Memorial Stadium

IN
COMMEMORATION

IN THANKFUL MEMORY
OF THOSE CALIFORNIANS
WHO IN THE WAR OF NATIONS
GAVE THEIR ALL
THAT WE MIGHT
LIVE

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July 22, 1999 - Permanent lights are being installed at Memorial Stadium, with FOX footing the $1.1 million cost. "It costs them $75,000 a game if they use temporary lights," said Cal athletic director John Kasser, "so they figure they'll more than get their money back in 10 years."

The lights will be used for televised games that start at 3:30 pm. There will be no night games at Cal. "They talked to me about playing our Washington game at night, but I said no." said Kasser.

Meanwhile, other games will start at 2:30 pm, a time that allows parents to watch their sons and daughters play soccer in the morning and still make the games.

There also are plans for putting chair seats on the west side of the stadium, though that won't be done for this season. When it's done, they will be put above Row 35, with every-other row taken out so there will be more room for those sitting in the approximately 12,000 chair seats that will be put in. That will cut the seating capacity to ~67,000 from the current 75,662.

The student sections won't be changed from bench seats, nor will the family sections in the end zones, where fans can spread out when not all tickets are sold, which has been the rule, not the exception, for Cal games - San Francisco Chronicle

The stadium, erected as a memorial to the University of California World War I participants, was started in 1923. It was completed in time for the Big Game of 1923 at a cost (construction, land and upkeep) of $1,437,696.

The stadium itself seats 75,662 people. The east rim bleachers seat 4,710 while the field bleachers accomodate another 1,440. A sellout crowd would comprise of 80,345 people. Originally there were 72,609 numbered seats.

If the stands are full from goal-line to goal-line on both sides the total attendance would be 40,000. The curved area from the goal-line around to the other end of the goal-line seats 16,500, a total of 33,00 in the end zones.

75,000 fans sat in on the first game - the Big Game - in 1923. Andy Smith coached the Bears, Andy Kerr, the Indians. California won that one, 9 to 0.

The initial machinery for building the structure was set in motion on October 6, 1920 when the Executive Committee of the ASUC appointed a committee to investigate and plan for a suitable and adequate stadium.

Before the committee finally decided on the present site of the stadium, California field, the northwest corner and the property adjacent to the southwest corner were considered. Mr. G.F. Buckingham combined the schemes of Mr. E. E. Carpenter and Mr. Howard, the university architect at the the time, and designed the stadium.

The project was presented to the student body of the University on September 16, 1921 and they voted their approval and pledged their loyalty to the project. Statewide campaigns to raise money for the project in October and by November one million dollars had been pledged or paid.

This photo was taken in 1966 by Ansel Adams of the University of California's Memorial Stadium. Adams was commissioned by the University in 1963 to take photographs for a book to commemorate the centennial celebration of the University.

Over 1,100,000 feet of lumber was used for concrete forms, and 12,000 barrels of cement, 8,000 cubic yards of rock, 4,000 cubic yards of sand, 600 tons of steel were used for the structure. The seats required 800,000 feet of selected lumber. And the pine trees that grace Big "C" hill were planted there at the time of the construction of the stadium. Then they numbered nearly 2,500.

The time clock at the north end of the stadium was installed in 1932 and was the first of its kind in the west.

Synonymous with the building of the stadium was the Andy Smith bench on the east side of the stadium on which the California team sits for every home contest. It was constructed in honor of the great Wonder Team's coach.

Source: University of California at Berkeley Sports Information Office

My father, Bill Blewett (died 1967) played in the opening game at the new stadium as a left half back and drop kicker on the 1923 team under Cal's great Wonder Team Coach Andy Smith. As my dad returned the opening kickoff he placed the ball under his shirt before being tackled. He left the field momentarily to let the air out of the ball and handed it to his brother Jim who was the starting fullback for safe keeping.

I still have possession of this first ball put into play in your beautiful stadium and I am very proud that my Mom and Dad were Golden Bears. By the way my mother (Helene Louise) is now 93 and living in Camarillo, CA.

Just a little nostalgia.

Sincerely,

Michael N. Blewett

The best sports walk in the Bay? Go Bears!
Betting Fool, SF Gate
Tuesday, September 9, 2003

I walked up to two Bears. I sandwiched myself between the two glorious golden statues and hollered something about "I say Go! you say Bears!" No one responded. Someone winced.

Too much La Val's pizza, I guessed.

Then I started thinking: Is this -- the path to Cal's Memorial Stadium -- the best walk in Bay Area sports?

It was a perfect Saturday as the Golden Bears prepared to take on the mighty Colorado State Rammies. The day started wonderfully as we actually found free parking. The tradition of pregame La Val's goes way back. I've been going to Cal games since the early '80s.

There's something special about sitting there (La Val's North, of course), sucking down beer before noon, inhaling pizza when your body is still trying to wake up, worrying about the Bears and watching the morning games that makes it worth the hassles of Berkeley and the inevitable grim Cal loss.

Raiders, Warriors and A's fans get to walk across the BART bridge or a nasty old parking lot. Other than the legless guy on the skateboard, not much out of the ordinary.

Sharks and SaberCats fans need to get through some of the scarier parts of San Jose to get to a game. Giants fans can walk along the Embarcadero and freeze their butts off or go through a maze of SoMa streets and get panhandled every 20 feet.

Stanford is nice enough, but I tend to get lost in the eucalyptus groves. And the building is dead.

No matter which angle you take, the trip up the hill to watch the Bears is the best walk in Bay Area sports.

The end zone seats were $15 and while they had received new coats of blue and gold paint, they were still old and splintered and dangerous.

The game was a perfect microcosm of most every Cal game. The Bears made a lot of early mistakes, fought back gamely to go ahead and still found a way to lose. Is the offical mantra of a Cal fan: "How are they gonna blow it this time?"

Didn't matter. I lost my voice and found solace on the plastic turf at "Cheeseburger Field," playing catch with a mini football and wondering what I'd order at the postgame La Val's session.

Along comes the Cal band, playing for the folks on the lawn at Bowles Hall. The two groups exchanged a traditional salutation (Helllllo Cal Band!) and the band marched on down the hill.

Suddenly, I heard something. Could it be the leftover strains of the Allman Brothers Band, who played a terrific set ("Layla!") the night before at the Greek Theatre? There's something magical about Berkeley. Best Grateful Dead show I ever saw was at the Greek (Dark Star on Halloween!).

Surrounded by people in those blue and gold rugby shirts (bumblebee shirts!), we worked our way back toward the corner of Euclid and Hearst.

I had always wanted to go to Cal. But because of insufficient funds, and because I was a mostly horrible student in high school, I went to San Francisco State.

On this perfect Saturday afternoon, standing between two big Bear statues, maybe I was just an Old Fool, but I felt like on Old Blue.

NCAA 1869-Present

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