Ratcliffe Stadium is a collegiate athletic venue 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 ...

, located on the campus of

Fresno City College Fresno City College (FCC or "Fresno City") is a public community college in Fresno, California. It is part of the State Center Community College District within the California Community Colleges system. Fresno City College operates on a semester ...

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, makin ...

. Opened in 1926, it was renamed in 1941 after their first football coach, Emory Ratcliffe. The stadium hosted the

Raisin Bowl The Raisin Bowl was an annual post-season American college football bowl game played at Ratcliffe Stadium in Fresno, California, from 1946 to 1949. The first four games were played on January 1, the last on December 31. The games pitted a Cali ...

and was home to the Fresno State Bulldogs football team through 1979; they moved to their on-campus

Bulldog Stadium Valley Children's Stadium, also known as Jim Sweeney Field at Bulldog Stadium, is an outdoor college football stadium in the western United States, located on the campus of California State University, Fresno in Fresno, California. It is the home ...

in 1980. Ratcliffe also hosted the

West Coast Relays Started April 30, 1927, the West Coast Relays grew to one of the premier track and field events in the United States. Held in Fresno's Ratcliffe Stadium, it was the site of thirty-six world records and many national and collegiate records. It becam ...

, a major

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

competition. Today, local

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

games and various track and field events are still held there. The stadium has a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 13,000, and it is located at 1101 E. University Avenue, along

Blackstone Avenue Blackstone Avenue is a major roadway arterial in Fresno, California, United States, running from Stanislaus and O Streets near Downtown to Highway 41 northeastern part of the city. This street is the location of a number of historic structures an ...

. The football field has a conventional north-south alignment, at an

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 Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

Historical events

On June 2, 1964, Fresno Mayor Wallace D. Henderson marched with

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

and 1,000 persons from Fresno High School march Ratcliffe Stadium, where about 3,000 persons attended a rally that he spoke at regarding fair housing, desegregation and the Rumford Housing Act and in protest of California Proposition 14 (1964). It was organized as the Witness of Faith for Freedom Rally.

References

* {{Fresno State Bulldogs football navbox American football venues in California Athletics (track and field) venues in California Fresno State Bulldogs football Multi-purpose stadiums in the United States NCAA bowl game venues Sports venues completed in 1926 Sports venues in Fresno, California

Historical events

See also

References