War Memorial Stadium turns 75
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War Memorial Stadium turns 75
Maumelle's Chamblee listed as starter for Razorbacks; Hogs game to kick at Noon; Single parents can apply for scholarships; High school football roundup plus sports and headlines
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The Headlines
Meetings: The North Little Rock A&P Commission has a special call meeting at 2 p.m. today. The Maumelle City Council will meet next Tuesday at City Hall. The meeting is one-day delayed due to the Labor Day holiday.
Events: Monday is Labor Day and city offices will be closed across North of the River. Also, trash and recycling will run one-day delayed next week.
ICYMI: The heat is on
Single parents can apply for scholarships
The Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Fund is now accepting scholarship applications for the Spring 2024 semester through Oct. 15 at aspsf.org/applynow.
Single parents enrolled at trade schools, community colleges, and universities can receive up to $1,600 next spring to help pay for expenses that get in the way of their education. This can include car repairs, shoes for growing children, internet, or groceries.
“The scholarship helped me purchase a laptop,” program Alumna Carrie Terry said. “I took that laptop with me to dance competitions, to ball games. I did a lot of homework at intermissions, at halftimes, at practices, and my lunch hours at work so I didn’t have to sacrifice all the hours with my kids.”
Recipients also receive wraparound services from staff and volunteers. The team provides mentoring, resources, and encouragement to help single parents stay in school through graduation and find the profitable career of their dreams.
To apply for a Spring 2024 scholarship, single parents must have a GED or high school diploma, a 2.0
GPA in past courses, and a household income typically not more than 250% of Federal Poverty Guidelines. A full list of ASPSF’s eligibility guidelines is here: aspsf.org/eligibility.
Maumelle's Chamblee listed as starter for Razorbacks
Arkansas offensive lineman Andrew Chamblee is listed as a starter for Saturday's game against Western Carolina at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
Chamblee, above, is a fourth semester redshirt freshman. who played at Maumelle High School, and is listed at left tackle for the Hogs.
A mid-year graduate, Chamblee went through spring drills in 2022 and was redshirted last season.
In the pregame notes for the game, Chamblee, "impressed coaches during preseason camp." The 6-foot-6 and 304-pound left tackle had been a high school All-American for the Hornets and then coach Kirk Horton. He was considered a four-star prospect and was ranked the No. 2 player in the state.
He was one of two Maumelle graduates to sign with Arkansas and Chamblee was joined on the Hill by defensive lineman Nico Davillier.
Davillier, above, is a 6-4, 268 pound defensive end and a sophomore. He didn't get any starts last season but played in every game as a special teams player and saw spot action for the defense.
The only other North of the River player for the Hogs this season is defensive lineman Quincy Rhodes Jr., a 6-6 289 freshman. Rhodes has a roster spot and will wear No. 97 this season but the North Little Rock High School grad is likely to get redshirted.
Arkansas game to kick at Noon
The Arkansas Razorbacks game against Western Carolina will now kickoff at Noon on Saturday at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
The game was moved from the afternoon to the earlier start time due to forecast heat.
The National Weather Service office in North Little Rock has the forecast high being 93 degrees with plenty of sunshine.
That forecast is quite a bit cooler than the temperatures last week that saw triple digit heat and school being released early on Friday as well as high school football games delayed that night.
War Memorial Stadium turns 75
Little Rock’s venerable War Memorial Stadium is celebrating 75 years of being open in September.
The first game at the stadium was played on Sept. 18, 1948 when the Razorbacks faced Abilene Christian in a 40-6 victory to start the season. Dedicating the stadium was Lonoke’s Maurice “Footsie” Britt a former Hog football player and a Medal of Honor winner for his heroic service in World War II.
The stadium cost $1.2 million to build, or about $15 million in today’s dollars and it seated a gargantuan crowd of 31,075 people.
At the time, Fayetteville’s on-campus stadium sat 18,500. Up 5,000 from its original capacity of 13,500 when it was built in 1938.
War Memorial stayed larger than Razorback Stadium over the decades
In 1967, War Memorial increased to 53,727 while Razorback Stadium was at 38,000 at the same time. An expansion in Fayetteville followed but it was to 42,678.
War Memorial Also had lights for night games while Razorback Stadium didn’t add them until the 1980s. As television games increased, lights became a necessity in Fayetteville.
Razorback Stadium didn’t pass War Memorial in capacity until 2001, when it went to 72,000 from its previous total of 50,019. Now, Razorback Stadium is at 76,212, while War Memorial can hold 54,120.
Arkansas, at War Memorial, is 152-61-4 for a winning percentage of 71.0.
The Razorbacks have played a total of 1,307 games in 129 seasons with an all-time record of 736-531-40.
Of course, it hasn’t just been the Hogs at War Memorial, with other in-state schools like Arkansas State, UCA and UAPB having played there over the years. The NFL has also played a game there, way back in 1949, when the Philadelphia Eagles, with Clyde “Smackover” Scott on the squad. They faced the Los Angeles Rams.
The stadium has seen hundreds of high school games over the years along with state championships every December.
Maybe the best high school game played there was the 2005 state championship between Springdale and Little Rock Central.
Springdale was led by coach Gus Malzahn and featured the “Springdale 5” led by quarterback Mitch Mustain and future NFL receiver Damian Williams.
War Memorial has a quirky place in the hearts of most Razorback fans as some of the most memorable games in program history have been played there.
There’s also more to come as Arkansas State and Arkansas will finally meet up on the football field in 2026 in a game that will be played at War Memorial.
After that?
All bets are off.
Timeline
1948: War Memorial Stadium opens with an original seating capacity of 31,000. Formally dedicated by former Arkansas Razorback and Medal of Honor recipient Maurice “Footsie” Britt, who dedicated the stadium to "the memory of her native sons and daughters who have given so much that we might have our freedom." Following the dedication ceremony, the first game at the stadium commenced, where the Arkansas Razorbacks defeated Abilene Christian 40–6.
1949: War Memorial Stadium hosts an NFL game, when the Philadelphia Eagles played the Los Angeles Rams. Former Arkansas Razorback Clyde “Smackover” Scott played in the game for the Eagles.
1949: President Harry S. Truman spoke at the stadium in June 1949
1967: Stadium capacity is increased to 53,727.
1991: The Rev. Billy Graham hosts an event at War Memorial Stadium drawing 270,000 attendees over the course of a week and Bob Hope’s “Hope across America” tour draws 49,000 fans.
1995: Billy Joel and Elton John perform to a sell-out crowd of 41,274, grossing over $1.6 million.
1998: The stadium is listed on the Arkansas Register of Historic Places.
2000 – Neighboring high schools Benton and Bryant begin playing each other at “The Salt Bowl,” considered the state’s biggest and most competitive rivalry.
2002: The “Miracle on Markham” cements War Memorial Stadium’s sports legacy and gives the Razorbacks a last-second 21-20 victory against LSU.
2005: The 5A State Football Championship Game sets the record for highest attendance for any high school title game when Springdale faced Little Rock Central.
2006-2012: War Memorial Stadium hosts the Delta Classic, an annual football game between the UAPB and other HBCUs.
2008: What has since become known as the Miracle on Markham II, the Razorbacks rallied to beat LSU, to secure one of the most exciting wins in Arkansas football history.
2010: The press box, once voted the best in the country, is torn down, rebuilt and reopened. Among those honored in the press box were sports columnists, the late Orville Henry of the Arkansas Gazette, Wally Hall of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Harry King, the dean of Arkansas’s sportswriters, a North Little Rock High School grad who worked for decades at the Associated Press, Stephens Media and finally the North Little Rock Times.
2010: Stadium capacity is expanded to 54,120.
2016: The Little Rock Rangers soccer team names War Memorial Stadium as its home.
2017: Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism begins management of War Memorial Stadium and big concerts return to War Memorial Stadium with Guns N’ Roses playing to a crowd of 25,000.
2020 to present: The stadium serves as host of the junior college national championship game.
2021: The Razorbacks played UAPB, marking their first game against an in-state opponent since 1944. The Hogs won, 45-3.
2023: War Memorial Stadium celebrates 75 years.
Commentary: War Memorial is nice enough
I’ve always had several opinions on War Memorial Stadium.
The most unpopular was that I didn’t particularly care where the Razorbacks played their football games.
Fayetteville? Sure, that’s where the campus is.
Little Rock? Also, sure, here’s where the people live.
As a former working sportswriter and columnist, I’ve been to several dozen college and professional stadiums with several hundred, if not several thousand high school facilities.
I’ve been to War Memorial for what feels like a couple hundred games there. Those quick Associated Press gamers didn’t write themselves, or at least they didn’t then. The robots seem intent on generating 300 words on the close encounters of the athletic kind nowadays anyway.
Regardless, just about every game at War Memorial has had some sort of issue. Usually, it was the clock. It became kind of a running joke on social media. That wasn’t a point in the stadium’s favor.
The stands are fine, the press box, after some upgrades, is nice enough. Overall, nice enough is a good descriptor for War Memorial. It isn’t a colossal dump like Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium but a brown banana compared to Jerry World in Arlington.
What makes War Memorial different is the atmosphere and the former golf course turned tailgate spot.
The late Mike Leach called War Memorial the loudest stadium he’s ever coached in.
Something to do with its concrete construction and pre-game festivities enhanced crowd.
Fayetteville’s stadium has more capacity, but it doesn’t seem to have quite the same energy, at least for most games.
In the olden times, it wasn’t particularly unusual for college football teams to have multiple venues. It was kind of a southern thing as Arkansas played games in Little Rock. Ole Miss and Mississippi State played games in Jackson while Alabama and Auburn played games in Birmingham.
Sometimes it was because one stadium didn’t have lights. As was the case in Fayetteville until the 1980s.
Sometimes it was because the other venues were simply larger as the arms race to build big then build bigger on campus hadn’t started.
Playing games elsewhere was just a quirky thing some universities did that has slowly faded away as college football has become homogenized to make it more palatable for television.
While it became billed as the Great Stadium Debate, it never really seemed like much of one as the answer always seemed quite obvious – play the games in Fayetteville.
But, I suppose, games played at War Memorial will become just another thing we’ll miss when they’re gone like the cheese sticks at Shorty Small’s or seeing Better Than Ezra at Smitty’s.
Roundup
Maumelle rolls in season opener
The Maumelle Hornets started this year, much like they did last season, beating Sylvan Hills in the season opener.
This time, the Hornets won handily, 20-0, for second-year coach Brian Maupin.
The Hornets rolled to 326 yards of total offense and got scoring plays from:
Alan Timmons, who caught a 9 yard pass from Andrew Bjork in the first quarter.
That was followed by a 52-yard catch by Johnathan Frost on a running back pass by Bubba Johnson in the second quarter.
The third quarter saw the final score of the game by Johnson, who went in from six yards out.
Kicker Cooper Forrest was two of three on extra points to set the final margin.
Maumelle travels to Batesville this Friday in a non-conference game. Last year, Maumelle defeated the Pioneers to start the season 2-0.
Across North of the River, Clint Reed's head coaching debut at North Little Rock was a loss as the 'Cats took one on the chin from Little Rock Catholic, 17-7.
North Little Rock hosts Fayetteville this Friday.
It was the opposite for Ryan Howard, the first-year coach at Central Arkansas Christian stampeded past Lonoke, 52-16.
CAC hosts Perryville this Friday night.
All games will go back to the normal kickoff time of 7 p.m. as there's no excessive heat warning this week.
Friday night lights
Maumelle Hornets
Aug. 25 ... Maumelle 20, Sylvan Hills 0
Friday, Sept. 1 ... at Batesville ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 8 ... at White Hall ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 22 ... at Pine Bluff ... 7 p.m.
Thu, Sep 28 ... Mills ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 6 ... at Robinson ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 13 ... Morrilton ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 20 ... at Watson Chapel ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 27 ... Vilonia ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 3 ... Beebe ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 10 ... First round of playoffs
BOLD indicates home game
For the roster, please click here.
CAC Mustangs
Aug. 25 ... CAC 52, Lonoke 16
Friday, Sept. 1 ... Perryville ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 8 ... Bauxite ... ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 15 ... at (Benton) Harmony Grove ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 22 ... Hall ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 29 ... at Mayflower ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 6 ... at Pottsville ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 13 ... Clinton ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 20 ... at Dover ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 3 ... at Lamar ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 10 ... First round of playoffs
BOLD indicates home game
For the roster, please click here.
North Little Rock 'Cats
Aug. 25 ... Catholic 17, North Little Rock 7
Friday, Sept. 1 ... Fayetteville ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 15 ... at Parkview (War Memorial Stadium) ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 22 ... at Central ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 29 ... Conway ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 06 ... at Little Rock Southwest ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 13 ... Jonesboro ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 20 ... Fort Smith Northside ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 27 ... at Bryant ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 3 ... at Cabot ... 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 10 ... First round of playoffs
BOLD indicates home game
For the roster, please click here.
Sports
No baseball at Dickey-Stephens this week
Road trip: Now through Sunday, Sept. 3 at Tulsa
Six-game homestand against Amarillo
Final home series of the season.
Tuesday, Sept. 5, 6:35 p.m.
Two for Tuesdays: Get two General Admission tickets for the price of one and only available at the Box Office.
Mug Club: Membership costs $30 and includes your first beer plus $3 select draft beer every Tuesday night Travs home game.
Sponsorship: Treasure Hunt Tuesday | Presented By Arkansas Auditor of State
Wednesday, Sept 6, 6:35 p.m.
Dog Days of Summer: Human fans can get $3 Berm tickets by bringing their dog to the game and only available at the Box Office. NOTE: Dogs are only allowed in the Berm areas | Presented By Moix RV Supercenter
Noche de Diamantes: The Travs will take the field as the Diamantes de Arkansas in salute of Hispanic Heritage! | Presented By Modelo Especial
Thursday, Sept 7, 6:35 p.m.
$3 Thursday: Enjoy $3 Beer Garden Tickets and Concessions deals, including Hot Dogs, Soft Drinks, Red Bull, Cotton Candy, and a Select Canned Beer & Seltzer! | Presented By Red Bull
Friday, Sept. 8, 7:05 p.m.
Fireworks
Saturday, Sept. 9, 7:05 p.m.
Julio Rodríguez ROTY Display Giveaway: Presented By Hardee's | First 1,000 Fans (one item per person)
Kids Run the Bases: Presented By Museum of Discovery
Sunday, Sept.10, 1:35 p.m.
Pre-Game Brunch Buffet: Get a special Brunch ticket that comes with a Field Reserved seat! Buffet will include select breakfast foods, juice, coffee, and soft drinks. (Alcohol will be available for purchase separately.) Food will be served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. | Presented By Picnic Brunch
Kids Run the Bases. Presented By Museum of Discovery
Operation: Military Appreciation: Service Members get $3 off General Admission and Field Reserved tickets by presenting a Military ID (only available at DSP Box Office) | Presented By Mid-South Ford Dealers
Family Sunday: Get $2 General Admission tickets by presenting a physical or digital church bulletin and only available at the Box Office.
Sept. 12 - 17 at Northwest Arkansas | Final series of the season.