Duke Stadium
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| Former names | Duke Stadium (1929–1967) |
|---|---|
| Location | Frank Bassett Drive Durham, NC 27706 |
| Coordinates | 35°59′43″N 78°56′30″W / 35.99528°N 78.94167°WCoordinates: 35°59′43″N 78°56′30″W / 35.99528°N 78.94167°W |
| Owner | Duke University |
| Operator | Duke University |
| Capacity | 40,004 (2016-Present) 33,941 (1982–2015) 40,078 (1978–1981) 44,000 (1942–1977) 35,000 (1929–1941) |
| Record attendance | 57,500 (November 19, 1949) |
| Surface | Latitude 36 Bermuda Grass |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | December 1928 |
| Opened | October 5, 1929 |
| Renovated | 2014-2017 |
| Expanded | 2016 |
| Construction cost | $4 million ($55.8 million in 2017 dollars) |
| Architect | Horace Trumbauer |
| Tenants | |
| Duke Blue Devils football (1929–present) | |
Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium is a 40,004-seat stadium on the campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Primarily used for American football, it is the home field of the Duke Blue Devils. It opened in 1929 with a game against Pitt, as the first facility in Duke's new West Campus. Originally named Duke Stadium, it was renamed in 1967 for football coach Wallace Wade and has remained Wallace Wade Stadium ever since. The field was named Brooks Field at the beginning of the 2015 season after the removal of track and lowering of the field level seats.
The stadium is notable for being the site of the 1942 Rose Bowl Game. Duke had won the invitation to the game as the eastern representative. However, the attack on Pearl Harbor, just weeks after the end of the 1941 season, led to fears of a Japanese attack on the West Coast. General John L. DeWitt, commander of the Western Defense Command, advised the Tournament of Roses Association not to hold the game at the Rose Bowl Stadium itself, since he was not willing to take a chance on the Japanese choosing to stage a bombing raid on a stadium with over 90,000 people in attendance. Soon afterward, the government banned all large public gatherings on the West Coast, which ruled out Bell Field on the campus of Oregon State, the host team from the PCC, as an alternative venue. The Tournament of Roses Association originally planned to cancel the game, but Duke officials invited the Rose Bowl and Oregon State to Durham to play the game. The offer was accepted, and on a cold, rainy January 1, 1942, 56,000 fans, 22,000 of whom sat on bleachers borrowed from nearby NC State and UNC, watched the heavily favored Blue Devils fall to the strong defense of the Beavers 20-16. It is still the only time the game has been played outside of Pasadena, California.
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