Kidd Field is an athletic facility used primarily by the
University of Texas at El Paso
The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...
(UTEP) in
El Paso, Texas
El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the ...
. Constructed for its then-primary use as a football field in 1938, it was the site of the
Sun Bowl
The Sun Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played since 1935 in the southwestern United States at El Paso, Texas. Along with the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl, it is the second-oldest bowl game in the country, behind the Rose ...
until 1963 when
Sun Bowl Stadium opened. Kidd Field is used for
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 ...
meets today. Kidd Field cost $2,000 to build, and El Paso holds an annual Easter festival there. Built in the early 1930s, Kidd Field has been home to numerous All-Americans, national champions, national record-holders and Olympians. Named after UTEP (then Texas College of Mines and Metallurgy) professor and athletic booster John W. Kidd, the facility was shared with the UTEP football team until 1962, when the facility became sole home to the track and field team. The track features an eight-lane Mondo Track, the same surface used for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. The track was made possible by generous donations from Wayne and Russ Vandenburg of EPT Management and Mark Fry. The track was dedicated in former Miner legend Larry K. Durham's name. His contribution gave Kidd Field a makeover in 2011, and it was dedicated in his name in April 2012. A state-of-the-art Daktronics video board was added in January 2008. The 9x15-foot LED video display plants fans right into the action on the track, providing graphics and video elements that display real-time highlights throughout a meet. The lit facility also houses throws and jumps arenas, making Kidd Field one of the top track-only complexes in the country.
References
External links
UTEP Athletics Kidd Field
College track and field venues in the United States
Defunct college football venues
UTEP Miners football venues
UTEP Miners track and field
NCAA bowl game venues
Sun Bowl
Sports venues in El Paso, Texas
American football venues in Texas
Athletics (track and field) venues in Texas
1938 establishments in Texas
Sports venues completed in 1938
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