Kenan Memorial Stadium
 Interior of the stadium in 2013 |
|
| Location | 78 Stadium Drive, Chapel Hill, NC 27514 |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 35°54′25″N 79°2′52″W / 35.90694°N 79.04778°WCoordinates: 35°54′25″N 79°2′52″W / 35.90694°N 79.04778°W |
| Owner | University of North Carolina |
| Operator | University of North Carolina |
| Capacity | 24,000 (1927–1962, expandable to 40,000) 48,000 (1963–1978) 50,000 (1979–1987) 52,000 (1988–1995) 48,500 (1996) 57,500 (1997) 60,000 (1998–2010) 63,000 (2011–present) |
| Field size | 360 x 160 ft |
| Surface | Tifway 419 Bermuda Grass |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | November 1926 |
| Built | 1926–1927 |
| Opened | November 12, 1927 |
| Renovated | 1995–1998, 2003, 2007, 2010–2011, 2016 |
| Expanded | 1963, 1979, 1987–1988, 1995–1998, 2010–2011 |
| Construction cost | $303,000 ($4.18 million in 2017 dollars) |
| Architect | Atwood & Nash Corley Redfoot Architects, Inc. (renovations 1987–present) |
| Structural engineer | LHC Structural Engineers (renovations 1979–present) |
| General contractor | TC Thompson & Co. |
| Tenants | |
| North Carolina Tar Heels (NCAA) (1927–present) | |
Kenan Memorial Stadium is located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and is the home field of the North Carolina Tar Heels. It is primarily used for football. The stadium opened in 1927 and holds 63,000 people. It is located near the center of campus at the University of North Carolina.
The previous home of the Tar Heels had been Emerson Field, which had opened in 1916 on the current site of Davis Library. By 1925, it was obvious that that 2,400-seat facility was not adequate for the increasing crowds. Expansion was quickly ruled out since the baseball team also used it, and any new football seats would have been too far away for baseball.
Funding for the stadium was originally supposed to come from alumni donations. William R. Kenan, Jr., a dairy farmer from Lockport, New York who would later become a prominent businessman in Miami, got word of the initial plans and donated a large gift to build the stadium and an adjoining field house. Kenan was an 1894 UNC graduate and grandson of one of UNC's original trustees. He was also a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at the University. Kenan persuaded UNC to build the stadium as a memorial to his parents, William R. Kenan and Mary Hargrave Kenan.
Ground was broken in November 1926. It was completed in August 1927. At the time, it was located on the far southern portion of campus, but expansions over the years have resulted in the stadium now being near the center of campus. The stadium officially opened on November 24, 1927. The Tar Heels defeated Davidson College 27-0, with the first touchdown in the new stadium by Edison Foard. The first game at Kenan Stadium brought in 9,000 spectators. It was officially dedicated to the Kenan family on Thanksgiving Day in 1927 in front of 28,000 fans, after the Tar Heels beat the Virginia Cavaliers 14-13.
The original stadium - the lower level of the current stadium's sideline seats - seated 24,000 people. However, temporary bleachers were added to the end zones to accommodate overflow crowds, allowing Kenan to accommodate over 40,000 people at times. This happened fairly often over the years, especially during the Choo Choo Justice era of the late 1940s.
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