Duck Samford Stadium is a stadium in

Auburn, Alabama Auburn is a city in Lee County, Alabama, United States. It is the largest city in eastern Alabama, with a 2020 population of 76,143. It is a principal city of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Area. The Auburn-Opelika, AL MSA with a population o ...

. It is primarily used for

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

and soccer, and is the home field of the Auburn High School

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on un ...

. Duck Samford Stadium was constructed in 1968, and seats 8,310 spectators. The field is named after James Drake "Duck" Samford, a former Auburn University football player and longtime supporter of youth athletics in Auburn who donated the land for the facility.

History

Plans for constructing a stadium to replace

Felton Little Park Felton Little Park (originally Auburn City Park) is a municipal park in Auburn, Alabama, United States. Felton Little Park is the oldest park in Auburn. From 1949 until 1968, the park was the home stadium of the Auburn High School Tigers footb ...

—which had served as Auburn High School's home field since 1949—on the site now occupied by Duck Samford Stadium began in 1964. On March 23, 1965, James "Duck" Samford donated the site to the City of Auburn. In May 1967, the Auburn City Schools agreed to a ten-year lease of the proposed stadium, which the city of Auburn constructed the following year for $1.1 million. The stadium opened on October 25, 1968, with an Auburn High School loss to Lanett High School, 14-13; the first home win at the venue came three weeks later against arch-rival

Opelika High School Opelika High School is located in Opelika, Lee County, Alabama and was originally built in 1972. Opelika High School, of the Opelika City Schools, serves students in grades 9– 12. The principal is Kelli Fischer. The school's assistant princ ...

, 41-0. The original seating consisted of what is today the home (east) stands, and seated 3,986. In 1974, a fieldhouse was constructed behind the north endzone. The stadium was expanded in 1984 to include a visitors' seating section on the west side of the stadium, which increased capacity to 6,000. A further expansion in 1993 increased the west side stands to increase the stadium's capacity to 7,120. The stadium underwent a $2.0 million renovation in 2004, with the east side stands completely replaced. At the same time, the existing turf was replaced with TifSport Certified

Bermuda grass ''Cynodon dactylon'', commonly known as Bermuda grass, is a grass found worldwide. It is native to Europe, Africa, Australia and much of Asia. It has been introduced to the Americas. Although it is not native to Bermuda, it is an abundant invasiv ...

, the same playing surface as at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium Darrell K Royal Memorial Stadium (formerly War Memorial Stadium, Memorial Stadium, and Texas Memorial Stadium), located in Austin, Texas, on the campus of the University of Texas, has been home to the Longhorns football team since 1924. The st ...

and the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...

FedExField FedExField (originally Jack Kent Cooke Stadium) is an American football stadium located in Summerfield, Maryland, east of Washington, D.C. The stadium is the home of the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). From 2004 u ...

. In 2005, ownership of Duck Samford was transferred from the City of Auburn to the Auburn City School District. The 35-year-old original fieldhouse was torn down and replaced by the Travis L. Rabren Fieldhouse in 2009. In 2010, a $705,000 expansion resulted in the construction of new restrooms, replacement of the scoreboard, and additional seating to bring the stadium's capacity to 8,310. During the summer of 2016, the stadium’s grass surface was replaced with artificial turf, part of a $629,000 project funded by Auburn City Schools to enhance the usability of the field.

Miscellaneous

Duck Samford Stadium is part of the Duck Samford Sports Complex, which also includes ten baseball fields, a walking trail, and two multi-use fields. The complex hosted the 2005 Dixie Youth World Series. Through 2011, the Auburn High School football team has a 153-95-1 record at Duck Samford Stadium, a winning percentage of 0.616. The stadium has hosted sixteen

Alabama High School Athletic Association The Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA), based in Montgomery, is the governing body for interscholastic athletics and activities programs for public schools in Alabama. The AHSAA is a member National Federation of State High School ...

football

playoff The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

games; in those matches, Auburn High School has an 8-8 record. Duck Samford Stadium is the site of the City of Auburn's

Fourth of July Independence Day ( colloquially the Fourth of July) is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing the United State ...

fireworks Fireworks are a class of low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large number of devices ...

display.Lindsay Field,
Happy 4th
, ''Opelika-Auburn News'', July 3, 2007.

References

{{end Buildings and structures in Auburn, Alabama Auburn High School (Alabama) High school football venues in the United States Soccer venues in Alabama Sports venues completed in 1968 1968 establishments in Alabama American football venues in Alabama