Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com

I was browsing the Google photos referenced in another thread when I came across this one:



Description from the site ballparks.com:

The Stadium- circa 1964 This original model depicts a much different stadium than what houses the Falcons today. The stadium was designed to be completely enclosed, and (judging from present capacity and design changes) may have held around 50,000 fans. A press box was suspended in mid-air by four arch-like pillars. The location of the proposed stadium seems to be in the same location as the present stadium, though an interchange with Interstate 75 on what appears to be Poe Road (seen in the upper left corner of the photo) never materialized.

Why wasn't this stadium design ever implemented? The press box may have been too difficult and/or costly to construct, and other buildings in the project (the baseball field, the Ice Arena, etc.) were either added or expanded after this original plan, thus taking project money away from the stadium. [Note: No positive or negative opinion is expressed here on that decision.] It remains to be seen if the stadium will ever expand to the original design.

This is interesting. I'd love to hear more about the history of this design.

Edit: TG has the same photo and description on the BGSUSports.com site.

Back in the 60's, they did a lot of drugs.

What I have heard (although I can't confirm it) is that, at that time, there were plans within the great state of Ohio to expand BGSU to near the size of OSU. Thus, much land was purchased (you'd be surprized how much land the university owns in and around town, although they may have divested themselves of some of it in recent times) and the football stadium was designed with that expansion in mind. Alas, the powers that be at OSU balked at the idea of more than one large univerisity in our fair state and, apparantly convinced the right people that this idea should be reconsidered.

While the university has continued to grow over the years, it hasn't been allowed to grow at the rate that was originally conceived. Therefore, the stadium was never completed and the university remains mid-tier in size. There is a part of me that is glad because the "town" of BG would be a totally different place now, and I kind of like it the way it is. On the other hand it really pisses me off that, if true, OSU officials have the power to nix that kind of expansion.

BGFan wrote: On the other hand it really pisses me off that, if true, OSU officials have the power to nix that kind of expansion.

If I remember right, the folks at OSU have been cranky at the idea of BG (and Kent State for that matter) from the beginning. From the establishment of the college through most of the formative years, anytime BG wanted to do something, it was either voted down by OSU trustees, or tweaked so they got something out of it, too. I forget specifics, but its all in Dr. Robert Overman's history of BGSU book.

TG1996 wrote:

BGFan wrote: On the other hand it really pisses me off that, if true, OSU officials have the power to nix that kind of expansion.

If I remember right, the folks at OSU have been cranky at the idea of BG (and Kent State for that matter) from the beginning. From the establishment of the college through most of the formative years, anytime BG wanted to do something, it was either voted down by OSU trustees, or tweaked so they got something out of it, too. I forget specifics, but its all in Dr. Robert Overman's history of BGSU book.

They're really full of themselves down there. They can't stand the competition.

Flipper wrote:Back in the 60's, they did a lot of drugs.

I actually think that design is kinda cool.

It was not the Board of Trustees at OSU that screwed us. They have no power to do so. Sure they were ticked that we were growing so fast, estimated to be 30,000+ by 1970. It was the Board of Regents that placed the enrollment cap on all state universities, including OSU. Something about the number of students in relation to the number of residents in the city where it is located. Thats what I recall from Overman's book. And that cap was removed, I believe, in the mid 1980's.

I don't remember enough about the Overman book to go into detail about enrollments, though I do remember (and just double checked) that folks at OSU were none too happy with the formation and growth of BG in the earliest stages of development. Once BG (and Kent State) applied to gain college status (and not just "normal college" for the purpose of training elementary school teachers), OSU filed formal complaints that the schools were not good enough to think they could train high school teachers, even, much less offer degrees. They even went as far as to send their own faculty members to BG to "observe".

In probably one of the greatest "dick moves" in the history of the University (at least until Coach Brandon kneeled on the 2 with time ticking down against Marshall ), President Williams sent a committee down to investigate Ohio State, and found that their instructors were terrible and very poorly equipped. They got OSU to admit their short-comings, and soon thereafter BG was conferring degrees upon its graduates.

I think things smoothed over for the most part after that, but it was the very early years (1920's and '30s) where OSU played the role of spoiled older brother.

As tough as the dry spots in that book (and Stu Given's "The Falcon Soars") were to get through at times, I think I'll be going back and re-reading them many many times.

BGSU Falconz wrote:

Flipper wrote:Back in the 60's, they did a lot of drugs.

I actually think that design is kinda cool.

Me, too. But if there is a press box suspended completely in air by 4 posts, how do people get to it? Wonder if they had rope ladders hanging down

McMetz811 wrote:

BGSU Falconz wrote:

Flipper wrote:Back in the 60's, they did a lot of drugs.

I actually think that design is kinda cool.

Me, too. But if there is a press box suspended completely in air by 4 posts, how do people get to it? Wonder if they had rope ladders hanging down

Maybe elevators go up the posts..

BGSU Falconz wrote:

McMetz811 wrote:

BGSU Falconz wrote:

Flipper wrote:Back in the 60's, they did a lot of drugs.

I actually think that design is kinda cool.

Me, too. But if there is a press box suspended completely in air by 4 posts, how do people get to it? Wonder if they had rope ladders hanging down

Maybe elevators go up the posts..

I'm sure that when this was designed they figured we would've mastered the technology to "beam" people up there by now.

TG1996 wrote: In probably one of the greatest "dick moves" in the history of the University (at least until Coach Brandon kneeled on the 2 with time ticking down against Marshall ), President Williams sent a committee down to investigate Ohio State, and found that their instructors were terrible and very poorly equipped. They got OSU to admit their short-comings, and soon thereafter BG was conferring degrees upon its graduates.

That's amazing! What a story!

McMetz811 wrote: But if there is a press box suspended completely in air by 4 posts, how do people get to it? Wonder if they had rope ladders hanging down

Those "posts" are actually tubes. Pneumatic tubes like the ones at the banks. You climb into them, close the door and poof.......you are in the press box in seconds.

I like how it is going to look in a few years.

Ornithologist wrote: Those "posts" are actually tubes. Pneumatic tubes like the ones at the banks. You climb into them, close the door and poof.......you are in the press box in seconds.

But what if I have loose change in my pockets? Don't they always say not to put loose change in those things? That picture always makes me think of bubble hockey, without the dome.


And Schad.... I know, isn't it? The university spends all this time trying to grow and establish itself, only to be held back by out of towners, and instead of sitting back and taking it, they stick it right back at 'em!!! The book does go on to say something about owing a debt of gratitude to OSU, but only because if they wouldn't have raised a stink about BG's standards, BG wouldn't have been giving degrees nearly as soon as they did.

I still think the best story from that book is that they turned down Napoleon as a possible site for the campus because they sold booze. BG was a dry town, and that got it in the final 3. Oh how things have changed!