Colorado Field was an outdoor

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

stadium in the

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, on the campus of

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

Fort Collins, Colorado Fort Collins is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Larimer County, Colorado Larimer County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 359 ...

. Opened in 1912, it was the home of the CSU Rams of the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

(WAC) through 1967. Constructed entirely by the students and faculty in 1912, Colorado Field was the first football field in the state of Colorado to have grass

sod Sod, also known as turf, is the upper layer of soil with the grass growing on it that is often harvested into rolls. In Australian and British English, sod is more commonly known as ''turf'', and the word "sod" is limited mainly to agricult ...

on the playing surface. Located at the corner of College Avenue and University Avenue, it was part of an athletic complex which included the field's cinder running track, an additional football practice field, a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

field, volleyball courts, a basketball court, and a locker room facility. It replaced frequently muddy Durkee Field to the north, the site of the

Glenn Morris Glenn Edgar Morris (June 18, 1912 – January 31, 1974) was a U.S. track and field athlete. He won a gold medal in the Olympic decathlon in 1936, setting new world and Olympic records. He attended Colorado A&M — now known as Colorado Sta ...

Field House. The Colorado Aggies won nine conference championships here between

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 ...

and

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

, with players such as Ralph "Sag" Robinson, Kenny Hyde,

Julius Wagner Julius Frank "Hans" Wagner (May 1, 1905 – August 29, 1960) was an American football and wrestling coach. He served as the head football coach at Colorado State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts—now known as Colorado State University� ...

, Thurman "Fum" McGraw,

Jack Christiansen John LeRoy Christiansen (December 20, 1928 – June 29, 1986) was an American professional football player who became a college and pro coach. He played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for the Detroit Lions as a safety an ...

Gary Glick Gary Galen Glick (May 14, 1930 – February 11, 2015) was a professional American football safety who played six seasons in the National Football League before he concluded his career in the American Football League for one season. He was the num ...

, and Oscar Reed. The football field had a conventional north-south alignment, at an approximate

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of above sea level. Lights were added in 1948 for night games, but demand grew for an updated and larger stadium; Colorado Field's last season was in 1967, replaced by Hughes Stadium in 1968. Torn down in 1972, it had a rebirth in 1986 as "Jack Christiansen Track," the home of the CSU track and field team.

Capacity

* 1912–1920: 1,000 steel bleachers and temporary bleachers as needed * 1921–1924: 5,400 seat wooden grandstand and 2,000 temporary wooden bleachers * 1925–1929: 7,500 permanent seats * 1929–1947: 10,000 * 1948–1967: 14,000 maximum capacity with temporary bleachers in the end zones

References

{{Colorado State Rams football navbox Defunct college football venues Colorado State Rams football American football venues in Colorado Sports venues demolished in 1972 Demolished sports venues in Colorado Colorado State Rams baseball