Faurot Field Past and Present: A Unique History

Every college football stadium is filled with history and tradition, but the Missouri Tigers’ home field has seen more abnormalities than perhaps any other in the country, dating back to the 1920s.

In 1921, the University of Missouri decided it wanted to honor 112 alumni and students who had given their lives in World War I. Designs for a Memorial Union and a Memorial Stadium were drawn up for the Mizzou campus.

Ground was broken for the Memorial Stadium in December 1925, and according to legend, a rock crusher and truck were buried during construction and remain there today.

Plans called for the stadium to hold 25,000 people, with plans to add on to the facility, with an eventual potential capacity of 98,975.

The new, 25,000-seat stadium hosted its first game on October 2, 1926. That game, a scoreless tie against Tulane, was a unique memory in and of itself. Because of storms and wet conditions, workers could not lay sod for the field, leaving the teams to play in a stormy mess of sawdust and tree bark.

The Rock “M” that sits on the hill at the north end of the stadium was created in 1927 by freshmen using rocks left over from the stadium’s construction. The Rock “M” has fallen victim to pranksters, as others have changed the rocks to form an “N” or a “K” before games against Nebraska and Kansas.

On one such occasion, the groundskeeper noticed the “N” the morning of a game against Nebraska, proceeded to wake up freshmen in nearby dorms, and had them help him fix the stones so they showed an “M”. It is now tradition that freshmen whitewash the “M” on Saturday morning during Fall Welcome.

In 1972, the field at Memorial Stadium was renamed in honor of legendary coach Don Faurot. From that point on, the facility has been commonly referred to Faurot Field.

The south end of the stadium was enclosed with 10,800 seats in 1978, bringing the stadium total to 62,023. From 1978 to 1984, Faurot Field saw its largest crowds ever, setting an all-time attendance record of 75,298 in 1980 when Penn State came to Columbia.

Mizzou was the only Big 12 school playing on natural grass by the mid-1980’s, but that changed in the summer of 1985, when OmniTurf was installed. Due to complaints by other teams and the Big 12, OmniTurf was replaced by natural grass in 1995.

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