History
Veterans Stadium opened in 1948, and was owned by the City of Long Beach for a number of decades. The City of Long Beach used the stadium as a temporary location for Fire Station 19 (which is now located on Clark Ave., near the stadium). The fire station was housed at the south end of the stadium under the bleacher area. You can still see the large door that was installed for the fire engine to exit. The actual "station", or living quarters area, is now used as an office for the stadium personnel.
In 1987, Long Beach City College acquired Veterans Stadium from the City of Long Beach, and in the 1990s, the college upgraded the stadium for use by the football teams of local area high schools. One of the most memorable football contests held at the stadium involved Long Beach Polytechnic High School and Lakewood High School, drawing over 11,500 spectators and regional television coverage.
Probably the most historically notable football contest at this stadium involved a completely different code—rugby league. In 1987, after the three regular matches in the Australian State of Origin series between Queensland and New South Wales, the two teams went to Long Beach for a fourth match, drawing an announced crowd of 12,439 to see New South Wales win 30–18. The canonicity of the match has been in dispute ever since, with sources in New South Wales, including the Australian Rugby League, counting the match result in official series records and sources in Queensland counting the match for individual player statistics but ignoring it for purposes of team records.
In 2004, Veterans Stadium received another upgrade. A new SprinTurf playing surface replaced the old playing surface in time for the 2004 football season.
Veterans Stadium is the home stadium to the Los Alamitos High School Griffins.
Read more about this topic: Veterans Memorial Stadium (Long Beach)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more”
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—D.H. (David Herbert)