Sanford Stadium

Sanford Stadium
Between the Hedges
Facility statistics
Location	Sanford Drive on Reed Street Athens, Georgia 30602
Broke ground	1927
Opened	1929
Revovated	{{{renovated}}}
Expanded	{{{expanded}}}
Closed	Open
Demolished	N/A
Owner	University of Georgia
Operator	University of Georgia
Surface	Natural Grass
Construction cost	$360,000 USD
Architect	TC Atwood
Former names
None
Tenants
Georgia Bulldogs (NCAA) (1929-Present)
Seating capacity
92,746

Sanford Stadium is the on-campus playing venue for football at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. The 92,746 seat stadium is the fifth largest on-campus stadium in the NCAA. The stadium is notable for its well-planned harmonious expansions over its long history. Games played there are described as being "Between the Hedges" for the hedges that have marked the field since its opening day in 1929.

History

An early major force behind UGA athletics, the stadium's namesake, Dr. Steadman Vincent Sanford, arrived at the university as an English professor in 1903. He would become the faculty representative to athletics committee and would eventually become chancellor of University of Georgia system. In 1911, he moved the university's football venue from its first location, Herty Field, to a location at the center of campus which was named Sanford Field in his honor.

In those early years of football, Georgia played a series of controversial games against its natural in-state rival Georgia Tech. Tech's Grant Field in Atlanta held thousands of spectators and Georgia was forced to play those match-ups almost exclusively at Tech's stadium. Sanford wanted Georgia to have a venue that would equal Tech's but the final straw came in 1927 when UGA's undefeated (9-0) team traveled to Tech and lost 12-0. It was alleged that Tech watered the field all night to slow UGA's running backs. Afterwards, Sanford vowed to "build a stadium bigger than Tech" and play the game at Athens every other year.

To fund his vision, he had an idea that members of the athletic association would sign notes guaranteeing a bank loan to fund the stadium construction. Those guarantors would be granted lifetime seats. The response was overwhelming and in 1928, a loan of $150,000 supported by fans and alumni allowed construction to begin on a stadium whose total cost was $360,000.

Near the existing Sanford Field was a low area between the Old Campus (north) and the Ag Campus with a small creek running through it that would was an obvious choice for a new stadium. The natural valley containing Tanyard Creek would result in reduced costs as stands could be built on the rising sides while the creek was enclosed in a concrete culvert on top of which the field would be constructed. The architect for the stadium was TC Atwood of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where North Carolina's Kenan Stadium had just been completed with much the same design. The 30,000 seat stadium was built in large part with convict labor as were many public works projects of that era. The fabled 'hedges' were there at the stadium's opening, inspired by the UGA athletic department's business manager Charlie Morton's visit to the Rose Bowl where he saw the hedge of roses in that stadium. Roses were not a suitable choice for the location, so a regular hedge was used instead.

UGA convinced longtime football opponent Yale to be their first opponent (Yale's first trip to Athens and in fact, the South) in the new stadium. On Oct. 12 1929, a capacity crowd paid $3.00 per ticket to watch the Georgia Bulldogs under coach Harry Mear beat Yale, 15-0, in the opening of Sanford Stadium. Yale donated its half of the game receipts to UGA to help pay off the construction loans which would be completely repaid in just five years. In 1940, field-level lights were added and Georgia played its first night game against Kentucky to a 7-7 tie. Dr. Sanford died September 15, 1945.

During the 1960s, many universities in the South were expanding their stadiums. Soon after the arrival of head coach Vince Dooley, UGA began updating Sanford Stadium, removing the view-blocking field-side light poles and adding end-zone seating. Architects Heery and Heery of Atlanta were hired to plan an expansion. Expansion would be difficult given nearby academic buildlings which led to the addition of upper decks. The first major addition included a new pressbox as well as club-seating as part of the new upper decks that added 19,640 seats at a cost of $3,000,000. The new addition was christened with a victory over Mississippi State in 1967.

In the 1970s, fans began watching Georgia games from the railroad tracks that overlooked the stadium's open east endzone. These "Track People" would be a tradition until the 1981 when an $11,500,000 expansion would enclose the east endzone eliminating the free viewing of games from the tracks and adding 19,000 seats. Thirty luxury suites were added above the south stands in 1994 raising the capacity to over 86,000.

The stadium played host to the first-ever Olympic medal competition of women's soccer at the 1996 Summer Olympics. In order to accommodate the larger playing field, the beloved hedges surrounding the field needed to be removed. It was determined the hedges were already in poor condition and cuttings were taken to be cultivated off-site for three years prior to the Olympics. The United States team would eventually win the first Olympic gold medal in women's soccer at the hedge-less stadium.

The replacement hedges would be practically destroyed on October 7, 2000 by Georgia's own fans after the team beat rival Tennessee, the first win against the hated Volunteers since 1989. This date also marks the only time that the goalposts were ripped down in UGA football history.

Additional expansions of 5,500 seats in 2003 and 688 seats in additional north-side suites in 2004 brought the stadium to its current capacity.

Miscellaneous

One unique attribute of Sanford Stadium is Georgia's deceased live mascots (UGAs I-V, all descendants of the original white english bulldog) are actually buried or entombed within the stadium's east end zone.

Sanford Stadium is also one of the few college stadiums in which the football field is oriented to face East-West as opposed to North-South. Many of UGA's opponents have found it difficult for players to see as the West Endzone is still open and the sun shines in the faces of the players, although both teams face the sun during the game.

External link

Official UGA Athletics page for Sanford Stadium