One Stadium, Three Names
The name of the playing surface has remained "Florida Field" since the stadium's original construction in 1930. The university renamed the stadium, but not the playing surface, in honor of citrus magnate Ben Hill Griffin, Jr., an alumnus and major benefactor of the university and its sports programs, in 1989.
In the early 1990s, in describing Florida's home-field advantage, then-coach Steve Spurrier noted that ". . . a swamp is where Gators live. We feel comfortable there, but we hope our opponents feel tentative. A swamp is hot and sticky and can be dangerous. Only Gators get out alive." Ben Hill Griffin Stadium has been commonly known as "The Swamp" ever since.
Read more about this topic: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
Famous quotes containing the word names:
““Well then, it’s Granny speaking: ‘I dunnow!
Mebbe I’m wrong to take it as I do.
There ain’t no names quite like the old ones, though,
Nor never will be to my way of thinking.
One mustn’t bear too hard on the newcomers,
But there’s a dite too many of them for comfort....’””
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)