badgers were supposed to turn it over to the Golden Gophers. Minnesota and Wisconsin first played in 1890 and have met every year since, except for 1906. Wisconsin leads the series 63–62–8 through 2023. Wisconsin took the series lead for the first time after defeating Minnesota 31–0 in the 2017 game; Minnesota had led the overall series since 1902, at times by as many as 20 games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Bank Stadium</span> Multi-purpose stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.

U.S. Bank Stadium is an enclosed stadium located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. Built on the former site of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, the indoor stadium opened in 2016 and is the home of the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL); it also hosts early season college baseball games of the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers.

The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. The club was originally founded in 1901 as the Washington Senators, and was one of the American League's eight original charter franchises. By 1903, peace was restored with agreements between the two rival baseball loops on player contract and represented member cities/teams, and the beginnings of a national championship series titled the World Series. In 1905, the team changed its official name to the Washington Nationals. The name "Nationals" would appear on the uniforms for only two seasons, and would then be replaced with the "W" logo for the next 52 years. The media often shortened the nickname to "Nats". Many fans and newspapers persisted in continuing using the previous "Senators" nickname. Over time, "Nationals" faded as a nickname, and "Senators" became dominant. Baseball guides would list the club's nickname as "Nationals or Senators", acknowledging the dual-nickname situation. After 61 years in the capital, in 1961, the Washington Senators relocated to the Twin Cities of Minnesota, to be called the Twins, being the first major league baseball team to use a state in its geographical identifier name rather than the traditional city; Washington would get a new incarnation of the Senators to fill the void left by the original team's move.

Robert Rice Stadium was an outdoor athletic stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah, located on the campus of the University of Utah. Originally opened in 1927 as Ute Stadium, it was the home of the Utah Utes football team. Renamed for Robert L. Rice in 1972, it was almost completely demolished after the 1997 season to make way for the Utes' current home, Rice-Eccles Stadium, which occupies the same physical footprint.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Schoonover Stadium</span> College baseball stadium in Ohio, U.S.

Olga Mural Field at Schoonover Stadium is a baseball venue located on the campus of Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, United States. It is home to the Kent State Golden Flashes baseball team, a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in Division I and the Mid-American Conference East Division. The field opened in 1966 and was previously known as Gene Michael Field from 1990 to 2003. The field was renamed in late 2003 and renovated in 2005 with additional upgrades made from 2006 through 2008 and again in 2013 to 2014. It has a seating capacity of 1,148 people with a Shaw Sports Turf synthetic playing surface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sports in Minneapolis–Saint Paul</span>

Sports in Minneapolis–Saint Paul includes a number of teams.

References

  1. Memorial Stadium Information from Gophersports.com Archived 2009-10-05 at the Wayback Machine The official athletic site of the University of Minnesota
  2. "Tartan Turf to be replaced". Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. UPI. February 18, 1977. p. 8D.
  3. Kalm L, Semba R (2005). "They starved so that others be better fed: remembering Ancel Keys and the Minnesota experiment". J Nutr. 135 (6): 1347–52. doi: 10.1093/jn/135.6.1347 . PMID   15930436.
  4. Tucker, Todd (2008). The Great Starvation Experiment: Ancel Keys and the Men Who Starved for Science. U of Minnesota Press. p. 32. ISBN   978-0-8166-5161-0.
  5. 1 2 3 Brackin, Dennis - [Memorial Stadium: An unfair end? "Archived copy". Star Tribune . Archived from the original on 2009-09-09. Retrieved 2009-09-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)] Star Tribune, September 2, 2009
  6. Wood, Bob (August 1989). Big Ten Country: A Journey Through One Football Season . William Morrow & Co. ISBN   0-688-08922-4.
Events and tenants
Preceded by Host of the
Minnesota Gophers

1924 1981
Succeeded by