Stadium History
The stadium was originally named Smith Stadium in honor of Charlie Smith, the longtime San Diego State head baseball coach; the playing field is still called Smith Field. The stadium was extensively renovated and rebuilt in 1997 at a cost of $4 million dollars, funded mainly out of the pocket of John Moores, then owner of the San Diego Padres. The renovated stadium was named in honor of Tony Gwynn, a Hall of Fame superstar for the Padres. As an undergraduate Gwynn played both baseball and basketball for the SDSU Aztecs. He became SDSU's head baseball coach after he retired from the Padres.
Read more about this topic: Tony Gwynn Stadium
Famous quotes containing the words stadium and/or history:
“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)
“... that there is no other way,
That the history of creation proceeds according to
Stringent laws, and that things
Do get done in this way, but never the things
We set out to accomplish and wanted so desperately
To see come into being.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)