Kidd Brewer Stadium

Infobox_Stadium
stadium_name = Kidd Brewer Stadium
nickname = "The Rock"


location = 1 Jack Branch Drive
Boone, North Carolina 28608
broke_ground =
opened = September 15, 1962
owner = Appalachian State University
operator = Appalachian State University
surface = FieldTurf
construction_cost =
architect =
tenants = Appalachian State Mountaineers (NCAA)
Football (1962–present)
Outdoor Track and Field (1962–present)
Field Hockey (1968–present) | seating_capacity = 10,000 (1962–1978)
18,000 (1979–1994)
16,650 (1995–2007)
20,150 (2008–present)

Kidd Brewer Stadium is Appalachian State University's (ASU) 20,150 seat multi-purpose stadium in Boone, North Carolina. Nicknamed "The Rock", the stadium is home to the Mountaineers, the NCAA 2005, 2006, and 2007 Division I FCS national champions. It is also the home of the school's field hockey and track and field teams. The stadium has undergone many face lifts since its construction, but still stands as a beacon to the Mountaineer faithful. The stadium stands convert|3280|ft|m| above sea level with the track measured at convert|3333|ft|m| for NCAA qualifications.

One of the most picturesque settings in all of college football, Kidd Brewer Stadium also stakes claim to being one of the toughest venues in the nation for a visiting team to leave with a victory. Appalachian boasts a 192–59–5 record all-time.

History

Officially opened on September 15, 1962 as Conrad Stadium, in honor of former university trustee and R.J. Reynolds executive William J. Conrad, the stadium was originally constructed with 10,000 permanent seats. Seating capacity was expanded to 18,000 following the 1978 season. Completion of an extensive renovation and restoration project on the original 10,000 seats in 1995 readjusted the seating capacity to 16,650. A state of the-art "AppVision" video board was added in 1999 and enlarged prior to the 2001 campaign, while Appalachian was one of the initial collegiate programs in the country to install FieldTurf at its football venue in 2003.

Conrad Stadium was renamed on September 3, 1988 in honor of Kidd Brewer, one of the most successful head coaches in Appalachian football history and a colorful part of North Carolina history. Brewer, a Winston-Salem native, served as head football coach of the Mountaineers from 1935–38, compiling a 30–5–3 overall mark in his four seasons at the helm of the Apps. An All-American at Duke, Brewer’s 1937 squad was unbeaten and unscored upon in the regular season.

Appalachian carried a 30 game winning streak, the longest in Division I at the time, into the Georgia Southern game before losing on October 20, 2007. The Mountaineers previous was loss was in the first round of the playoffs, a 14–13 defeat to Maine on November 30, 2002.

Current

In the past several years, dozens of major collegiate athletics programs, as well as twenty-two National Football League teams and three Major League Baseball teams have joined Appalachian in installing FieldTurf at their venues. Appalachian has long been a pioneer of artificial playing surfaces across the Southeast, as Kidd Brewer Stadium was the first facility in either North or South Carolina to install an artificial surface. Appalachian and Elon staged the first collegiate game on fake grass in the Carolinas on October 3, 1970.

The Rock is currently in the midst of its most extensive facelift to date. Following the 2006 season, the press box was removed to make way for a new convert|100000|sqft|m2|0|sing=on stadium complex. The complex will house state-of-the-art strength and conditioning and athletic training facilities to benefit all 20 of Appalachian’s varsity sports, as well as extensive locker rooms, academic, office and meeting space for ASU student-athletes, coaches and administrators. However, the most visible element of the crown jewel of ASU athletics' $50 million facilities enhancement campaign is the addition of premium seating on the stadium’s west side, in the way of 18 luxury suites, 500 club seats and spacious Yosef Club and Chancellor's Box areas. An additional 4,400 seats have also been added to the east side stands, which brings the total seating capacity to 20,150. The addition of the new seats was completed in time for the home opener against Jacksonville on September 6, 2008.

Largest crowds

Gallery

Trivia

*The 1979 contest between Appalachian and Western Carolina in Boone was the second college football game ever televised by ESPN.
*Appalachian is 11–1 in games televised on the ESPN family of networks. (9/03/08)

External links

* [https://admin.xosn.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=21500&ATCLID=1524706 Kidd Brewer Stadium at GoASU]