Martin Stadium is an outdoor athletic
stadiumA modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...
in
PullmanPullman is the largest city in Whitman County, Washington, United States. The population was 24,675 at the 2000 census and 29,799 according to the 2010 census...
, Washington,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, on the campus of
Washington State UniversityWashington State University is a public research university based in Pullman, Washington, in the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 1890, WSU is the state's original and largest land-grant university...
. It is the home field of the
Washington State CougarsThe Washington State Cougars football team is the intercollegiate football team of Washington State University. The team is a member of the Pacific-12 Conference...
of the Pacific-12 Conference, and is the smallest football stadium in the conference. The
FieldTurfFieldTurf is a brand of artificial turf playing surface. It is manufactured and installed by the FieldTurf Tarkett division of Tarkett Inc., based in Calhoun, Georgia, USA. In the late 1990s, the artificial surface changed the industry with a design intended to replicate real grass...
playing field runs an unorthodox east-west, at an
elevationThe elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....
of 2520 feet (768.1 m) above sea level.
History
The stadium is named after
Clarence D. MartinClarence Daniel Martin was the 11th Governor of the state of Washington. A Democrat, he served two terms from 1933 to 1941....
, the
governor of the state of Washington from 1933–41, and a former mayor of
CheneyCheney is a city in Spokane County, Washington, United States. The full time resident population was 10,590 as of 2010 census. Eastern Washington University is located in Cheney, and its population grows to approximately 17,600 people on a temporary basis when classes at Eastern Washington...
, near
SpokaneSpokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
and ironically, a graduate of the
University of WashingtonUniversity of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
. Martin Stadium opened on September 30,
1972The 1972 college football season saw the USC Trojans, coached by John McKay, go undefeated and win the national championship as the unanimous choice of the fifty AP panelists...
, with a disappointing 19-point loss to
UtahThe Utah Utes football program is a college football team that currently competes in the Pacific-12 Conference of the Football Bowl Subdivision of NCAA Division I and represents the University of Utah. The Utah college football program began in 1892 and has played home games at Rice–Eccles...
, then a member of the
WACThe Western Athletic Conference is an American collegiate athletic conference, which was formed on July 27, 1962, making it the sixth oldest of the 11 college athletic conferences currently participating in the NCAA's Division I FBS...
, with 20,600 in attendance. Two and a half years had passed since its predecessor, the wooden
Rogers FieldRogers Field was an outdoor athletic stadium on the campus of Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. It was the home venue of the WSU Cougars football and track teams until severely damaged by a fire in April 1970...
, was significantly damaged by fire, a suspected case of
arsonArson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
. The WSU Cougars played all of their home games at
Joe Albi StadiumJoe Albi Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium in Spokane, Washington. Primarily used for football, it is located in the northwest part of the city, just east of the Spokane River. It opened in 1950 as "Memorial Stadium," with a natural grass field, cinder running track, and a seating capacity of...
in
SpokaneSpokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
in
1970The 1970 college football season was marked by tragedy, due to two airplane crashes. On October 2, one of the planes carrying the Wichita State football team crashed on the way to a game against Utah State, killing 31 people on board, including 14 players...
and
1971The 1971 college football season saw Coach Bob Devaney's Nebraska Cornhuskers repeat as national champions. After being ranked 2nd in the preseason poll, Nebraska captured first place the following week and remained there for the rest of 1971 and won the Orange Bowl 38–6 in a #1 vs...
.
As of
2006The 2006 Washington State Cougars football team represented Washington State University in the college football season of 2006-2007. The team was led by fourth-year head coach Bill Doba, and played its home games at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Washington....
, the stadium has a
seating capacitySeating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
of 35,117. Since the renovation of
Reser StadiumReser Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. on the campus of Oregon State University. It is the home of the Oregon State Beavers of the Pacific-12 Conference. Originally opened in 1953 as Parker Stadium, the stadium was renamed in 1999, and its current...
at
Oregon StateThe Oregon State Beavers football team represents Oregon State University in NCAA Division I-A college football. The team first fielded an organized football team in 1893 and is currently a member of the Pacific-12 Conference. The head coach is Mike Riley, with Danny Langsdorf as the offensive...
, Martin Stadium has fallen to last in
seating capacitySeating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
among Pac-12 football stadiums. The current attendance record was set during the championship year of
1997The 1997 Washington State Cougars football team represented Washington State University during the 1997 NCAA college football season. The Cougars were led by ninth-year head coach Mike Price and played their home games at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Washington....
, when WSU beat
StanfordThe Stanford Cardinal football program represents Stanford University in college football at the NCAA Division I FBS level and is a member of the Pac-12 Conference's North Division. Stanford, the top-ranked academic institution with an FBS program, has a highly successful football tradition. The...
in front of 40,306 fans on November 15. (The
'97 Cougar teamThe 1997 Washington State Cougars football team represented Washington State University during the 1997 NCAA college football season. The Cougars were led by ninth-year head coach Mike Price and played their home games at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Washington....
won the
Apple CupThe Apple Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of an American college football rivalry game played annually by the teams of the two largest universities in the U.S. state of Washington: the University of Washington Huskies and the Washington State University Cougars...
in Seattle the following week to win the Pac-10, and played in the
Rose BowlThe Rose Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2...
for the first time in 67 years.) Despite the relatively small size of Martin Stadium, it has one of the highest ratios of
seating capacitySeating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
to population base; almost 1.6 seats per every citizen in the city of
PullmanPullman is the largest city in Whitman County, Washington, United States. The population was 24,675 at the 2000 census and 29,799 according to the 2010 census...
, and a seat for everyone in
Whitman CountyWhitman County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2010 census, the population was 44,776, with the majority living in its largest city, Pullman, home to Washington State University, the state's land-grant university. The county seat is at Colfax.Whitman County was...
.
1979 Expansion
Martin Stadium was the first
college footballCollege football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
stadium to expand by removing its 400 meter running track and lowering the playing field, in this case by 16 feet (5 m). This modification in 1979 added over 12,000 new seats, most of which were closer to the field (and the opponent's bench). The first game following the renovation was played in October
1979The 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season saw the Alabama Crimson Tide bring home a national title with a perfect 12-0 season. The title was Alabama's 11th claimed, though the number is disputed. It was their 6th Associated Press awarded title....
, a victory over the
UCLA BruinsThe UCLA Bruins football program represents the University of California, Los Angeles in college football as members of the Pacific-12 Conference at the NCAA Division I FBS level. The Bruins have enjoyed several periods of success in their history, having been ranked in the top ten of the AP Poll...
. Following a 10-3 season and an undefeated home campaign in
2003The 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with an abundance of controversy, resulting in a split national championship. This was the first split title since the inception of the BCS, something the BCS intended to eliminate....
, Martin Stadium was ranked by
Sports IllustratedSports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
as one of the toughest stadiums for visiting teams in
college footballCollege football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
.
Playing surface
The current playing surface is
FieldTurfFieldTurf is a brand of artificial turf playing surface. It is manufactured and installed by the FieldTurf Tarkett division of Tarkett Inc., based in Calhoun, Georgia, USA. In the late 1990s, the artificial surface changed the industry with a design intended to replicate real grass...
, first installed in
2000The 2000 Washington State Cougars football team represented Washington State University in the college football season of 2000-2001. The team's head coach was Mike Price. It played its home games at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Washington.-Schedule:...
and replaced in
2006The 2006 Washington State Cougars football team represented Washington State University in the college football season of 2006-2007. The team was led by fourth-year head coach Bill Doba, and played its home games at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Washington....
, it was preceded by the
sandSand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...
-filled Omni-turf, installed in
1990The 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with a split championship and the ensuing controversy led to the creation of the Bowl Coalition, a precursor to the Bowl Championship Series. The title was split between the Colorado Buffaloes and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets...
. The original playing surface at Martin Stadium in
1972The 1972 college football season saw the USC Trojans, coached by John McKay, go undefeated and win the national championship as the unanimous choice of the fifty AP panelists...
was
AstroTurfAstroTurf is a brand of artificial turf. Although the term is a registered trademark, it is sometimes used as a generic description of any kind of artificial turf. The original AstroTurf product was a short pile synthetic turf while the current products incorporate modern features such as...
, replaced by SuperTurf in
1979The 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season saw the Alabama Crimson Tide bring home a national title with a perfect 12-0 season. The title was Alabama's 11th claimed, though the number is disputed. It was their 6th Associated Press awarded title....
. The playing surface at
Rogers FieldRogers Field was an outdoor athletic stadium on the campus of Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. It was the home venue of the WSU Cougars football and track teams until severely damaged by a fire in April 1970...
was natural grass.
Apple Cup
Washington State hosts the
Apple CupThe Apple Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of an American college football rivalry game played annually by the teams of the two largest universities in the U.S. state of Washington: the University of Washington Huskies and the Washington State University Cougars...
in even-numbered years. Except for 1954, the Apple Cup was played at
Joe Albi StadiumJoe Albi Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium in Spokane, Washington. Primarily used for football, it is located in the northwest part of the city, just east of the Spokane River. It opened in 1950 as "Memorial Stadium," with a natural grass field, cinder running track, and a seating capacity of...
in
SpokaneSpokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
from 1950–80, rather than in Pullman. The Cougars went 3-12 in these fifteen Spokane Apple Cups (winning in 1958, 1968, and 1972), while winning the previous games played at
Rogers FieldRogers Field was an outdoor athletic stadium on the campus of Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. It was the home venue of the WSU Cougars football and track teams until severely damaged by a fire in April 1970...
in Pullman (1948, 1954).
Since
1982The 1982 NCAA Division I-A football season saw Paul "Bear" Bryant retire as head coach at Alabama with 323 career victories in 38 seasons.The Penn State Nittany Lions won their first consensus national championship, closing out an 11-1 season by defeating Georgia and Heisman Trophy winner Herschel...
, a Cougar victory, the rivalry game with
UWCollege football has a long history at the University of Washington. The Washington Huskies have won 15 Pacific-10 Conference championships, seven Rose Bowl titles, and three national championships. Washington's all-time record of 653-398-50 ranks 20th by all-time winning percentage and 21st by...
has been played at Martin Stadium, with the Cougars winning just six of the sixteen Pullman games.
Sharing with a rival
For two and a half seasons,
1999The 1999 NCAA Division I-A football season saw Florida State named national champions, defeating Virginia Tech in the BCS Sugar Bowl.Florida State became the first team in history to start out preseason #1 and remain there through the entire season. Their 12-0 season gave them 109 victories in the...
-
2001The 2001 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with the University of Miami winning the national title for the fifth time.The Hurricanes were led by Larry Coker, who was in his first year as head coach after five years as Miami's offensive coordinator under Butch Davis...
, the
Idaho VandalsThe Idaho Vandals are a college football team that represents the University of Idaho. The Vandals currently compete in the Western Athletic Conference of the Football Bowl Subdivision of NCAA Division I...
of nearby
MoscowMoscow is a city in northern Idaho, situated along the Washington/Idaho border. It is the most populous city and county seat of Latah County and the home of the University of Idaho, the land grant institution and primary research university for the state...
borrowed Martin Stadium to use as its home field, as Idaho transitioned from Division I-AA back up to I-A. At the time, the Vandals'
Kibbie DomeThe William H. Kibbie-ASUI Activity Center is a multi-purpose indoor athletic stadium in Moscow, Idaho, on the campus of the University of Idaho...
was too small to support the
NCAA'sThe National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
attendance requirements for Division I-A. The attendance criteria was changed and Idaho is now a member of the
WACThe Western Athletic Conference is an American collegiate athletic conference, which was formed on July 27, 1962, making it the sixth oldest of the 11 college athletic conferences currently participating in the NCAA's Division I FBS...
in Division I FBS, and uses its own facility.
Washington State and Idaho renewed their dormant football rivalry in
1998The 1998 NCAA Division I-A football season was the first of the Bowl Championship Series, which saw Tennessee win the national championship, one year after star quarterback Peyton Manning left for the NFL...
, and matched up annually in the
Battle of the PalouseThe Battle of the Palouse is an American college football rivalry between the Washington State University Cougars and the University of Idaho Vandals. The name of the rivalry is derived from the "Palouse", the rolling agricultural region in which both schools are located...
for a decade. The game was played at Martin Stadium in September, although the
2003The 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with an abundance of controversy, resulting in a split national championship. This was the first split title since the inception of the BCS, something the BCS intended to eliminate....
game was curiously played far from the Palouse, 300 miles (482.8 km) west at
Seahawks StadiumCenturyLink Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. It serves as the home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League and Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer...
in Seattle. After a ten year renewal, new Vandal head coach
Robb Akey-External links:...
, a former WSU
defensive coordinatorA defensive coordinator typically refers to a coach on a gridiron football team who is in charge of the defense. Generally, along with his offensive counterpart, he represents the second level of command structure after the head coach...
, stated that he preferred the game not be played every year. The game was last played in
2007The 2007 Washington State Cougars football team represented Washington State University in the college football season of 2007-2008. The team was led by fifth-year head coach Bill Doba and played its home games at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Washington....
and no games with Idaho are currently scheduled.
Fire at Rogers Field
At 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 4,
1970The 1970 college football season was marked by tragedy, due to two airplane crashes. On October 2, one of the planes carrying the Wichita State football team crashed on the way to a game against Utah State, killing 31 people on board, including 14 players...
(the first day of
spring breakSpring break – also known as March break, Study week or Reading week in the United Kingdom and some parts of Canada – is a recess in early spring at universities and schools in the United States, Canada, mainland China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, the United...
), residents heard what they described as a gunshot at the football stadium. By 2:00 a.m., the south grandstand and press box of the
1930sFile:1930s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: Dorothea Lange's photo of the homeless Florence Thompson show the effects of the Great Depression; Due to the economic collapse, the farms become dry and the Dust Bowl spreads through America; The Battle of Wuhan during the Second Sino-Japanese...
wooden venue had burned to the ground, witnessed by a thousand residents and firefighters. The exact cause, or offender, was never found, though there were several suspects.
The Cougars played their entire home schedule for the
1970The 1970 college football season was marked by tragedy, due to two airplane crashes. On October 2, one of the planes carrying the Wichita State football team crashed on the way to a game against Utah State, killing 31 people on board, including 14 players...
and
1971The 1971 college football season saw Coach Bob Devaney's Nebraska Cornhuskers repeat as national champions. After being ranked 2nd in the preseason poll, Nebraska captured first place the following week and remained there for the rest of 1971 and won the Orange Bowl 38–6 in a #1 vs...
football seasons at
Joe Albi StadiumJoe Albi Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium in Spokane, Washington. Primarily used for football, it is located in the northwest part of the city, just east of the Spokane River. It opened in 1950 as "Memorial Stadium," with a natural grass field, cinder running track, and a seating capacity of...
in
SpokaneSpokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
. The fire also displaced the
Idaho VandalsThe Idaho Vandals are the intercollegiate athletic teams of the University of Idaho. They participate in NCAA Division I - FBS in the Western Athletic Conference ....
, whose wooden
Neale StadiumNeale Stadium was an outdoor athletic stadium in Moscow, Idaho, on the west end of the campus of the University of Idaho. Opened in 1937 for college football , it was used for over three decades, through the 1968 season...
was condemned before the
1969The 1969 college football season was celebrated as the 100th anniversary of college football. During the 20th Century, the NCAA had no playoff for the college football teams that would later be described as "Division I-A"...
season (and set afire by
arsonArson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
that November). The Vandals had used WSU's Rogers Field for its three
PalouseThe Palouse is a region of the northwestern United States, encompassing parts of southeastern Washington, north central Idaho and, in some definitions, extending south into northeast Oregon. It is a major agricultural area, primarily producing wheat and legumes...
home games in 1969 and were planning to use it again in for four home games in 1970. Without another suitable stadium in the Moscow-Pullman vicinity, Idaho played its 1970 home schedule at the reduced capacity Rogers Field, returning to its
MoscowMoscow is a city in northern Idaho, situated along the Washington/Idaho border. It is the most populous city and county seat of Latah County and the home of the University of Idaho, the land grant institution and primary research university for the state...
campus in 1971. The 1970 WSU-Idaho game in Spokane on September 19 was dubbed "The Displaced Bowl," and was easily won by the Cougars, 44-16, their only victory of the season.
The name "Rogers Field" continues on campus, transferred to areas used for intramural sports and football practices west of the stadium.
Tradition
The public address announcer at Martin Stadium is WSU professor Glenn Johnson, who is also the mayor of Pullman. Johnson is known for his first-down call of "...and that's ANOTHER...", to which the crowd responds by chanting "...COUGAR FIRST DOWN!" in unison along with Johnson.
Another Tradition at WSU is attending every ESPN College Gameday with WSU flags raised in the background during the show. The tradition has lasted since 2004.
External links