Pete Hanna Stadium

From Bhamwiki
(Redirected from Seibert Stadium)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
1961 rendering of Seibert Stadium and Seibert Hall
Samford Bulldogs practice at Seibert Stadium in August 2006

Pete Hanna Stadium, originally Howard Stadium, and later F. Page Seibert Stadium, is a 6,700-seat football stadium on the campus of Samford University. It was built in 1958 as home field for the Howard Bulldogs football team, which had been playing at Shades Valley High School since the college moved to Shades Valley from East Lake the previous year.

Bobby Bowden took over as head coach of the Bulldogs in 1959 and coached the first game at the new stadium, against Tennessee Tech's "B-Team", on October 4. He was successful in piling up wins for the team's record and building interest from fans. In 1960 WBRC-TV broadcast at least two games from Howard Stadium with Tom York and Harry Mabry announcing.

The stadium was named in honor of F. Page Seibert, who donated $206,566 to complete the 3000-seat east-side stands and to add field lighting in 1961. Construction, which included completion of the gymnasium building to the north, a brick-clad facade atop the east stands, and fencing around the perimeter, began on July 1 and was completed in time for the Bulldogs' home game against Georgetown in September 30. Portable bleachers seating around 5000 more fans could bring the stadium's total capacity to nearly 12,000. The larger crowds necessitated construction of a new exit road from campus onto Lakeshore Drive, which opened in November 1961.

The Bashinsky Press Tower opened in 1989 with concession stands and restrooms on the ground floor, over 250 reserved box seats extending toward the field from the 2nd floor, a fully-equipped press room on the 3rd floor, and partly-covered camera platform on the roof accessed by elevator.

A new electronic scoreboard was installed prior to the 1994 season. The largest crowd in the stadium's history came that year when 11,189 fans crowded in to see the Bulldogs take on Steve McNair and the Alcorn State Braves.

In fall 2005, the playing surface, which had always been natural grass, was replaced by a new LSR Blade Synthetic Surface. The artificial turf also includes an extensive drainage system. The turf was replaced again, with Hybrid Mono/XP in 2013. Warner Athletic Construction of Smyrna, Tennessee was the contractor.

The Cooney Family Fieldhouse was constructed at the south end of the stadium in 2009, housing locker rooms, weight rooms, training rooms, equipment rooms, meeting rooms and offices for the coaching staff.

A statue of Bobby Bowden was erected outside the stadium entrance in 2013. A new video scoreboard was installed in 2019.

The playing field was named in Bobby Bowden's honor after his death in 2021. The Bashinsky Press Tower was also renovated that year.

The stadium was re-named for former Howard football player and long-time Samford donor Pete Hanna on October 14, 2023. Hanna scored one of the first touchdowns at Howard Stadium prior to its completion in 1958.

As part of the renovations to the adjacent Seibert Hall, the north end of the stadium was upgraded in 2023 with a terrace connecting the east and west grandstands.

References

External links

Retrieved from "http://bhamwiki.com/w/index.php?title=Pete_Hanna_Stadium&oldid=207354"