December 9, 2013 (Monday)
Baylor defeated the University of Texas Saturday, to claim first place in “The Big Twelve” football conference. The day will be remembered by many, however, for another reason: it was the last game ever to be played in Floyd Casey Stadium. A new beautiful stadium is now being built on campus on the Brazos River. It will be the fourth stadium for the Baylor team, and will cost $250 million (the stadium being replaced cost $1.8 million to build and $5 million to renovate).
I was present in person as a student when the stadium, known as “Baylor Stadium” until the1988 renovation, hosted its first game (Baylor vs Houston) on September 30, 1950. I was also “present” (via television) at the final game in that place. The stadium served the school and mainly the old “Southwest Conference” for 64 seasons.
Before 1950, the teams played in the old Waco Municipal Stadium, on Dutton and 15th Street, not far from the main campus. Before that, 1934-1937, they played at Carroll Field, located next to the old Carroll Science Building, right there on the campus.
One cannot help feeling old when a structure he saw as “brand new” is demolished because it is too old.
Life moves on. Robertson Stadium, the old Public School Stadium in Houston which we called the “High School Stadium,” has been torn down after 70 years and a new stadium for The University of Houston is being built at that location, on the university campus. I attended many games there from my Junior High days on.
Most of my old landmarks are gone. The world in which I grew up is disappearing, and, according to Revelation 21, someday will be gone completely. There will be “a new heaven and a new earth,” and the Lord’s voice will be heard: “Behold, I make all things new!”
