Edwards Stadium (also referred to as Edwards Field) is the

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

and

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

venue for the

California Golden Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club tea ...

, the athletic teams of the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

. This

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

-styled stadium was designed by architects Warren C. Perry and George W. Kelham, and opened in 1932. It was named for mathematics professor

George C. Edwards George Clayton Edwards (born April 9, 1948) is an American politician who previously served as a member of the Maryland Senate from District 1. Background Edwards was elected as the State Senator for Maryland District 1 in 2006, which covers G ...

(18691930), who had been a member of the university's first graduating class, and was the oldest track-only stadium in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

until 1999, when it was reconfigured to accommodate the Cal

teams. It is located at 2223 Fulton Street on the southwest corner of the Berkeley campus, at the corner of Bancroft Way, and has a seating capacity of 22,000. From the stadium there are panoramic views of the

Berkeley Hills The Berkeley Hills are a range of the Pacific Coast Ranges that overlook the northeast side of the valley that encompasses San Francisco Bay. They were previously called the "Contra Costa Range/Hills" (from the original Spanish ''Sierra de l ...

and Strawberry Canyon to the east, and the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water f ...

Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Pen ...

, and the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

skyline to the west. An invitational Cal Bears track meet is held annually at Edwards Stadium. It was renamed the Brutus Hamilton Memorial Invitational in 1998. The venue also hosted the NCAA Division I Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 1935, 1937, 1952, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1965 and 1968. The venue has also has hosted a National AAU championship, and the 1971 and '78 USA vs. USSR dual meets, among others. There have been 12 world records (including records by

Dutch Warmerdam Cornelius "Dutch" Warmerdam (June 22, 1915 – November 13, 2001) was an American pole vaulter who held the world record between 1940 and 1957. He missed the Olympics due to World War II, and retired from senior competitions in 1944, though he c ...

, Jim Ryun, Pat Matzdorf, and Henry Rono), 26 American records and 24 collegiate records set at Edwards. the stadium was in need of both concrete repair and seismic upgrading.Max Cherney
UC Berkeley acts after concrete falls at Edwards Stadium
''Berkeleyside'', July 20, 2016.

References

Art Deco architecture in California College soccer venues in California Sports venues in Berkeley, California Sports venues in the San Francisco Bay Area Athletics (track and field) venues in California College track and field venues in the United States California Golden Bears soccer California Golden Bears track and field University of California, Berkeley buildings Event venues established in 1932 National Register of Historic Places in Berkeley, California Sports venues on the National Register of Historic Places in California {{AlamedaCountyCA-NRHP-stub

See also

References