Rockwell Field (Kent State)
Aerial of Kent State University in the early 1930s with Rockwell Field visible at bottom center
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| Former names | Normal Field |
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| Location | Kent, Ohio, United States |
| Coordinates | 41°8′21″N 81°18′48″W / 41.13917°N 81.31333°WCoordinates: 41°8′21″N 81°18′48″W / 41.13917°N 81.31333°W |
| Owner | Kent State University |
| Operator | Kent State University |
| Capacity | 3,000 |
| Surface | Natural grass |
| Opened | 1920 |
| Closed | 1941 |
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Kent State Golden Flashes (NCAA) Football (1920–1940) Baseball (1920–1941) Men's track and field (1922–1941) |
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Rockwell Field was a multi-purpose athletic field on the campus of Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, United States. It was the first home venue for the Kent State Golden Flashes football and the first permanent home for the KSU baseball program. The field, sometimes referred to as "Normal Field", also hosted football games for the Kent State University School. Rockwell Field served as the home field for Kent State football from the team's inception in 1920 through the 1940 season, the baseball team from circa 1920 through the 1941 season, and the men's track team from their foundation in 1922 through the 1940 season. It was replaced by a new athletic complex that included a field for football with a track and an adjacent baseball field. The new football field and track, later to become Memorial Stadium by 1950, were ready for the 1941 football and 1942 track seasons, while the baseball field opened in 1942.
After the removal of intercollegiate athletics, Rockwell Field continued to be used for intramural sports and general recreation, becoming known as the Rockwell Commons and eventually as simply "the Commons". Growth and developments at Kent State during the 1940s led to additional changes to the site, such as adjacent buildings, roads, and sidewalks, as the campus expanded, making the field centrally located after originally having been on the edge of campus. In 1970, the Commons became associated with the Kent State shootings as the site of several student protests in the late 1960s and on the day of the shooting. It was included in the historic district added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010 and made a National Historic Landmark in 2017. Although no physical reminders of the field's usage for intercollegiate athletics remain, it continues to be used as a gathering place and for general recreation.
A dedicated athletic field was not part of the original plans for the Kent State Normal School, established in 1910. The first classes were held at the Kent campus in 1913 and intramural and informal athletic teams were formed that year and in early 1914. The school's first president, John McGilvrey, believed in the importance of physical education, but in the form of intramural athletics as opposed to intercollegiate athletics. As a result, athletic facilities were not included in the original plans for the school and attempts to acquire funds from the state to construct them were initially unsuccessful. The men's basketball team was established in 1913 and played their first collegiate game in January 1915. The baseball team was founded in 1914 and played a limited schedule, with a summer team forming during the summer terms. Baseball games were held on an informal field in the area of campus now largely occupied by Rockwell Hall. Early yearbooks expressed hope for better facilities and the reality that the lack of them hampered the development of intercollegiate athletics.
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