McGee Field/Harris Stadium (officially Benjamin Humphreys McGee Field at Eugene O. Harris Stadium) located in

Sewanee, Tennessee Sewanee () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Franklin County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 2,535 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Tullahoma, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area. Sewanee is best known as the home of ...

is the home of the

Sewanee Tigers The University of the South, familiarly known as Sewanee (), is a private Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Sewanee, Tennessee. It is owned by 28 Province 4 of the Epis ...

football and lacrosse teams. It was dedicated as McGee Field at

homecoming Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni or other former members of an organization to celebrate the organization's existence. It is a tradition in many high schools, colleges, and churches in the United States, Canada and Liberia. ...

on October 22, 1977. Before then the stadium was known as Hardee Field, named for Lt. General William J. Hardee of the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...

. Thus sometimes the field is also called Hardee-McGee Field. McGee Field is the oldest stadium in the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

still in use.

Benjamin Humphreys McGee

McGee was a

Greenville, Mississippi Greenville is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 34,400 at the 2010 census. It is located in the area of historic cotton plantations and culture known as the Mississippi Delta. Hi ...

native and 1949 graduate of Sewanee, known as "Ug."

Eugene O. Harris

The stadium was dedicated to Harris in November 1957.

History

McGee Field dates back to the first instance of the

Sewanee–Vanderbilt football rivalry The Sewanee–Vanderbilt football rivalry was an American college football rivalry between the Sewanee Tigers and Vanderbilt Commodores. They were both founding members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA), the Southern Co ...

on November 7, 1891, and is the oldest in the south and the fourth oldest in the nation.Williamson, S. and Smith, G. ''Yea, Sewanee's Right'', p. 62, Published by the University of the South, 2011, That day in '91 saw Sewanee's first ever football game and Vanderbilt's second. The Commodores won 22 to 0. Just eleven years before,

Stoll Field Stoll Field/McLean Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. It was the home of the University of Kentucky Wildcats football team. The field has been in use since 1880, but the concrete stands were opened in Oc ...

at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

saw the South's first football game. For twenty years (1894-1913) Sewanee did not lose a game played "on the mountain." Perhaps the first big event happened in 1897 when Sewanee held

John Heisman John William Heisman (October 23, 1869 – October 3, 1936) was a player and coach of American football, baseball, and basketball, as well as a sportswriter and actor. He served as the head football coach at Oberlin College, Buchtel College ...

Auburn Tigers The Auburn Tigers are the athletic teams representing Auburn University, a public four-year coeducational university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. The Auburn Tigers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

to a scoreless tie on McGee Field.

References

College football venues Sewanee Tigers football American football venues in Tennessee Buildings and structures in Franklin County, Tennessee 1891 establishments in Tennessee Sports venues completed in 1891 {{Tennessee-sports-venue-stub