Clyde Williams Stadium?

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AlleyAddict

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Jan 19, 2010
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wow, that's really cool, i had no idea that's where the old stadium was, and how much that area has changed, including friley and helser
 

ICCLONEGAL

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May 8, 2006
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My parents had season tickets to the games back in the late sixties and I got to attend a few games at Clyde Williams at about age eight or nine. I can remember picking up sandwiches before the game at Hickory Park when it was on East Lincolnway. We used to park north and west of the stadium under some big Oak trees. I remember throwing the football around with a friend I'd take to the game and it was at that early age a Cyclone fan was born. I remember the seats were just painted 2x10's or something similar. It was a fun time but I remember being pretty excited to hear about a new stadium being built. Great Thread!!

Other great memory - standing in block-long+ lines just to get into Hickory Park:notworthy:
 

AlumfromAmes

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Jun 9, 2010
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Other memories:

Bota bags

Colorado's buffalo dragging students around the track

Parking on lawns

Haircuts at Monty's
 

AlumfromAmes

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Jun 9, 2010
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I can safely say as a current student that everytime I look at picture of clyde williams I wish that it were still our stadium. renovations and additions over the years and we would actually have a very cool, respectable stadium, that would be a great home field advantage. not to mention the atmosphere that would be created by having the whole campus and campustown area tailgating and people walking around on game day.

Yes, sometimes I think it would be cool to still be at Clyde Williams Field. But, when the first game of the season comes and I see how nice the Jack is, there really is no comparison. JTS has become home and the new renovations are great. Tailgating has become fantastic at Jack Trice.

After reflecting on it all, Jack Trice is far better. Some great memories there, too.
 

CyBobby

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Oct 18, 2006
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Clyde Williams was my introduction to ISU sports. It's when I became a fan. Seeing Luther Blue run the second half kickoff back for a touchdown versus KSU - priceless.

If I'm recalling correctly, the track wasn't removed until long after the stadium was gone - I used to run on it when I was an ISU student. At least I ran on an outdoor track behind state gym - whether that was the original or not, I don't know. I always assumed it was.

For the record, when the new stadium was opened, student seating was still first come first served, and you could bring alcohol in. It was also a massive race up the hill - carrying our wineskins full of Whiskey of course - to get the best seats.

Wish I had more history. What I can tell you is that my brother was one of the guys that stormed the field before a game and took away the big flag the Nebraska cheerleaders were carrying and ran back to the ISU student section with it. The crowd went wild. His favorite story to this day. Of course, stories evolve over the years, but I choose to believe. Maybe why I'm still a Cyclone fan...


Speaking of the Track surrounding the field...Long after the stands had been torn down, I stopped their one time and walked around the track and thought about the football games that I had gone to at Clyde Williams.


It was one of the last "Historic Stadiums" in the old Big Eight Conference....About the only one left is Memorial Stadium at KU....

The new stadiums are so much more "User Friendly" for the fans but they dont have the Ambience and Flavor that the Old Historic Stadiums Had in their Heyday.


Dont get me wrong I love JTS and of course I was in attendance for the very first game against the Air Force Academy when good old number 64 ...A straight on kicker ...Kicked a 63 yard field goal thru the south uprights with a gale force wind at his back!!!!!

btw I took a flask of Black Velvet and mixed it with Coke and enjoyed the game immensely...

Until Jamie fired Dan McCarney I attended every game in JTS except the Colorado Blizzard Game and the aTm game when I was on a business trip to So Cal....

Go Clones and Im hoping for a successful season!!!!!!!:smile:
 

simply1

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If we had kept it, might look something like this?

kylefield.jpg
 

simply1

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I made it to the Colorado blizzard game, of course I was snowed in at maple-willow-larch, but I did button up and went over to sit in a snow drift. People had beer cooling in the snow on the seats, what people there were, haha.
 

justcynn

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Sep 28, 2009
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Awesome thread! so when was tailgaiting at ISU Discovered? My mom used to take me to Iowa games in the early 80's and I recall plenty of tailgaiting then - tailgaiting and Troy Davis is all we had when I was in school but would curious to know when it started at ISU?
 

mkadl

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Mar 17, 2006
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Cornfield
You would be pushed into the entrance by the long line of students which made it easy to smuggle in alcohol.
Parking was not very good, but most of the people would walk to the stadium. Tailgating hadn't really started back then.

I was about 8 to 10 years old and remember kegs under the bleacher/stands. What a great thing to remember.
 

cyclone83

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Apr 10, 2006
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Awesome thread! so when was tailgaiting at ISU Discovered? My mom used to take me to Iowa games in the early 80's and I recall plenty of tailgaiting then - tailgaiting and Troy Davis is all we had when I was in school but would curious to know when it started at ISU?

Up until 1979 the student section was general admission and the students lined up outside the gates in the morning to get good seats. Starting in 1979 students could buy blocks of reserved tickets so your dorm floor or frat could all sit together. I lived in Fulmer in Linden from 79-81 and I think about 40 out of 60 floor members had season tickets. Floor members who had moved off campus also bought with our block. Since you had a reserved seat you could then tailgate. They allowed kegs in the parking lot so we would always get a keg and join other student tailgaters in the lot just south of CY Stephens.

That is about the time that tailgating seemed to pick up with the old folks also. I don't know when they got rid of reserved student tickets and went back to general admission.
 

CRcyclone6

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I lived in Helser my first year (early '90s) and the track and field were still there. It was still called CW field, IIRC. The seating was all gone and I would run on the track too. People were always on the field playing catch, etc. It is all gone now right? Heck, Helser is gone I believe.

Jones House!

I lived on Jones also. from 89-90,90-91. smallest floor around
 

Klubber

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A couple other pics I found. Man, I'd love to have that brick wall bordering the field at JTS like in these photos.

2274681989_35eb7a1ef4.jpg
2275475122_85a1f08b43.jpg
 

Klubber

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Re: Clyde Williams Field

The track and playing surface were torn up in 2001 to make way for the new housing. That area was the band's practice field through the 2000 season. There was a pic in the Ames Trib of them practicing on a rock-hard iced-over field in preparation for the Insight.com Bowl.

Other fun fact: The track actually went underneath the south end zone seating.

527939643_78e4dcc5f2.jpg


210681913_2cbad18596.jpg



Reference points:
Intersection in upper left is Lincoln Way and Welch.
Intersection in upper right is Lincoln Way and Sheldon.

Those site lines in the end zone and bleachers are unbelievable. The stands are right on top of the field! Reminds me of the end zone seats at Notre Dame; if you've ever seen a game there you know what I mean.

That's the type of thing that many of the new stadiums just can't duplicate. Maybe in the coming years we can add some more aesthetic touches to JTS like Clyde Williams had.
 

CrossCyed

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Mar 30, 2006
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Agreed with what you guys have said about the brick. That'd be a really nice aesthetic touch that could tie in with the "Honor Before Victory" pillar, and something that would not be too difficult to install.
 

HandSanitizer

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Apr 19, 2006
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The left side of the stadium and endzone is amazing. Basically do this on the other side and you have Kinnick stadium without the crap that goes along with it.

I like Jack Trice, but the way it was built makes me wonder..

.
2275477736_c7b26d11d5.jpg
 

drednot57

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Apr 26, 2010
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Back when Hilton Coliseum opened, the university did a study on the feasibility of renovating and expanding Clyde Williams. The old stadium was becoming extremely expensive to maintain and the west stands were literally crumbling right over the heads of the players inside the locker rooms IIRC. The results of the study are pretty obvious as Cyclone Stadium/Jack Trice Stadium was built. The price of renovating the old stadium roughly equaled building JTS, maybe even exceeded JTS's cost. Someone tell me, would Earle Bruce have come to ISU if there was no new stadium in the works? I don't believe so, but that's my gut feeling with no hard facts or other knowledge to back it up.

Edit -- too bad that Pete Taylor couldn't have survived to see this site up and running. It would have been great to have him as a poster on this site. Particularly on ISU athletics history.
 
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