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To get the desired three by four inch view of Nebraska’s stadium a
photographer might walk around it seven times and his pursuit would
still be in vain, for it ovals away from him endlessly. One could get a
pointblank shot at it from the air, but empty seats, even people
enmasse, bundled in blankets, aren’t as attractive as arched windows,
which lend beauty to the mammoth structure. In the foreground of this
picture is the military department’s reviewing stand, which furnished
not only requisite proportions but perspective suitable to the times,
war now having put college athletics in the background with no gentle
hand.
The stadium, which holds 30,000 without the bleachers, is a memorial to
U. of N. men who have died in the nation’s wars. The half million dollar
cost was defrayed by students, faculty, alumni and friends. Many a
tonsil shredding joust has taken place within the stadium’s great arms.
The following from the helpful typewriter of Walter Dobbins gives
details:
“The first game played on stadium sod was with the Oklahoma Sooners,
Oct. 13, 1923, just a week before dedication of the bowl. With its
building Nebraska became a ‘big time’ football school. Games were
scheduled with top flight teams from north, south, east and west. The
largest crowd ever packed into the home field witnessed Nebraska’s 7 to
0 victory over Indiana Oct. 20, 1937.
“Some of Nebraska’s gridiron triumphs have been recorded at the stadium,
including the amazing 14 to 7 victory over Notre Dame’s Four Horsemen in
1923; the 17 to 0 win over Rockne’s eleven in 1924 and the last of the
11 game series with the Fighting Irish. New York U.’s national title
hopes were blasted on the same field in 1926 and 1927. Greatest of all
victories, however, are later ones—the 14 to 9 defeat of Minnesota in
1937 and the 6-9 win over the Gophers in 1939.”