Rotary Field is a field and former athletics stadium in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, on the South Campus of the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

. It was the home field for the Buffalo Bulls football teams from 1920 to 1942, and again from 1955 to 1984. The field at Bailey Avenue and Winspear Avenue, on the southeastern corner of UB's South Campus, opened with UB's season opener against

Thiel College Thiel College (, ) is a private college in Greenville, Pennsylvania. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is one of the smallest colleges or universities in the region with about 100 full-time and part time faculty ...

on October 9, 1920. The field was initially known simply as University of Buffalo Field, until the Buffalo chapter of

Rotary International Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, prof ...

donated $250,000 "for the creation of a proper athletic field or stadium, and that the same shall be known as Rotary Field." Construction of bleachers with a capacity of 7,500 at Rotary Field was completed in time for the next year's season opener, another Buffalo-Thiel game, on October 8, 1921. Rotary Field continued to serve as the Bulls' home field until 1942, when the program was suspended because of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. When the University of Buffalo resumed intercollegiate athletics in 1946, home games were played at Civic Stadium, the home of the NCAA's

Canisius Golden Griffins The Canisius College Golden Griffins are composed of 16 teams representing Canisius College in intercollegiate athletics. These teams include men's and women's basketball, cross country, track, lacrosse, soccer, and swimming and diving. Men's spor ...

and future home of the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

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. ...

. After drawing lackluster crowds at the 40,000-capacity NFL-sized stadium – "at some recent games, fewer than 1,000 persons have rattled around in Civic Stadium as Buffalo's team lost repeatedly", the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

reported in 1954 – the University of Buffalo decided to move its football team back to the campus grounds for 1955, though for the next few years, a few home games were held at Civic Stadium. Rotary Field served as the principal home of the Bulls until 1970, as the university dropped its football team after the end of that season. The college president noted at the time that the 12,000-person capacity stadium "had never been filled for a home game in the past decade." The sport was reinstated in 1977, again with Rotary Field as the Bulls' home turf. The Bulls enjoyed five consecutive winning seasons at Rotary Field, 1980 to 1984, before moving to the university's North Campus in

Amherst, New York Amherst () is a town in Erie County, New York, United States. Amherst is an inner ring suburb of Buffalo. As of 2020, the town had a total population of 129,595. This represents an increase from 122,366 as reported in the 2010 census. The second ...

, to play their home games in UB Stadium, now known as

Kunz Stadium Kunz, Künz, or Kunze is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Kunz (singer) (Marco Kunz, born 1985), Swiss singer * Adrian Kunz (born 1967), Swiss international footballer * Alfred Kunz (Catholic priest) (1931–1998), American murd ...

. This field, in turn, was succeeded by the present-day

University at Buffalo Stadium UB Stadium is a stadium in Amherst, New York on the campus of the University at Buffalo. It is primarily used for football, soccer, and track and field events, and is the home field of the Buffalo Bulls. It opened on September 4, 1993, with a ga ...

in 1993. The site of Rotary Field is now an open field and parking lot on the UB South Campus, across the street from the

Veterans Administration Medical Center Veterans' health care in the United States is separated geographically into 19 regions (numbered 1, 2, 4-10, 12 and 15–23) In January 2002, the Veterans Health Administration announced the merger of VISNs 13 and 14 to create a new, combined netw ...

in Buffalo.

References

{{University at Buffalo, The State University of New York Buffalo Bulls football College football venues Sports venues in Buffalo, New York American football venues in New York (state) University at Buffalo 1920 establishments in New York (state) Sports venues completed in 1920 College track and field venues in the United States Athletics (track and field) venues in New York (state)