Boone Pickens Stadium: Difference between revisions

'''Boone Pickens Stadium''' (previously known as '''Lewis Field''') has been home to the [[Oklahoma State Cowboys football|Oklahoma State University Cowboys football]] team in rudimentary form since 19131919, and as a complete stadium since 1920. TheAligned facilityin isan east-west direction since 1920, the oldestfield footballis stadiumthe oldest in the [[Big 12 Conference]].

Oklahoma State, then known as Oklahoma A&M, first began playing at thewhat currentwould sitebecome ofthe Booneoriginal PickensLewis StadiumField in 19131901. OriginallyLocated just north of Morrill Hall and originally known simply as "Athletic Field,"<ref>{{cite web |title=Boone Pickens Stadium|url=http://football.ballparks.com/NCAA/Big12/OSU/index.htm|publisher=Ballparks.com|access-date=November 30, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180123094427/http://football.ballparks.com/NCAA/Big12/OSU/index.htm|archive-date=January 23, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> it was renamed '''Lewis Field''' in 1914 after Laymon Lewis, a former dean of veterinary medicine and of science and literature and one of the most popular figures in the school’s history.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Boone Pickens Stadium|url=https://okstate.com/sports/2015/6/18/GEN_0618155302.aspx|access-date=2021-04-25|website=Oklahoma State University Athletics|language=en}}</ref> In addition to his duties as dean and instructor at OAMC, Lewis served as the school's acting president in 1914. Under his brief administration, OAMC established the first school of commerce and marketing in the nation and developed experimental stations around the state. In addition to naming the field after him, the students also dedicated the 1914 yearbook, its first, to Lewis.

Lewis Field moved to the current site of Boone Pickens Stadium for the 1919 season in a traditional north-south direction.<ref name=":0" /> The school built a permanentwooden 8,000-seat grandstand—roughly corresponding to the lower level of the current facility's north grandstand—in 1920. The stadium originally was positioned in the traditional north-south direction, butfield was reoriented east-west to avoid the strong prevailing winds. It remains one of a handful of major stadiums in the United States with goals at the east and west ends, and the only one oriented that way in the Big 12. Because of this, the sun becomes an advantage to the team defending the west end zone during sunny afternoon games, because the team defending the east goal has to look directly into the bright sunlight.

The university planned to build a horseshoe-shaped stadium, similar to [[Ohio State University]]'s [[Ohio Stadium]], in the 1920s to be called War Memorial Stadium. These plans were scrapped before any construction of the proposed stadium started, and the first addition to Lewis Field came in 1924 with the first steel and concrete portion of the current stadium built on the south side.<ref name=":0" /> During the 1929&ndash;1930 seasons, 8,000 permanent seats were built on the north side for an overall capacity of 13,000. In 1947 the south stands were increased from 20 to 53 rows and capacity climbed to nearly 30,000. For the first time, a permanent press box was then added.