Wisner Memorial Stadium is an athletic facility located in

Pontiac, Michigan Pontiac ( ') is a city in and the county seat of Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 61,606. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Pontiac is about northwest of Detroit. Founde ...

History

Wisner Memorial Stadium was built in 1941 and named for Moses Wisner, the 12th Governor of the State of Michigan. Wisner, a resident of Pontiac, was a lawyer who became active in the

anti-slavery movement Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

. The Governor Moses Wisner House is located on property adjacent to the stadium. The stadium seats 6,600 and has hosted many different events over the years. The football field was home to both public high schools in the city, Pontiac Northern High School and

Pontiac Central High School Pontiac Central High School was one of two public high schools in Pontiac, Michigan, United States. It had been an accredited high school from September 4, 1849, until its closing on June 12, 2009. By December 2008 administrators had plans to cons ...

, and is now home to the consolidated Pontiac High School Phoenix football team. Pontiac High School, which is located at the former Pontiac Northern High School, was created in 2009 by the merger of both Pontiac Northern and Pontiac Central high schools. Wisner Stadium was one of the practice locations for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

and George Plimpton in 1963, as he was writing his book ''

Paper Lion ''Paper Lion'' is a 1966 non-fiction book by American author George Plimpton. In 1960, Plimpton, not an athlete, arranged to pitch to a lineup of professional baseball players in an All-Star exhibition, presumably to answer the question, "How ...

''. In 1974, the stadium hosted the Wide Track Summer Festival, sponsored by local Detroit radio station WABX. Acts included headliners

Leon Russell Leon Russell (born Claude Russell Bridges; April 2, 1942 – November 13, 2016) was an American musician and songwriter who was involved with numerous bestselling records during his 60-year career that spanned multiple genres, including rock and ...

and The Gap Band, along with special guests Kansas, Fresh Start, and Mary McCreary. In 1994, the stadium served as the home for the Detroit Wheels soccer team of the USISL. During Super Bowl XL week, the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

used the vacant Pontiac Silverdome as a practice facility. FieldTurf was installed specifically for the practices, rather than using the

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 ...

that was previously used. Following the game, the new playing surface was donated to Wisner Stadium by FieldTurf. The stadium has been restored in recent years by nearby business Lee Industrial Contracting. The company leased the stadium, the 35,000-square-foot Wisner School, and 21-acre property from the Pontiac School District on a 10-year contract in 2013.

Current use

This is Oakland County's largest high school football stadium in terms of seating capacity. In 2015, Michigan Stars FC began playing at the stadium. In 2016, the

Our Lady of the Lakes Catholic School Our or OUR may refer to: * The possessive form of " we" * Our (river), in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany * Our, Belgium, a village in Belgium * Our, Jura, a commune in France * Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), a government utility regulato ...

varsity football team made Wisner Stadium their home field.

References

{{reflist Sports venues completed in 1941 Buildings and structures in Pontiac, Michigan High school football venues in the United States Sports venues in Oakland County, Michigan Soccer venues in Michigan National Premier Soccer League stadiums 1941 establishments in Michigan American football venues in Michigan