Down she goes.

[Palatine]

 

[WestHartHusk]

Thanks for the pics! ignoring the conference bs this really is an exciting time to be a uconn student / alumni / fan.

 

[UConnDan97]

At least they're demolishing the visitor's section first!! Had some good memories on that field...

 

[Dann]

linky

 

[businesslawyer]

I saw the headline and your picture is not what I had in mind. Sigh.

 

[epark88]

Mixed emotions - I personally left a ton of hard work and sweat on that field as a UCMB member.

Sad to see it go, but happy that progress towards a basketball facility is finally(!) being made...

 

[JaYnYcE]

Bittersweet, my first college football game was at Memorial.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Played many of night time tackle football games in the snow on that field. Even got chased off by Tom Jackson once.

 

[ktuck911]

oh man... Miss those days 20 plus years ago... Looks like their starting with the easy stuff first... Plenty of concrete to dismantle on the home team side.... New beginnings in Storrs, CT...

 

[coachcap]

Still miss the view from Row 50 in Section C

 

[whaler11]

At least they're demolishing the visitor's section first!! Had some good memories on that field...

Uh yeah that was the home side at the end.

 

[whaler11]

Played many of night time tackle football games in the snow on that field. Even got chased off by Tom Jackson once.

He probably was trying to recruit you.

 

[dsturdy5]

Agree with others. My first college football game was a night game in the fall of 97 at Memorial as a freshman. I remember a game in the snow against a very good Hofstra team in 98 (?). Fantastic atmosphere as we were standing in the end zone at the track end of the field for that one. My last game was against Temple in 02. Fell in love with TC and Deon Anderson that afternoon...

 

[Uconnalliance]

Ahh those bleachers! Place was the best hidden bar ever.

 

[whaler11]

Ahh those bleachers! Place was the best hidden bar ever.

We didn't even hide it.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Kind of wish they were constructing a nice 16k Basketball area (like the ones on Maryland or Virginia's campuses). Then convert Gampel to a practice facility.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

I remember the playing field for Women's Field Hockey were located behind those stands.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Here's a photo from the Courant. View from the grandstand in 1980. I remember the first time driving up over the hill on 195 coming off of I-84, about 5 miles from campus, you could see a brand new and shiny Gampel dome, and everybody and their mother complained what an eyesore it was for a long time.

We owe everything we are as a university right now, so different from from our former university partners in the northeast, because of the big east conference and Jim Calhoun's successful installment of the will to win and be the best into the leadership at the university.

Otherwise, we'd probably still be playing Maine, UNH, URI, Richmond, Delaware, Villanova, etc.....right there on that same field.

 

[fortebleedsblue]

They might regret tearing it down after all this conference realignment crap is said and done. It'd make a great venue for home games in our downgraded football conference.

Uconn home games vs.

Rhode Island (opener)
Ucf
Temple
Buffalo (OOC)
Memphis

 

[Palatine]

I remember the playing field for Women's Field Hockey were located behind those stands.

I remember when an apple orchard was behind the grandstand.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

I remember when an apple orchard was behind the grandstand.

yep, and the apple sales room/building was close by, next to McMahon?

 

[jdb50]

The rugby field was across the street where there is an upside down concrete tower now behind the Business building. Didn't Tom Jackson hate freebe hill? Lost revenue was most likely the driver but the partying also contributed to efforts to eliminate that area as a viewing option. The playoff game against Hampton was the moment that made me think we could play at a higher level and there was no reason we shouldn't be. Watching the team warm up that day, they were on a mission, great weather for football, not a sellout but a game that had meaning and was a sign of things to come.

 

[Adios]

Three letters have been taken off the press box. Memories have been preserved. Can someone get one of those and sell me one??

 

[cohenzone]

Spent two years in the UCMB doing the pre-game prance onto that always windy field. In another thread, I mentioned being caught by security on an early morning with 4 other guys as we hung a big political banner for our Student Senate campaign at the top of the stadium. Great memories.

When I was in school, the orchard was there behind the stadium and the baseball field and the soccer field were across the street with open tennis courts beyond them and Hawley Armory beyond that. The ice rink was brand new and was a big freezing hike from the Towers where I lived. The "new" library at the time was an addition to the real old Wilbur Cross library and where the Material Science building is beyond Jorgensen Auditorium was a big parking lot. That's why in those days hanging a sign atop Memorial Stadium worked because the top of the stadium could be seen pretty clearly from a pretty good chunk of the campus.

 

[Excalibur]

Here's a photo from the Courant. View from the grandstand in 1980.



View attachment 836

We need a side by side of the view then vs. now.