Milton Frank Stadium is a 12,000-seat

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 ...

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in t ...

. It was used for

Alabama A&M Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (Alabama A&M) is a public historically black land-grant university in Normal, Huntsville, Alabama. Founded in 1875, it took its present name in 1969. AAMU is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshal ...

football games before the creation of

Louis Crews Stadium Louis Crews Stadium is a 21,000-seat multi-purpose stadium located on the campus of Alabama A&M University in Normal, Alabama. The stadium opened in 1996 and is home to the Alabama A&M football team. It was named in honor of Louis Crews, who serv ...

. It is currently used mainly for

Huntsville City Schools Huntsville City Schools is the school district serving Huntsville, Alabama. As of the 2016–17 school year, the system had 24,083 students and employed 1,697 teachers. The district oversees 36 schools: 21 PreK-elementary schools, 6 middle school ...

high school and middle school

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 ...

and

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

games and

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

meets. Construction began in 1949 and the stadium was opened in

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

as Huntsville Stadium. It was soon renamed Milton Frank Stadium in honor of Milton Frank, the long-time football coach and athletic director of Huntsville High School and chairman of Huntsville City School Board of Education. In the 1990s, the grass field was replaced with

artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commer ...

and a new track replaced the original asphalt track. Milton Frank Stadium was the home of the

Alabama Hawks The Alabama Hawks were a professional American football team based in Huntsville, Alabama. They were members of various minor league football circuits in the 1960s: the Southern Football League (1963–64); the North American Football League ...

of the

Continental Football League The Continental Football League (COFL) was a professional American football minor league that operated in North America from 1965 through 1969. It was established following the collapse of the original United Football League, and hoped to beco ...

during the team's two years of affiliation with that league in 1968–1969. Since 2008, the stadium has been the home field for the

Tennessee Valley Tigers The Huntsville Tigers is a women's American football team located in Huntsville, Alabama. The Tigers played their first season of full-contact football in the spring of 2012. This was the Tigers' first season as a new team. The team consists of fo ...

, a women's

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team currently in the

Women's Spring Football League The United States Women's Football League (USWFL) is a full-contact women's American football minor league that opened with exhibition play in 2010 and subsequently played its first regular season in 2011.https://www.uswfl.net/copy-of-schedule-n ...

. John Stanley Welzyn was the

public address A public address system (or PA system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound sou ...

announcer during high school games at the stadium from 1964 until retiring in 1996. During his tenure, Welzyn also announced

pro football and

Alabama A&M Bulldogs The Alabama A&M Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs are the athletic teams that represent Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University. The program features 15 varsity sports teams. They participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Div ...

college football games. Welzyn died in 1999 at the age of 66.

Special Olympics Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 1 ...

competitions for the

Madison County, Alabama Madison County is located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 388,153, making it the third-most populous county in Alabama. Its county seat is Huntsville. Since the mid-20th centu ...

, area are held each year at the stadium. In November 2011, the Huntsville City Schools announced that a contract valued at $1.6 million was signed with Goldmon Matheny Architects to renovate the stadium. Upgrades included new stadium entrances, new fences, new gates, new

scoreboard A scoreboard is a large board for publicly displaying the score in a game. Most levels of sport from high school and above use at least one scoreboard for keeping score, measuring time, and displaying statistics. Scoreboards in the past used ...

s, plus the demolition of the existing restrooms and locker rooms under both grandstands then construction of new locker rooms, restrooms, and concession areas to replace them.

References

{{Alabama A&M Bulldogs football navbox Sports venues in Huntsville, Alabama High school football venues in the United States Huntsville-Decatur, AL Combined Statistical Area Multi-purpose stadiums in the United States Continental Football League American football venues in Alabama 1962 establishments in Alabama Sports venues completed in 1962 Soccer venues in Alabama Athletics (track and field) venues in Alabama Alabama A&M Bulldogs football