Ted Wright Stadium is a 13,500-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 ...
in
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...
, United States.
The facility is located on the campus of
Savannah State University
)
, established =
, closed =
, type = Public historically black university
, parent = University System of Georgia
, academic_affiliation = Space-grant
, endowment ...
. The stadium is primarily used for
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 ...
and
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 ...
. It is home to the
Savannah State Tigers football
The Savannah State Tigers football team represents Savannah State University in college football. The Tigers are members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC). The football team is traditionally the most popular sport at Savann ...
and
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 ...
teams and occasionally hosts games and events by
high schools
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
in
Chatham County. The stadium is named in honor of
Ted A. Wright, who served as Savannah State's head football coach from 1947 to 1949.
The original stadium's construction was part of massive school building project that spanned from 1964 to 1971. The new stadium was built at a cost of $133,665 and John McGlockton, a 1935 graduate was instrumental in securing the lighting at no expense to the college.
Prior to the current location of T.A. Wright Stadium, the SSU football team played in several different locations in over 100 years of competitive football. From 1902 to 1940, the Tigers played where the King-Frazier building now stands on the Savannah State campus. From 1940 to the 1969, they played on the grounds that the A.H. Gordon Library sits on today.
Major renovations
Through an agreement between the
Georgia Board of Regents The Georgia Board of Regents oversees the University System of Georgia as part of the state government of Georgia in the United States. The University System of Georgia is composed of all state public institutions of higher education in the state. T ...
and
Chatham County, track and field improvements were made at the stadium between 1993 and 1995. A newly constructed 400-meter track and competitive field areas were a part of the "Olympic Legacy" package, a county program designed to provide recreational projects for county resident's use, and cost the Chatham County residents $1,062,980 in Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) funds. The Stadium Went under another renovations in 2010 at a cost of $6.5 million revitalization included Adding 5,000 seats, new professional style locker rooms, ticket booths, concession areas, brick front, and field turf. In 2009, a new press box was added featuring a President's Box. The stadium has undergone three major renovations since it was built in 1969. .
See also
*
List of NCAA Division I FCS football stadiums
The following is a list of current National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) football stadiums in the United States.
Conference affiliations reflect those for the comin ...
References
College football venues
Savannah State Tigers football
Sports venues in Georgia (U.S. state)
Multi-purpose stadiums in the United States
{{GeorgiaUS-stadium-stub