Early History
The first game played at the current stadium site was in 1923, with the Sooners prevailing over Washington University 62–7. When 16,000 permanent seats were built on the west side of the site in 1925, the new stadium was named Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in honor of university students and personnel that died during World War I. The facility was constructed at an approximate cost of $293,000, and coach Bennie Owen himself helped raise the money. To honor Owen, the playing surface was named Owen Field during the 1920s. (The stadium is popularly called Owen Field, but in actuality the field and the stadium are two separate objects with two separate names. The tongue twistingly awkward formal reference is to say that a game is played in Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium at Owen Field).
There are two main reasons why the stadium is not a fully enclosed "bowl" like, for example, Michigan Stadium or the Rose Bowl. First, access to the three outdoor football practice fields, which are behind the south end zone seats, would have been restricted by completely enclosing the south end of the stadium. Secondly, any enclosure would have forced the baseball field, which shared its outfield with the practice fields until 1982, to shorten its left field line considerably.
More permanent seating was added, this time to the east side, in 1929. In 1949, the north end of the stadium was enclosed, the playing area was lowered six feet, and a running track was added around the field. The stadium capacity when completed was 55,000 and the addition of south end bleachers in 1957 brought capacity to just under 61,836 fans. AstroTurf replaced the natural grass field in 1970. The west side upper deck was added in 1975, featuring a lounge and a new press box, for a total capacity of 71,187 fans at a cost of about $5.7 million. Improved south end zone seating, including new coaches offices and training facilities, was added in 1980 and the old turf was replaced with Superturf in 1981. With a few exceptions, these changes took place during or shortly after the Sooners' national championship seasons of 1950, 1955, 1956, 1974, and 1975 – all high times for Sooner sports.
Read more about this topic: Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
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