Joe Albi Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium in Spokane, Washington. Primarily used for football, it is located in the northwest part of the city, just east of the Spokane River. It opened in 1950 as "Memorial Stadium," with a natural grass field, cinder running track, and a seating capacity of 25,000. In 1962 it was renamed for Joe Albi, a renowned local sports booster who led the efforts to construct it.
AstroTurf was first installed in 1970, and after several replacements was changed to infilled FieldTurf in 2006. The stadium has a current seating capacity of 28,646, and the playing field runs in the traditional north-south configuration at an elevation of 1890 feet (576 m) above sea level.
Over the years it has hosted various events (including Elvis Presley in 1957) and teams, most notably the Washington State Cougars of the Pac-10, who played several games per season at the stadium for more than three decades. On the professional level, the Seattle Seahawks of the NFL played their second preseason game in franchise history at Joe Albi on August 7, 1976, losing 27-16 to the Chicago Bears.
Read more about Joe Albi Stadium: Washington State Cougars, Idaho Vandals, Eastern Washington Eagles, Current Developments, Joe Albi Stadium Summer Classic
Famous quotes containing the words joe and/or stadium:
“While we were thus engaged in the twilight, we heard faintly, from far down the stream, what sounded like two strokes of a woodchopper’s axe, echoing dully through the grim solitude.... When we told Joe of this, he exclaimed, “By George, I’ll bet that was a moose! They make a noise like that.” These sounds affected us strangely, and by their very resemblance to a familiar one, where they probably had so different an origin, enhanced the impression of solitude and wildness.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It’s no accident that of all the monuments left of the Greco- Roman culture the biggest is the ballpark, the Colosseum, the Yankee Stadium of ancient times.”
—Walter Wellesley (Red)