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Floyd Casey Stadium
Opened: 1950 • Fan Guide
The 2007 season marks Baylor's 58th playing at 50,000-seat Floyd Casey Stadium. The Bears saw a stadium season record 259,559 fans go through the turnstiles for seven 2006 home games, including a single-game record crowd of 51,385 for Baylor's Oct. 28 game against No. 22 Texas A&M. Those marks broke records of 240,367 (for six games in 1991) and 51,218 (1995 vs. Texas A&M), respectively. Since Guy Morriss' arrival in Waco, attendance at Baylor home football games has increased by nearly 25 percent, from 28,018 the year prior to his arrival in 2002 to the 37,080 the program averaged in 2006. After World War II the Baylor Stadium Corporation was formed and began a campaign to build a football stadium for the University. The corporation launched a bond sales program and was able to raise $1.5 million for construction costs. The Bears moved to Baylor Stadium in 1950. The first game played in the new stadium was Sept. 30, 1950, a 34-7 Baylor victory over the Houston Cougars, then, an independent. After 39 years of being called Baylor Stadium, 1989 was the stadium's first full year under the name Floyd Casey Stadium. The name change officially took place during halftime ceremonies of the 1988 Homecoming game with Arkansas when it was announced that longtime University supporter and trustee the late Carl B. Casey of Dallas and his wife, Thelma, contributed $5 million to the stadium renovation project in honor of his father Floyd Casey. The generous Casey donation was part of an $8 million campaign. Numerous enhancements continue to be made to the Bears' den. A new recruiting center, located on the stadium's northwest patio, opened in 2006, and a tribute to Baylor football, designed to enhance the Grant Teaff Plaza, which includes the Letterwinners Plaza and the "I Believe" Walkway, was unveiled. The plaza, first opened in 2002, originally was located at the base of the press box on the west side of the stadium. The plaza has since been expanded to wrap completely around the stadium. The plaza's centerpiece is a statue honoring former Baylor head coach and College Football Hall of Fame member Grant Teaff, the program's winningest coach who led Baylor to two Southwest Conference titles. Baylor unveiled a new synthetic turf playing surface, the Prestige System, in 2004 after six seasons of play on the natural SportGrass turf. From 1972 through 1997 Floyd Casey stadium featured an AstroTurf playing surface. In 2002, Baylor added a 23-by-31-foot LED video screen in the south end zone. The project included the addition of a state-of-the-art sound system and new digital scoreboards in both end zones. Baylor's locker room received a face lift in 2001, when the $2 million facility, the Big 12's largest, was completed. A state-of-the-art luxury suite and pressbox was built on the stadium's west side in 1999. One year prior, the team meeting room area also underwent a complete remodeling. The Carl and Thelma Casey Athletic Center, which houses departmental offices, locker rooms, training rooms, weight facilities, a video studio and meeting facilities, opened in 1991. In 1990, new lights, expanded and improved restrooms, and new concession stands were completed. An eight-year project to change from worn wooden to modern aluminum bleacher seats was completed in 1981. During the 1970s, the beautiful and comfortable Letterman's Lounge was built on the stadium's west side with funds provided by former athletes. That facility received facelifts in both 1995 and 2006. Prior to the building of Baylor Stadium in 1950, several playing sites were used by the Bears. Baylor's first football squad took the field in 1899, but no records are available to prove where it played. Old newspaper clippings and yearbook articles only indicate the first three seasons were played on an extremely rough field close to the school. From 1902 to 1925, with the exception of 1906 when football was banned on campus because it was deemed too violent, the Bears played most of their games at Carroll Field, an on-campus facility. An unknown number of games were played at the old Cotton Palace during this period, too. The Bears played at the Cotton Palace from 1926-29 before returning to Carroll Field from 1930-35. The team moved off the main campus for good in 1936 when it began calling the newly built Waco Stadium home. Waco Stadium was renamed Municipal Stadium in 1942, and it was where Baylor played through 1949 except for a break from 1943-44 because of the war effort. |
