Abandoned Stadiums
- Thread starter DinwiddieProud
- Start date
Very interesting. Cool to see the roots of some of the schools known today.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing.
I agree. It’s neat to look back and see the origins of some of the schools we are failure with today. I’m sure there are many many more across the state and across the country.
At Fort Barfoot, formerly Fort Pickett, in Blackstone Va there is an old stadium on the base. I’m sure it was built in the late 40,s. Pickett, at the time, was huge. It was built as WW2 escalated. It probably housed 40-50k troops. I’m sure they built the stadium just after the war as part of providing activities for the troops. The bleachers wrap around three sides, are probably 20 runs high, and completely made from bricks.
Our team spends a week on base every August. They practice twice a day on this field. I doubt that the kids can appreciate the nostalgia, but us old guys do. We actually held a scrimmage one year up there against Mills Godwin. That was super neat.
At Fort Barfoot, formerly Fort Pickett, in Blackstone Va there is an old stadium on the base. I’m sure it was built in the late 40,s. Pickett, at the time, was huge. It was built as WW2 escalated. It probably housed 40-50k troops. I’m sure they built the stadium just after the war as part of providing activities for the troops. The bleachers wrap around three sides, are probably 20 runs high, and completely made from bricks.
Our team spends a week on base every August. They practice twice a day on this field. I doubt that the kids can appreciate the nostalgia, but us old guys do. We actually held a scrimmage one year up there against Mills Godwin. That was super neat.
In Staunton, for decades the old Lee High football field sat in front of the high school on Churchville Avenue just before you enter Gypsy Hill Park. There was one set of concrete bleachers built into the side of the hill. The school itself closed in the 1970s and today it is an apartment complex with a theater where a local group produces plays. As for the bleachers, to be honest I have not even looked over in years to see if they are still there. After a while it just became one of those things that you could ride by and not even notice. The current football stadium is in Gypsy Hill nearby and has been in use for as long as I can remember, so I am not sure when they last played on this old field.
I spoke with him a few weeks ago and he was doing great. He still has a small hand in with the boys with weight room and maybe a day or two after school here and there. He at DUKE for check ups and treatments at times but still loving life and as he would put "giving God all the glory".
That’s great news. He is a wonderful human being and your community is lucky to have him mentoring your kids. The next time you see him tell him that Dinwiddie holds him in their prayers.
Thank you for the update.
Oh, and by the way, one of my best friends recently bought the Toll Keepers house on Bent Creek in Gladstone. It was built in 1820. He has been working on buying it for several years. It didn’t have a deeded right of way and he was able to negotiate a solution and finally closed on it a month or so ago. I’ll be headed out there soon to see what needs to be done to the wiring to make it safer. Incidently, this same buddy owns Fork Inn in Sutherland VA. Google it, it’s got quite the history.
Was stationed at Fort Eustis VA years ago and we did summer training sessions with the National Guard units that would roll through there. Years ago, the Feds gave that post/base to the State of VA to use as a national guard base. I've seen that stadium many times. Several of the local Nottoway football players would work out in the gym. I believe Nottoway had just one the state title the previous fall which was in the 90s.
World would be a thousand fold better if most people had just 20 percent of Doug Smith in them
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Ive said it before, I feel extremely blessed to have had my boys play under Doug (and I dont mean the rings)
Coach Doug Smith has given so much to the Appomattox community , school, staff, players, and the surrounding counties fans like me has been unmeasurable ! The "Power of One " will be remembered by all of us forever ! Thanks Coach Smith ! Keep shining for God, all of us, and your family ! 
Rich Valley High School football stadium was a beautiful setting. Right on the north bank of the North Holston River.
When Rich Valley and RB Worthy combined into Northwood HS, Worthy's stadium was/is used.
When Rich Valley and RB Worthy combined into Northwood HS, Worthy's stadium was/is used.
The old Appalachia High School stadium was quiet the venue. Remember watching the late, great Ed Clarke, better known as the Stonega Stallion, play there in the fall of 1969 against Gate City. Believe the score was something like 7-6 or 7-0. Can’t remember exactly to many years of good living. Also Tom Turner made the stadium famous during his coaching career.
Records show it was 12-0 Appalachia. And at Gate City too. And that was an undefeated season for Appalachia.
I think he's referring to 1968. An excerpt from the BHC...
Perhaps the most famous of such games(tied games) in Southwest Virginia occurred on Oct. 11, 1968 when the Appalachia Bulldogs and Gate City Blue Devils played to a 6-6 standstill in front of an estimated crowd of 12,000-plus in Wise County.
I had 2 family members that played with Ed Clark and an uncle that was a minor Appalachia football historian. I heard many stories about him growing up and saw pictures from this game. People were standing on the roof of the HS, on top of the fences and some had even climbed up the light poles just to watch the game.
If you're familiar with the stadium at all there was very little parking and there were stories of people parking a mile away from the field and walking to the game.
And just a side note on the video. Union has only played one game at Riggs Stadium, a 2014 contest against Sullivan North, TN. Ironically enough, it was a victim of consolidation 7 years after this game, and their stadium is also mentioned in the video.
Riggs Stadium was a fantastic venue for HS football in Appalachia's heyday.
Couldn’t remember exact year. I was at both games. Much younger and flying higher altitude in those days. Also remember one year GC went undefeated, if my memory holds. GC gave up very few points but EdClarke scored on them at GC. Jeff Baker was a stud for GC.
Take a look here. Note that the closed schools are in the lower section.
This link is just Va, but he has compiled another half dozen states around VA too.
Wow, Appalachia was sure a storied program in that era.
Any chance you can post the link to the video that you are referring to Union Fan?
Any chance you can post the link to the video that you are referring to Union Fan?
I was actually referring to the video on this thread mentioning that Union had played 3 games at Riggs Stadium when it was only the one against Sullivan North.
My uncle actually had the 1968 Appy/GC game on VHS that had been converted from 8 mm. It was pretty grainy though.
Here's a news story with a video clip.
And a "History with Hayes" article about Ed.
If you never saw Ed's nephew Thomas Jones, in high school, this video is a real treat.
I had a few minutes to talk with our assistant coach, Coach Davis yesterday. He played at Hurley. I enjoyed hearing his stories about games and life out there. The best thing he joked about is wonderful advice for all kids theses days. He said they were poor, but hell, everybody was poor, but nobody knew they were poor. You just dealt with whatever came your way and helped each other without being asked, and were always busy doing something.
That’s true. Many of us didn’t know we were poor. No one felt entitled or privileged. Oh we had one or two maybe thought they were but it was just in their heads. Now one of our rival schools in another Southwest Va or Western Va had some doctors, lawyers, judge kids, and vet kids, but that was an exception. Kicked their butts often in every thing but baseball. Many of us had to work on the farms and in burley tobacco fields during baseball seasons so we could play football in the fall.
The first couple of decades that Dinwiddie High was around, many kids couldn’t play football because they had to get home from school and help get the tobacco crop harvested. That’s just the way it was back then. By the 90’s, most farms were using seasonal farm labor from Mexico, so kids were not as obligated. And with each passing year, more and more family farms ceased operations, or leased their land to larger farmers.
For you younger people, this will be almost unbelievable.
90% of high school boys drove trucks to school.
90% of those trucks had guns on a rack on the back window. (most were loaded).
90% of all boys in high school wore a Buck Knife on their belt.
100% of the time nobody got shot or stabbed.
For you younger people, this will be almost unbelievable.
90% of high school boys drove trucks to school.
90% of those trucks had guns on a rack on the back window. (most were loaded).
90% of all boys in high school wore a Buck Knife on their belt.
100% of the time nobody got shot or stabbed.
I can vouch for this. In the mid 90s when I was in school, we all went hunting before school and had our guns in our truck. Nobody bothered them and Nobody ever got in trouble
Remember those days. During hunting seasons I wouldn’t have 25% attendance in classes. No one raised a fuss about it. No one hurt ss you said stabbed, and most did drive trucks. The biggest argument were, which was better Ford or Chevy. Occasionally someone had car, not one of these little bumble bees, but a muscle car. My how times have changed.
I moved from Roanoke to Petersburg in 1989 and I remember going to a baseball game in the spring and the Dinwiddie Coach Tim Haynes was panicking because his whole bullpen and starting center fielder missed a big double header. They were out loading/ gathering bales of winter grass. I was shocked that these kids would miss a game, but quickly
learned why. An old man in bib overalls and a wad of tobacco in his jaw explained that baseball was just that a game. Working hard and pitching in to help a neighbor was more important in their daily life. That same work ethic and belief is still alive today. For this reason I call Navy Nation home.
learned why. An old man in bib overalls and a wad of tobacco in his jaw explained that baseball was just that a game. Working hard and pitching in to help a neighbor was more important in their daily life. That same work ethic and belief is still alive today. For this reason I call Navy Nation home.