Misplaced Pages

Brown Stadium

Brown Stadium in 2023
Former names	Brown University Field
Location	400 Elmgrove Ave, Providence, RI 02906
Coordinates	41°50′32″N 71°23′40″W / 41.84222°N 71.39444°W / 41.84222; -71.39444
Owner	Brown University
Operator	Brown University
Capacity	20,000
Surface	FieldTurf (2021–present) Grass (Prior to 2021)
Opened	October 24, 1925
Tenants
Brown Bears (NCAA) (1925–present)

Richard Gouse Field at Brown Stadium is a football stadium located in Providence, Rhode Island. It is the home of Brown University's football and outdoor track teams. The athletic teams at Brown University, known as the Bears, compete in the Ivy League. Brown was the last Ivy stadium with a grass playing field until the installation of a FieldTurf surface in 2021. The field is named for Richard I. Gouse '68, the primary donor of the turf field.

Location and description

Richard Gouse Field at Brown Stadium is located on Elmgrove Avenue in the city's East Side, approximately 3/4 of a mile from the rest of the athletic facilities and over a mile from the main campus. The architectural design features a trapezoid-shaped southwest stands and a smaller section of concrete bleachers on the northeast side. Stands sit on both sides of the field along with a running track. The press box traverses the entire top of the southwest stands, and the rear of the southwest side includes several ornate "B" logos and the university's seal, as well as two stone bear's heads on either end of the stands.

The stadium's current capacity is 20,000. The largest crowd ever recorded at the stadium was for the Brown vs. Colgate game on Thanksgiving morning 1932; portable bleachers were brought in to accommodate 33,000 fans.

History

In the early years of Brown sports, the football teams played at Adelaide Park in Elmwood or on the university campus. In 1897, Brown was given land just west of Hope Street about a mile and a half north of campus, on which it built Andrews Field. This combined football/baseball field and running track was used from 1899 to 1925.

Brown Stadium, originally known as Brown University Field, constructed on the other side of Hope Street and slightly to the south, was financed entirely by subscription. The new field was dedicated on October 24, 1925, before a crowd of 27,000 spectators. The north stands are considerably smaller than the south ones, designed to allow for future expansion to mirror the large south ones and bring the stadium's fixed seating capacity to 32,000, but this expansion was never constructed. Adjacent to the field was Aldrich Baseball Field, and across Elmgrove Avenue was Marvel Gymnasium, completed in 1927.

Improvements

In 1978 the stadium was completely renovated as part of the football team's 100th anniversary. The original wooden benches were replaced with aluminum. The concrete was restored and waterproofed, and the restrooms, press box, and graphics were painted. an underground sprinkler was installed.

In 1991 a new home team locker room and reception room were constructed.

The stadium's first night game was played on September 25, 2010, as Brown defeated Harvard, 29–14, before a crowd of 17,000 fans.

Richard Gouse Field

Brown was the last of the Ivies to play on a grass playing surface. The grass field, used for nearly a century, was oddly "domed" in the middle, an anomaly among football fields and a potential injury risk. In summer 2021 a "perfect" FieldTurf surface was installed in time for that year's fall football season. The new field, named after primary donor Richard I. Gouse '68, is said to be faster and safer than the previous grass surface. The first game played on the new field was the 2021 Governor's Cup against the Rhode Island Rams, which was also Brown's first game after a yearlong hiatus due to COVID-19.

Notable events

Brown has had many successful teams since the stadium opened, including the Iron Man team of 1926, when eleven players played the entirety of two games and most of a third; the 1976, 1999, 2005, and 2008 Ivy League championship teams; as well as players such as Joe Paterno, former head football coach at Penn State, and several former NFL stars such as Don Colo of the Cleveland Browns and Steve Jordan of the Minnesota Vikings. The stadium hosted the Division I NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship in 1976 and 1985 and two quarterfinal matches of the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship.

Gallery

• View from the grandstand, 2008
• As seen in 2008
• Brown vs. Cornell, Oct 20, 2018
• Scoreboard
• Entrance to Brown Stadium on Sessions Street
• View from above the grandstand, 2023
• Inside the concourse

See also

• List of NCAA Division I FCS football stadiums

References

1. ^ Widmer, Ted (2015). Brown : the history of an idea. New York: Thames & Hudson. p. 167. ISBN 978-0-500-25216-1.
2. ^ "Brown Athletics". Twitter. Brown Athletics. 8 June 2021. Retrieved 12 July 2021. Richard Gouse '68, P'02 Field at Brown Stadium will be a new Field Turf surface.
3. ^ "Brown Stadium". Brown University Athletics. Retrieved 2019-04-13.
4. "Andrews Field". Encyclopedia Brunoniana.
5. ^ "October 24, 1925: Brown Stadium Dedicated". Brown University Timeline. Brown University. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
6. "Powerful Yale Eleven Outclasses Brown". The Brooklyn Standard Union. October 25, 1925. p. 22. Retrieved February 13, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
7. ^ "Artificial turf levels playing field for Brown football". The Brown Daily Herald. 10 June 2021. Archived from the original on 19 June 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
8. "Brown Athletics announces new playing surface as the Richard Gouse Field at Brown Stadium". brownbears.com. Archived from the original on 15 July 2024.

External links

• Summary at Brownbears.com
• "Stadium" entry in Encyclopedia Brunoniana

v t e Brown University
Schools	College Graduate School Medical Engineering Public Health
Centers	Annenberg Institute Arts Institute Carney Institute ICERM Joukowsky Institute Pembroke Center Political Theory Project Watson Institute
Athletics	Teams Football Baseball Men's basketball Women's basketball Men's lacrosse Men's soccer Men's ice hockey Women's ice hockey Sailing Men's rowing Venues Gouse Field Marvel Gymnasium Meehan Auditorium Murray Stadium Pizzitola Sports Center Stevenson Field
Campus	Buildings Statues Angell Street Andrews House Annmary Brown Memorial Bell Gallery Computing Laboratory Corliss–Brackett House Granoff Center Haffenreffer Museum Hay Library Joseph Haile House John Carter Brown Library Ladd Observatory Lindemann Performing Arts Center Nightingale–Brown House Jerimoth Hill Rockefeller Library Sayles Hall Sciences Library Slavery Memorial South Street Landing Thayer Street University Hall Van Wickle Gates Wickenden Street
History	History Open Curriculum In popular culture Alumni Faculty Presidents Coat of Arms Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection Josiah S. Carberry
Student Life	Alma Mater WBRU Brown Student & Community Radio Program in Liberal Medical Education International Mentoring Program Spring Weekend
Publications	Brown Daily Herald Brown Journal of World Affairs The Brown Jug The Brown Noser The College Hill Independent Cardinal Points Critical Review Encyclopedia Brunoniana Modernist Journals Project Philosophy and Phenomenological Research Brown Political Review The Brown Spectator Studies in Comparative International Development Women Writers Project
Organizations	Band Bear Necessities Bootstrap Brownbrokers Center for Students of Color Debating Union Derbies Ivy Film Festival Jabberwocks Orchestra Production Workshop Rhode Island Innovative Policy Lab Rites and Reason Theatre Sarah Doyle Women's Center Societas Domi Pacificae Zeta Delta Xi
Category

• College football venues in Rhode Island
• Brown Bears football
• College lacrosse venues in the United States
• Lacrosse venues in the United States
• Buildings and structures in Providence, Rhode Island
• Sports venues in Providence County, Rhode Island
• 1925 establishments in Rhode Island
• Sports venues completed in 1925