Edward J Walsh Memorial Stadium

[Adman]

2 hours ago, brianstl said:

  

I have found some info on the stadium that I am currently going through.  It appears that all of the land along Oakland from the high school up to the Highlands was owned by the university when the stadium went up.  The university acquired it as part of the gift than Anna Backer made that created SLUH.  So that whole track was SLU's to do what they wanted to with.  The stadium was pretty modern for the time.  It had practice fields, locker rooms, showers, training rooms, offices for the football staff, etc.. The cost was $350,000 compared to Notre Dame Stadium's $750,000 the year before, but it was less than a third of the original capacity of Notre Dame stadium.  So this wasn't done on the cheap.  It was a quality stadium that was built with plans to expand it.  Also, the preliminary plans called for the addition of a separate baseball facility, a separate track and a tennis facility.  Those were to be built at the school's convenience.  

Here is the announcement of the stadium in the December 1929 Alumni News,  the Backer Memorial High School referenced is SLUH:
 

 

Brian, this is great info. Thanks for researching. My uncle played on the football team in the late 1930s and I have multiple images from SLU's yearbook on the Varsity and Freshman teams. I'm away from them at the moment, but will upload them here later this afternoon. 

[Pistol]

1 hour ago, almaman said:

Weird all that & we invent coolest play in team sports and then we drop football as a sport!

Was it a school-by-school decision or was it based on higher-level recommendations or discussions? A few Catholic schools dropped it right before WWII (DePaul, Providence, Gonzaga, Creighton), then there were a few post-WWII (SLU, Bonaventure), and then about one a decade after that - Marquette in 1960, Xavier in 1973, Seton Hall in 1981. St. John's didn't drop it until 2002 and St. Mary's the next year.

Georgetown cancelled its program in 1951 and brought it back in 1964, gradually moving up to the FCS level. Villanova dropped it in 1981 but brought it back a few years later under pressure from alums and still play in the second division (FCS). Same story for Fordham (dropped 1955, club team in 1964, back to NCAA in 1970).

Was it really just each school deciding it was too expensive?

[cheeseman]

52 minutes ago, Pistol said:

Was it a school-by-school decision or was it based on higher-level recommendations or discussions? A few Catholic schools dropped it right before WWII (DePaul, Providence, Gonzaga, Creighton), then there were a few post-WWII (SLU, Bonaventure), and then about one a decade after that - Marquette in 1960, Xavier in 1973, Seton Hall in 1981. St. John's didn't drop it until 2002 and St. Mary's the next year.

Georgetown cancelled its program in 1951 and brought it back in 1964, gradually moving up to the FCS level. Villanova dropped it in 1981 but brought it back a few years later under pressure from alums and still play in the second division (FCS). Same story for Fordham (dropped 1955, club team in 1964, back to NCAA in 1970).

Was it really just each school deciding it was too expensive?

Yep as far as I heard.  Money usually talks

[dennis_w]

1 hour ago, Pistol said:

Was it a school-by-school decision or was it based on higher-level recommendations or discussions? A few Catholic schools dropped it right before WWII (DePaul, Providence, Gonzaga, Creighton), then there were a few post-WWII (SLU, Bonaventure), and then about one a decade after that - Marquette in 1960, Xavier in 1973, Seton Hall in 1981. St. John's didn't drop it until 2002 and St. Mary's the next year.

Georgetown cancelled its program in 1951 and brought it back in 1964, gradually moving up to the FCS level. Villanova dropped it in 1981 but brought it back a few years later under pressure from alums and still play in the second division (FCS). Same story for Fordham (dropped 1955, club team in 1964, back to NCAA in 1970).

Was it really just each school deciding it was too expensive?

i think slu had a club team in 70's, not sure of the year

[willie]

33 minutes ago, dennis_w said:

i think slu had a club team in 70's, not sure of the year

They started a club team in 68 or 69. Made a big deal about it and drew big crowds for a game or 2. That didn't last very long. Not sure how many years they played before folding. 

[cheeseman]

1 hour ago, willie said:

They started a club team in 68 or 69. Made a big deal about it and drew big crowds for a game or 2. That didn't last very long. Not sure how many years they played before folding. 

If I remember correctly I believe they won the Club National Championship perhaps even twice.

[almaman]

is there still club teams?

[MusicCityBilliken]

1 hour ago, cheeseman said:

If I remember correctly I believe they won the Club National Championship perhaps even twice.

When I arrived at SLU back in the 70-1 year I lived on 3 Gries and several on my floor played. Walsh Hall was vacant at the time and recalled they would house several of the opposing teams in Walsh the night before the game. Remember Loyola-Chi coming in and talking with some of the players.

Your right about appearing in the Club National Championship and I believe one of the opponents was Georgetown.

The Club team only lasted a few years.

 

[thetorch]

Awesome thread. I can't believe I knew nothing about this. 

BTW if anyone has or knows of a person who posseses a SLU football helmet I would pay an ungodly amount for one.

[Box and Won]

15 hours ago, almaman said:

is there still club teams?

Marquette had one fairly recently.  I don't know if it still exists.

[brianstl]

29 minutes ago, Box and Won said:

Marquette had one fairly recently.  I don't know if it still exists.

I think the only two Catholic universities currently in the NCFA are Loyola and Sacred Heart.  At least that is what Wikipedia says.

[Pistol]

A friend of mine coached Xavier's club team for a couple seasons but I'm pretty sure they've been defunct for 5+ years now.

[almaman]

2 hours ago, brianstl said:

I think the only two Catholic universities currently in the NCFA are Loyola and Sacred Heart.  At least that is what Wikipedia says.

must be an intense rivalry.

[Adman]

On 12/10/2020 at 8:38 AM, brianstl said:

  

I have found some info on the stadium that I am currently going through.  It appears that all of the land along Oakland from the high school up to the Highlands was owned by the university when the stadium went up.  The university acquired it as part of the gift than Anna Backer made that created SLUH.  So that whole track was SLU's to do what they wanted to with.  The stadium was pretty modern for the time.  It had practice fields, locker rooms, showers, training rooms, offices for the football staff, etc.. The cost was $350,000 compared to Notre Dame Stadium's $750,000 the year before, but it was less than a third of the original capacity of Notre Dame stadium.  So this wasn't done on the cheap.  It was a quality stadium that was built with plans to expand it.  Also, the preliminary plans called for the addition of a separate baseball facility, a separate track and a tennis facility.  Those were to be built at the school's convenience.  

Here is the announcement of the stadium in the December 1929 Alumni News,  the Backer Memorial High School referenced is SLUH:
 

 

Here are the images from the Football team's section of the 1939 SLU Yearbook. Beyond naming all the players and coaches, game summaries from each game are provided for what looks like a pretty lackluster season.

One thing that I did notice. In the Washington U game summary, mention was made that the stadium was filled to capacity of 20,000, which is 5,000 more than than the stadium's original 15,000 capacity from Brian's research. So either they already expanded by 1939, or perhaps standing room for this game increased the attendance... or maybe the yearbook editor was exaggerating. 

[almaman]

way cool

[brianstl]

Thank you Adman.

[WUH]

18 hours ago, Adman said:

One thing that I did notice. In the Washington U game summary, mention was made that the stadium was filled to capacity of 20,000, which is 5,000 more than than the stadium's original 15,000 capacity from Brian's research. So either they already expanded by 1939, or perhaps standing room for this game increased the attendance... or maybe the yearbook editor was exaggerating.

In the early days, athletic programs were funded almost entirely by ticket sales so overselling the stadium was common.  Teams often divided the ticket sales 50-50 so both schools had an incentive to do so. 

Admission to the games cost $30-50 per person (inflation adjusted) and both schools had seasons in which they cancelled basketball games because they did not sell enough tickets to the football games and therefore did not have the money.

The history of SLU football is interesting, including the age-old legend that SLU invented the forward pass.

Reportedly, Coach Cochems claimed to have invented the forward pass, but there is more than enough evidence to the contrary.

It is true though that SLU threw the first legal forward pass, an incomplete pass in a game against Carroll College.  SLU played this game in September, weeks before most programs began their season. 

The Post-Dispatch described the game against Carroll as "played mostly for practice" with the first "real game" being played in October against Missouri Mines.

For this reason and others, the SLU story was largely ignored as the reportage focused on Cornell and Harvard and Michigan and others using the forward pass in preseason practices.  Yale using the forward pass to score in a scrimmage against the junior varsity was national news at the time.

A lot of schools used the forward pass in 1906 and some even blamed the pass for the loss.  For example, Arkansas used the forward pass 5-times against Kansas, losing 37-5, and said the pass play was partially to blame (though coaches were even more prone to excuse-making at the time).  At the time, an incomplete pass resulted in a turnover with the other team taking possession at the spot of the ball.

If that legend continues with the undergrads though, that is fine with me.