Vaught-Hemingway Stadium

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vaught-Hemingway Stadium
Hollingsworth Field
Location	Stadium Dr at All-American Dr University, MS 38677
Broke ground	1912
Opened	October 1, 1915
Owner	University of Mississippi
Operator	University of Mississippi
Surface	AstroPlay artificial turf
Former names
Hemingway Stadium (1915-1982) Vaught-Hemingway Stadium (1982-2002)
Tenants
University of Mississippi Rebels (NCAA) (1915-Present)
Seats
60,850

Vaught-Hemingway Stadium/Hollingsworth Field is an outdoor stadium in Oxford, Mississippi. It is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of the Ole Miss Rebels.

Built starting in 1915 as a federally-sponsored project, a series of expansions and renovations have gradually expanded the stadium and modernized its amenities, allowing the Rebels to play all of their home games on campus. Prior to the early 1990s, Ole Miss would play many of its big rivalry games, including the heated feuds with LSU and Mississippi State, at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in the state capital of Jackson, located approximately 170 miles south of the Ole Miss campus. The Ole Miss-MSU game, commonly referred to as the Egg Bowl, was held in Jackson every year from 1973 through 1990 before returning to a home-and-home series.

The most recent expansion, completed in 2002, replaced the south end zone bleachers with a rounded bowl, adding luxury boxes and covered club seating in an upper deck, as well as additional general admission seating for students and season ticket holders; these renovations expanded seating capacity by nearly 10,000, giving Vaught-Hemingway a capacity equal to that of the stadium in Jackson. Long-term plans call for similar improvements to the north end zone, to complete the "bowl".

Other notable upgrades include the installation of lights in 1990, a JumboTron in 1997 and the replacement of the natural grass turf, which had become increasingly hard to maintain, with an AstroPlay artificial turf surface in 2003.

In 2004, the adjacent indoor practice facility and locker room facility was opened, including a full-size artificial turf field.

[edit] Naming History

When the stadium opened, it was named for Judge William Hemingway, a professor of law and chairman of the University's Committee on Athletics. October 12, 1982 saw the addition of legendary Ole Miss coach Johnny Vaught's name to the stadium; September 5, 1998 saw the field named for longtime supporter Dr. Jerry Hollingsworth.

[edit] Attendance Record

To date, the highest attendance at Vaught-Hemingway was in November 2003, when the Rebels faced the eventual SEC and national champion LSU Tigers. The official attendance was 62,552.