Across the state, prep football facilities have long served as community gathering points on autumn weekends. Here are some stories of how they became ‘The Place To Be’

f you build it, will they come? These athletic facilities are part of the seating purposes and finally the crowd Spectators and sportswriters at every pageantry that makes the prep game as overflowed onto the field, making play diffi- Ilevel often romanticize the sports sta- thrilling as any professional or college ath- cult.” dium. In Chicago, hope springs eternal for letic event. Memories are cast in these As a result, a number of businessmen Cubs fans, as they reunite within the cozy surroundings. from the city took it upon themselves to confines of Wrigley Field. Red Wings faith- Reinforced concrete stadiums from as plan construction of an athletic stadium to ful treasure winter nights at “The Joe.” early as the 1920s, and Works Progress handle the growing crowds. Ten months University of Michigan fans and school offi- Administration (WPA) projects from the later, they proudly unveiled the result of cials, numbering 110,000-plus, celebrate 1930s and 1940s survive and thrive in their efforts: a $45,000 structure featuring being part of “the largest crowd attending a Michigan. For many fans, these classic two stands of solid concrete with 16 rows of college football game in America,” at every designs offer features not found in modern seats for 7,100 fans. At the time, the capac- home date at Michigan Stadium in Ann multi-use facilities. Talk to a Muskegon High ity ranked third in the state, behind the facil- Arbor. Passionate battles have been waged School aficionado about the band's ities of the University of Michigan and to save various sports cathedrals like Tiger postgame march through the “tunnel” fol- Michigan State University Stadium and Chicago Stadium over the lowing a home game at Hackley Stadium, The facility was unveiled to the public years. or a Fordson follower about the old stadium on Saturday, Sept. 26, 1925, for a gridiron At the high school level in Michigan, in Dearborn. Quickly, you understand how contest between Bay City Central and similar feelings permeate the air on Friday the gridiron experience can differ. But what Detroit Western. A crowd of 3,000 gathered nights. From aluminum bleachers located created the need for such memorials to ath- for the season opener, won by Central, 14- on the edge of town to brick-and-mortar letic achievement? 0. architectural marvels in the city, the facili- Throughout the 1920s the popularity of Elaborate dedication ceremonies were ties come in all shapes and the gridiron game grew exponentially. The planned for the Saginaw Arthur Hill contest sizes. rapid rise in interest was reflected through- late in the season, but heavy rains forced out popular culture. Football was featured cancellation of the event. in literature, in movies, and in song. Along The ceremony was rescheduled for with the popularity came large masses of Thanksgiving Day against Pontiac Central, football fans, quickly taxing the existing ath- allowing many of the local businessmen letic facilities who had helped with the planning, financ- At the prep level in Michigan, the first ing and creation of the stadium to attend city to act on the need for a larger facility the event. Stands were decorated in the was Bay City. Attendance at the 1924 sea- school colors of purple and white, and a son-ending game between Bay City Central large speaker system was erected on the and Flint Central – the outcome of which site to allow fans to listen to the speeches determined the Saginaw Valley champi- of the guests of honor. onship and the mythical state title – over- Over 75 years later, the results of that whelmed Bay City's athletic field. fund raising drive are still on display. Re- Attendance was expected to reach 1,500 christened Elmer Engel Stadium on Sept. fans; instead an estimated crowd of 23, 1973, in honor of the school's longtime 10,000 arrived. football mentor, over a million dollars have “The crowd that turned out for that flowed into repair, renovation, and restora- game is well remembered,” reported tion of the facility. The results are indeed the Bay City Times Tribune one year impressive. later, “as is the trouble that was In Jackson, high school officials opened experienced in seating them. a new high school and athletic complex in Thousands of people were dis- the fall of 1927. Built at a cost of $100,000, couraged over conditions – there Withington Stadium opened for gridiron use was but one small bleacher for on Sept. 24 as Jackson faced Hastings.

New prep stadiums such as Dearborn Fordson’s (left) were constructed at a rapid rate in the 1920s, as football’s popularity grew. Hackley Field in Muskegon (opposite) was the site of this 1927 gridiron tilt, and has been home to the Muskegon Big Reds ever since. Bay City’s facil- ity (right), renamed Engel Stadium in 1973, was the largest prep stadium in the state when it opened in 1925.

Named in honor of the Withington family, “the director of finances for ath- descendants of Jackson's Civil War hero, letics pulled out his pocket knife William Herbert Withington and donors of and pushed the blade completely the property upon which the facility is built, into one of the wooden beams the facility utilizes a classic horseshoe supporting the bleachers. 'Dry design. Featuring locker rooms for players, rot,' he said. They would fall a ticket window, and an arched main down if they had to support entrance, the stadium was said to have a another season.” seating capacity of 10,000. A plan to replace the bleach- Two weeks later in the dedication con- ers was publicly announced fol- test played on Oct. 8, Jackson downed lowing the 1926 season at the Detroit Central, 43-7, before a crowd of football team's annual banquet in 1970s due to its deteriorating condition. 6,500 who had gathered for a pregame December. Students from the classes of Keyworth Stadium in Hamtramck was ceremony 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1930 were asked to the first WPA project – a massive employ- After numerous renovations spanning undertake the job of selling the bonds to ment relief program launched in the spring 75 years, Withington still plays host to clas- the public. of 1935 as part of President Franklin sic contests. Lights were added in 1931, “Principal John Craig talked to us Delano Roosevelt's New Deal – completed and after years of debate, AstroTurf was Thursday night after practice,” remembered in the Detroit area. Named after Dr. Maurice installed in 1980 as part of a $2.5 million Gont Miller, captain of the 1929 Big Reds. Keyworth, longtime Superintendent of renovation. The refurbished facility was He said, 'We're going to ask you to get out Schools in the Hamtramck district, con- christened in early September with a game and sell some bonds.' People really sup- struction began in May 1935, and was com- between Jackson Parkside and Portage ported Big Red football. We sold all the pleted in time for the football season. FDR Northern, and rededicated before 2,000 bonds, and they built the stadium. It was himself attended the gala dedication cere- spectators in November of 1980. Since quite an experience for a kid.” mony on Oct. 15, 1936. Since that time, the that time, the site has hosted numerous Work started on June 15, 1927, and facility has hosted a number of events, MHSAA playoff games. was completed in time for the first game including a performance by the legendary The 1920s represent a period of grid- against Muskegon Heights on Saturday, comedy team of Abbott and Costello on iron dominance for Muskegon High School. Sept. 17, an 89-0 win that began a 10-0 August 17, 1942. The show was staged for During the seven-year span 1920-26, season and another mythical state title. area residents who purchased at least $1 Muskegon won or shared the mythical state According to the files of Osborn in bonds to support the World War II effort. championship four times. The success of Engineering, the concrete structure was A renovation of the facility, including the the Big Reds, and the resulting demand for completed in 24 days, July 20 to August 12. installation of a new synthetic field was tickets brought to light the need for a new On Nov. 17, 1928, Muskegon shared in completed in 1999. facility. It became apparent that the old the opening of another grand structure, this Wisner Stadium in Pontiac and wooden stands at Hackley Field needed one in Dearborn. Located on the north side Memorial Stadium in Port Huron, built in attention. of Fordson High School, the concrete struc- 1948 to honor the 161 members of the Port “We walked out to the bleachers at the ture seated 5,000 and was designed to Huron community who gave their lives in football field” recalled former Muskegon mimic the high school's English 16th World War II, are two outstanding examples head coach C. Leo Redmond years later, Century Renaissance architecture. It fea- of the intimacy provided by football-only tured electric heat and facilities. Flint's Atwood Stadium, built in lighting in the press box the 1930s, and Houseman Field in Grand and outside telephone Rapids are treasured examples of multi- service. The arcade at purpose facilities utilized by numerous street level, which includ- schools in their respective communities. All ed steam-heated locker these facilities have hosted huge crowds for rooms for both teams classic confrontations over the years, and space for conces- including many MHSAA postseason grid- sion sales, could be iron battles that have led teams to today’s closed with iron gates at venue, the Pontiac Silverdome. each arch. Sadly, the sta- dium was removed in the — Ron Pesch

photo courtesy of Port Huron High School Port Huron’s Memorial Stadium (above) opened Sept. 17, 1948 with the Port Huron - East Detroit football clash, and it still serves as home to Port Huron and Port Huron Northern today.

At right, workers at Flint’s Atwood Stadium begin to lay AstroTurf on the stadium floor in 1968, just four years after the Houston Astrodome was the first to employ such a sur- face. Atwood became just the third outdoor stadium in the country to install AstroTurf.