Scott Stadium

Scott Stadium

Center
Former names	Scott Stadium (prior to 1995)
Location	Whitehead Rd & Alderman Rd Charlottesville, VA 22903
Owner	University of Virginia
Operator	University of Virginia
Capacity	Official: 61,500; Record: 64,947 (8/30/2008)
Surface	Grass
Opened	1931
Tenants
Virginia Cavaliers (Football)

Summer 2006

The Carl Smith Center, Home of David A. Harrison III Field at Scott Stadium, located in Charlottesville, Virginia, is the home of the Virginia Cavaliers football team. It sits on the University of Virginia's West Grounds, across from first-year dorms on Alderman Road. Constructed in 1931, it is the oldest Division I football stadium in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It occasionally hosts other events, such as concerts for bands that can fill an entire stadium, such as U2 (2009), The Rolling Stones (2005), and the Dave Matthews Band (2001). The Virginia High School League held its Division 5 & 6 State Championship games at the stadium in December 2007. The facility has also hosted the Division I NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship in 1977 and 1982 and the ACC Women's Lacrosse Tournament in 2008.

History

Built as a replacement for the old Lambeth Field or "Colonnades," Scott Stadium bears the name of donor and University Rector Frederic Scott, and held 25,000 spectators at opening. The stadium is considered one of the most beautiful facilities in the nation , and formerly had a view of the Blue Ridge Mountains and specifically Monticello Mountain out the south end of the stadium. An artificial turf system was installed in 1974, making impossible a long tradition of a mounted Cavalier riding into the stadium with the football team. David A. Harrison III provided a gift allowing natural grass to be reinstalled in the stadium, and the Cavalier has ridden into Scott every game since 1995. Another unique feature of Scott Stadium is the Adventures of Cavman, which takes place a few minutes prior to kickoff, on the videoboard. In this computer generated skit, the mascot of the opposing team is causing trouble on the Grounds of UVA, and the Cavalier slays him, then rides to the stadium via the Grounds. After the skit is over, the live Cavalier rides onto the field accompanied by orange and blue fireworks.

Stadium Expansion Projects

1981

The first expansion to the stadium's capacity came in 1981, when upper decks and grass hill seating allowed 41,000 fans.

2000

Carl Smith's donations helped make the most recent contributions to Scott Stadium in 2000, filling in the upper deck and south end to allow 20,000 additional fans, and installing the pergola, state of the art lighting and gigantic audio/visual tower known as "Hoo-Vision," as well as a new lighting system placed on towers with "V's" built in. The facility's official name is a result of this string of donations.

2009

Scott Stadium is scheduled to receive a new scoreboard and a larger video screen.

Traditions and controversy

Traditionally, males wear coats and ties and females wear sundresses to games, which is also tradition at Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Ole Miss, and Vanderbilt. Beginning during the 2003 season, however, head coach Al Groh called upon fans to set aside traditional attire for orange clothing. Over the following seasons, many fans took to wearing orange t-shirts with slogans like "Orange Crush," "Orange Fever", "Al's Idiots" and "Sea of Orange". See image above and notice the orange-colored student section, to the left of where the band was sitting. (There are actually two UVa bands present on Grounds: the 250-piece Cavalier Marching Band, led by a professional band director, and the much smaller Virginia Pep Band, led by fellow students, though the latter only performs outside for the tailgating crowd).

The t-shirt movement has been welcomed by many, but ties and sundresses can still be easily spotted at Scott Stadium among students and alumni. Some have compromised by wearing ties with orange dress shirts or orange sundresses. Many students and alumni feel the "Sea of Orange" was forced on them by Groh without any indication that it translates to results on the field (or an explanation of why ties have not held back Auburn). The Cavalier Daily, the University's daily student-published newspaper, weighed in on the debate in its September 1, 2005, lead editorial. The Declaration, an alternative weekly news magazine at the University, also ran a feature story on the debate prior to the 2006 home opener.

The 2008 season marked the debut of the athletics department's "Power of Orange" marketing campaign. Nike released the official orange t-shirt, while orange towels bearing the logo were distributed to all fans at the home opener to achieve an "orange out". Famous alumni will be utilized at every home game to raise a large Power of Orange flag just before kickoff at the top of The Hill. However, 2008 also marked the first coordinated effort to counter the orange t-shirt movement with the Tees Overseas campaign. [1] Organizers asked first-year students who received free Power of Orange t-shirts at a move-in block party to donate them and support University tradition. The campaign then expanded to accept any new or old orange t-shirts. Donations will be shipped to World Vision, a global service agency, for distribution in an impoverished area.

Notable Games

September 8, 1990: #14 Virginia 20, #9 Clemson 7

UVa entered this game with an 0-29 record against Clemson. The win was Virginia's first-ever victory over an opponent ranked in the top ten. Both goalposts came down when the fans stormed the field; the first actually fell with 48 seconds still on the clock. The win proved to be something of a watershed in UVa football history in that it set the stage for the 1990 squad to begin the season 7–0, rising to #1 in the polls for the first time. In addition, whereas UVa had gone 0–29 against Clemson prior to the 1990 game, as of 2006 UVa has gone 8–6–1 against Clemson beginning with that 1990 win.

November 3, 1990: #16 Georgia Tech 41, #1 Virginia 38

The Yellow Jackets ended Virginia's three-week reign at #1 in the polls as they overcame a two-touchdown halftime deficit to win on Scott Sisson's 37-yard field goal with :07 left. Undefeated Georgia Tech would go on to win the rest of its games to take a share of the National Championship.

November 2, 1995: #24 Virginia 33, #2 Florida State 28

This nationally-televised contest was the first Thursday night game played at Scott Stadium and marked Florida State's first loss in an Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) game (after winning its first 29). In arguably the greatest victory in Virginia football history, FSU running back Warrick Dunn was stopped inches from the south end zone goal line after taking a direct snap on the game's final play. Fans stormed the field and brought down both goal posts, a feat not since repeated at Scott Stadium.

November 16, 1996: Virginia 20, #6 North Carolina 17

With Mack Brown's squad poised to clinch a spot in the Bowl Alliance, UVa trailed North Carolina 17-3 in the 4th quarter and the Tar Heels were driving for the knockout blow when Antwan Harris picked off a 3rd down pass and returned it 95 yards for a touchdown. Following quarterback Tim Sherman's touchdown scramble on the Hoos' next drive, kicker Rafael Garcia hit the game-winning 32-yard field goal with :39 left. In this installment of the South's Oldest Rivalry, Virginia extended North Carolina's winless drought in Scott Stadium to 15 years with the 20-17 upset.

October 15, 2005: Virginia 26, #4 Florida State 21

Ten seasons after the 33-28 milestone, Virginia's 1995 ACC Co-Championship squad was honored in a halftime ceremony. UVa went on to win in a 26–21 upset for its first victory over FSU since the 1995 game.[2]

A panoramic view of 2003's season-opening Duke - Virginia game, attended by a then-stadium record 61,737 fans

External links

• Carl Smith Center (from VirginiaSports.com)