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The history behind the home of the Gamecock football team Jonathan Hillyard .SPORTS EDITOR When 7:30 rolls around Thursday night, more than' 80,250 seats at Williams-Brice Stadium will be filled for a nationally televised ESPN contest. But how many people know that in that very same spot in 1934, the same building held just 17,600 people? How many of those fans realize that even before that, the USC football team played its games on the grounds where they now enjoy the Grand Market Place, Chick-fil-A or Taco Bell? In 1896, USC’s football team played Clemson on the other side of Elmwood Avenue, where the game was held on what was then the fairgrounds. The annual game was held there until 1902, when a group of Clemson students marched on the Carolina campus only to find the USC faithful waiting for them armed and dangerous. When the series renewed in 1909, the game was held at the corner of Rosewood and Assembly, where the fairgrounds stand today. The game was played on the fairgrounds every year until 1959, when the game became a home-and-home series. However, the Clemson game was the exception to the rule. The original USC football team played most of its games on Melton. Field, which stood where the Russell house is today. The final game at Melton field featured a jam packed crowd of 4,800 people, according to USC historian Tom Price. For bigger games, the team would sometimes use the adjacent Davis Field, which had better bleachers and was home to Carolina’s baseball team. In 1934, university officials realized Melton Field was becoming overcrowded and that its wooden bleachers would not be able to contain the Gamecock faithful any longer. So the Work Progress Administration, a program created under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration, began construction on a new football stadium, Columbia Municipal Stadium, adjacent to the state fairgrounds. The City of Columbia would later turn the stadium over to the university after World War II, and it was aptly renamed Carolina Stadium. When first constructed, the stadium held 17,600 people. The Gamecocks’ first game in their new home was Oct. 2, 1934, when USC defeated Virginia Military Institute, 22 7. One end of what was then Carolina Stadium was filled in the early 1940s, increasing stadium capacity to 34,000. Coach Warren Giese, who was at USC from 1956 to 1960, oversaw another expansion in which the horseshoe like stadium was completed into a bowl and the capacity was increased to 43,000. Williams-Brice Stadium is known for its combination of the upper deck and the lighting structures, which make the stadium look like a “cockroach,” as some have called it. Imagine the cockroach with only one side of its legs. That’s what the stadium looked like as of a 1971-1972 expansion. After rebuilding the lower level of the west stands, USC built an upper deck, but only half of one. Mrs. Martha Williams Brice, the wife of Gamecock letterman Thomas Brice, left a large inheritance to her two nephews, who left a great deal of it to USC. Now with a capacity of more than 54,000, the stadium was renamed Williams-Brice Stadium on Sept. 9, 1972. The university finally finished the upper deck in 1982 after 10 years of having a lop-sided Williams-Brice. However, unlike the west side, the east side lower level was not rebuilt, leaving it as the only original part of Columbia Municipal Stadium that still stands today. Beginning in 1983, fans began to notice that the newly constructed east upper deck appeared to be swaying. Some claimed the stadium moved a good number of inches, and some even claimed the structure swayed over a foot. Bumper stickers and other items were released featuring the saying “If it ain’t swaying, we ain’t playing” before architects and engineers supposedly “fixed” the problem before the 1987 season. The project boosted the stadium’s capacity into the low 70 thousands under new coach Joe Morrison. Morrison ripped up the artificial turf that had served as the playing surface and reinstalled natural grass. During a two-year period from 1995-1996, USC spent more than $20 million to expand Williams-Brice; renovations included the building of the new South endzone, new press and luxury boxes, a new football office building and an 11,000-square foot banquet facility known as ctnpl r~r n 1 he Zone . Finally, with the dedication of the Dr. Charles Crews Football Facility this year,/ Williams-Brice Stadium is the home of a state-of-the-art workout and meeting room facility that cost the university more than $3 million. From Melton Field, to Columbia Municipal, to Williams-Brice Stadium, the Gamecock football team has enjoyed 112 years of football and on Thursday looks to start 112 more. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@givm.sc.edu i<. ?.:.i:z.^:.&:z. >.,, ^ ^—^., . » <■■■■ ■ >-.. ^—--a-«—-i Photo courtesy of Mike Safran The football team plays on Davis Field in 1913, located on the ground where the Russell House stands. Garnet Pants Perfect for game day! Now Exclusively At Britton s 2818 Devine St. 771-2700 only 1 mile from campus www. brittonsofcolumbia. com I BRAND NEW STUDENT HOUSING! I — • i r" i'll ii~n ■ . Square Center j j BWV.dutohtfliKirc fm>) ! | I ---- SAT* GMAT* GRE* LSAT* MCAT* Classroom Online Private Tutoring Classes conveniently held at USC 800-2Review | PrincetonReviewxom BUILDING CAROLINA’S HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE COLUMBIA MUNICIPAL STADIUM In 1934 the Work Progress Administration constructed this stadium on the grounds where Williams-Brice stands today. USC played their first game there on Oct. 2, 1934 vs. VMI WILLI AMS-BRICE STADIUM (1971) Carolina Stadium was expanded to hold 54,000 in 1971-72 with just one of the upper decks that stand today. The stadium was named for Mrs. Martha Williams Brice and her husband Thomas on Sept. 9, 1972. MELTON FIELD This venue served as the home of most USC football games before the construction of the stadium by the fairgrounds in 1934. Melton Field was located where the Russell House still stands today. CAROLINA STADIUM After Columbia turned over the stadium to the University the building was renamed Carolina Stadium and was eventually closed into a full bowl under coach Warren Giese. When the bowl was completed the stadium capacity reached43,000. WILLI AMS-B RICE STADIUM(1981) The second upper deck was j completed and the capacity was increased to over 70,000 under head coach Joe Morrison in the early 1980’s. ' * Photos courtesy of USC, Mike Safran,