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Game Day at Amon Carter Stadium

A stadium for champions

There might never have been an Amon G. Carter Stadium had TCU never been invited into the fledgling Southwest Conference in 1922.

But tiny Texas Christian University -- barely 1,000 students -- was included. And in 1923, the Frogs began conference play with SMU, Texas, Arkansas, Texas A&M, Baylor, Rice and Oklahoma A&M, all schools they had faced infrequently since fielding their first squad in 1897.

With annual games against notable regional opponents, crowds at Clark Field -- basically two wooden bleachers of 25 tiers enclosed by a wood fence -- began to overflow. Even adding stands in the end zones wasn't enough to meet the demand.

By 1927, TCU trustees voted to enlarge the stadium. Two years later, they created an Athletics Committee to study how much a new stadium would cost and how to pay for it.

Meanwhile, the football team, with good timing, won its first SWC crown in 1929, the same year the committee recommended that TCU start a "quiet campaign" headed by Fort Worth Star-Telegram publisher Amon G. Carter to raise $150,000 for a stadium to seat 30,000.

Carter, likely the most influential person in the community at the time, upped the ante. He suggested that Fort Worth residents raise 60 percent of the money for a stadium.

Later, it was decided that the sale of first- and second-mortgage bonds would help build a $350,000 stadium that would seat 27,000 but be expandable to 60,000.

With no obligation to the university, the trustees endorsed the idea, and on Oct. 11, 1930, TCU beat Arkansas, 40-0, in the first game played at the new stadium.

Through the years, TCU has expanded Carter's vision. Minor additions in 1948, 1951 and 1953 increased seating to 37,000. An upper deck and press box in 1956 stretched capacity to its current 46,000.

The first televised game came in 1948. Synthetic turf was added in 1973 and then removed in 1992. A sound system was installed in 1991 and a message center in 1992.

The most recent amenity, a full-color, digital video board for instant replays, was erected in 2002.

Through all the improvements, Amon G. Carter Stadium remains treasured for its rich history. As legendary TCU coach Dutch Meyer once said, "There is no finer stadium around than our stadium of champions."

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