FACILITIES / DIRECTIONS

Memorial Stadium

Home for the Sycamore football program for the past 49 years is venerable Memorial Stadium, which is in its third year of being the home of Sycamore soccer as well.

The 12,764-seat structure has stood at the corner of Wabash and Brown Avenues in Terre Haute, Ind., since its original construction in 1924. The facility was acquired by Indiana State University in 1967.

The Sycamores have competed in football at Memorial Stadium since the 1967 campaign and the women's soccer program began using the facility in 2009.

The stadium, through constant upkeep, is in excellent condition through the years. Its latest additions are a state-of-the-art FieldTurf artificial surface, installed prior to the 2018 season as well as brand new locker room facilities for the football and women's soccer programs.

The press box also received a major overhaul with a newly designed president's and athletic director's entertainment area, as well as upgraded amenities for the media.

Despite receiving the new FieldTurf, Memorial Stadium is not new to synthetic surfaces, as the stadium and Indiana State University claim distinction as the world's first university to make outdoor application of Astroturf. Following the University's acquisition of the stadium, Indiana State opened the 1967 season with a 41-6 win over Eastern Illinois in the first game played on the new surface.

Memorial Stadium was dedicated to the public for the first time on May 5, 1925, as the local minor league baseball team, the Terre Haute Tots, played the Peoria Tractors before an estimated crowd of 9,000. Among the honored guests were Major League Baseball Commissioner Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis and Charles Barnard of the Cleveland Indians.

The first use of the playing field was in the fall of 1924, when Wiley and Garfield High Schools played their traditional Thanksgiving Day game.

Original construction of Memorial Stadium began in 1922, at a cost of $450,000. Upon the University gaining control in 1967, a three-part renovation project was started which included: the reorientation of the playing field from a north-south direction to its present east-west configuration; the installation of Astroturf; and the construction of some 4,500 bleacher seats on the north side of the field as well as the rebuilding of seats on the south side. The original arch still remains from the original structure. However, the bleacher seats, installed in 1967, were removed in the summer of 1996 and replaced by a landscaped hill which serves as a general admission section and a site for pregame tailgating for Sycamore fans.

Memorial Stadium features a single-level press box which can accommodate over 50 people for a Sycamore football contest. The press box houses the ISU Stat Crew, presidential box, broadcast locations for visiting and home radio as well as live television, home and visiting coaches booths as well the stadium's public address and scoreboard operation rooms.

The centerpiece of the ISU press box is a 20-seat media work area which features two levels of spacious accommodations for those media covering Sycamore football.

The ISU fieldhouse is the location of the ISU coaches' meeting room and locker room, as well as equipment storage, the home and visiting locker rooms and the ISU Athletic Training facility.

Former Indiana State head coach Dennis Raetz utilized Memorial Stadium well. His Sycamore teams posted a 67-30-1 mark for a .689 winning percentage in 18 seasons at Memorial Stadium. Under the lights, Raetz's teams compiled a 34-4-1 mark for an .885 winning percentage.