Veterans Memorial Stadium is a stadium in Troy, Alabama. It is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of the Troy University Trojans.
Veterans Memorial Stadium opened in 1950. Originally dedicated to the TSTC students and Pike County residents who had died in World War II, the stadium solely consisted of a small, 5,000-seat grandstand on the west side of the running track, and was built into the natural slope of the ground. It was expanded several times, including the addition of upper deck in 1998 that brought capacity up to 17,500, before the most recent renovation was carried out for completion in 2003, the season which saw the Trojans make the move to Division I-A. The old press box area, which had cut into the 1998 upper deck, was filled in and a larger press box and luxury box area was added behind the now completed upper deck. The track was removed and the field was lowered, and permanent seating was placed over the old berm area behind the south grandstand. The now-30,000 seat stadium is a flattened "U" shape, with the north end still open. The natural grass surface was replaced with AstroPlay synthetic grass. The AstroPlay surface was then replaced by a ProGrass synthetic turf system in 2012.
Costs for the 1998 expansion of the stadium were financed in part by a substantial donation from HealthSouth founder Richard M. Scrushy. The playing field (but not the stadium) was renamed for Scrushy, but this became a public relations problem for Troy when Scrushy was forced out of his position due to alleged financial misdeeds at HealthSouth, for which he was later tried, but acquitted. (Scrushy was later convicted of other unrelated crimes, along with former Alabama governor Don Siegelman; those convictions are currently under appeal.)
Construction costs for the latest expansions were financed in part by the sale of naming rights to the video rental chain Movie Gallery. Because of this, Scrushy's name is no longer on the field. Movie Gallery's name was removed after the company filed for bankruptcy and ceased operations in 2010, at which point the venue reverted to its original name.
The stadium hosted the last Blue-Gray Football Classic in 2003 before the game was cancelled by the Lions Club of Montgomery, Alabama due to the lack of a title sponsor. The largest crowd to see a Troy football game in Veterans Memorial Stadium was 29,013 on September 15, 2012, when the Trojans hosted Mississippi State University.
Famous quotes containing the words veterans, memorial and/or stadium:
“To the cry of “follow Mormons and prairie dogs and find good land,” Civil War veterans flocked into Nebraska, joining a vast stampede of unemployed workers, tenant farmers, and European immigrants.”
—For the State of Nebraska, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“When I received this [coronation] ring I solemnly bound myself in marriage to the realm; and it will be quite sufficient for the memorial of my name and for my glory, if, when I die, an inscription be engraved on a marble tomb, saying, “Here lieth Elizabeth, which reigned a virgin, and died a virgin.””
—Elizabeth I (1533–1603)
“It’s no accident that of all the monuments left of the Greco- Roman culture the biggest is the ballpark, the Colosseum, the Yankee Stadium of ancient times.”
—Walter Wellesley (Red)