J. Birney Crum Stadium is a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy tha ...

Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The city has a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 United ...

. It is the largest high school stadium in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and the 14th largest in the nation with a capacity of 15,000. The stadium serves as the home

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

field for each of Allentown's three high schools:

William Allen High School William Allen High School is one of two large, urban public high schools of the Allentown School District in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The school provides public education for grades 9 through 12. William Allen High School is located at 106 North 17 ...

Louis E. Dieruff High School Louis E. Dieruff High School, typically referred to as Dieruff High School, is a large, urban public high school in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It is located at 815 North Irving Street in Allentown. The school serves students in grades nine through 12 ...

, and

Allentown Central Catholic High School Allentown Central Catholic High School (ACCHS) is a private, parochial school located at 301 North Fourth Street in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown, ACCHS predominantly serves students from the Lehigh ...

, each of which compete in the

Eastern Pennsylvania Conference The Eastern Pennsylvania Conference (known informally as EPC, EPC18 and East Penn Conference) is an athletic conference consisting of 18 large high schools from Lehigh, Monroe, Northampton, and Pike counties in the Lehigh Valley and Pocono M ...

, one of the premiere high school athletic conferences in the nation.

History

1948 - Helicopter Landing At ASD Stadium - Allentown PA

The stadium opened in 1948 as Allentown High School Stadium. It was alternately referred to as Allentown School District StadiumSmith, Gordon
"Stoners go after ASL championship"
Allentown Morning Call, September 18, 1980. and ASD Stadium until being renamed in 1982 in honor of J. Birney Crum, a football,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, and

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 ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

at Allentown High School (present-day

), who was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1974. The stadium was renovated in 2002 and FieldTurf was installed to replace the original natural grass surface. The stadium is also the home high school playing field for numerous

football players who went on to careers in the NFL, including

Ed McCaffrey Edward Thomas McCaffrey, Jr. (born August 17, 1968) is an American football coach and former wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for thirteen seasons. McCaffrey played college football for Stanford University and earn ...

of the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

and

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

, Andre Reed of the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

and

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

Tony Stewart Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed Smoke, is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, current NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, and current co-owner of the Superstar Racing Experience. He is a ...

of the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

and

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

, and others. The stadium hosts a large

Fourth of July Independence Day (colloquially the Fourth of July) is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing the United States ...

fireworks display that typically draws tens of thousands of spectators. Crum is a

marching arts The marching arts are a collection of fine arts related activities that are closely associated with wind music. The marching arts include, but are not necessarily limited to marching band, drum corps, pep band, color guard, winter guard, and ind ...

performance venue. The stadium hosts the annual

Drum Corps International Drum Corps International (DCI) is a governing body for junior drum and bugle corps responsible for developing and enforcing rules of competition, and for providing standardized adjudication at sanctioned drum and bugle corps competitions througho ...

Eastern Classic. Formerly the DCI East Championships, this event hosts all of DCI's World Class Drum and Bugle Corps the weekend before its world championships, which are held in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

. The stadium hosts the

Collegiate Marching Band Festival The Collegiate Marching Band Festival, also called the CMBF, is an annual event held in Allentown, Pennsylvania, which showcases college and university marching bands of all sizes and styles from across the Northeastern United States. First held i ...

, held in late September or early October and showcases college and university marching bands of all sizes and styles from across the Mid-Atlantic and

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...

. Crum also is the site of the USBands A Class National Championships, featuring performances of high school

marching band A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. Most marching bands wear a uniform, ofte ...

s each November. The stadium is owned by the

Allentown School District The Allentown School District is a large, urban public school district located in Allentown, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The district is the fourth largest school district in Pennsylvania as of the 20 ...

References

External links

"Six things you might not know about J. Birney Stadium"
video {{authority control 1948 establishments in Pennsylvania American football venues in Pennsylvania Defunct National Premier Soccer League stadiums High school football venues in the United States Multi-purpose stadiums in the United States Soccer venues in Pennsylvania Sports venues completed in 1948 Sports venues in Allentown, Pennsylvania