Kramer/Deromedi Field at Kelly/Shorts Stadium is an

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 wi ...

stadium in

Mount Pleasant, Michigan Mount Pleasant is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located in Central Michigan, the city is the county seat of Isabella County, Michigan, Isabella County. The population was 21,688 as of the 2020 United States census. It is surrounded by Unio ...

. It serves as the home field for the Central Michigan University Chippewas. The stadium opened in 1972 and holds 30,255 spectators, making it the largest on-campus stadium in the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great L ...

. It is located on the southeast part of campus, along with most of the other athletic facilities. The playing surface is named Kramer/Deromedi Field after former coaches Roy Kramer and Herb Deromedi.

History

The stadium was originally named Perry Shorts Stadium in honor of R. Perry Shorts, a Saginaw banker who was a 1900 graduate and a generous donor. The stadium, which originally seated approximately 20,000 spectators, was dedicated on November 4, 1972, when the Chippewas defeated

Illinois State University Illinois State University (ISU) is a public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is recognized as one of th ...

, 28–21, before a Homecoming crowd of nearly 17,000. In June 1983, the CMU Board of Trustees voted to rename the facility Kelly/Shorts Stadium in honor of Kenneth "Bill" Kelly, who coached the Chippewa football team to a 91–58–2 record from 1951 to 1966.

Renovations

A $28 million expansion project following the 1997 season added 10,000 seats to the stadium, increasing its capacity to 30,199. A two-tiered press box, locker room, and nine guest suites also were included in the expansion project. The original artificial turf, the first to be used in the state of Michigan, has been replaced three times, most recently in 2016 when it was changed from Astroturf to FieldTurf. Permanent lights were installed before the 2006 season, making it the last stadium in the Mid-American Conference to do so.

Features

CMU's locker room, training room and equipment room are located in the stadium's north end zone, and the locker room is connected to the Indoor Athletic Complex (IAC) via a tunnel. The IAC houses the Dick Enberg Academic Center, coaches' offices, weight room, meeting rooms, CMU's Hall of Champions and indoor practice field with a wall-to-wall FieldTurf surface.

Events

The stadium has also been used as a site for other events, including high school football playoff games, concerts, and graduation ceremonies.

References

External links