Something Nice - Kentucky "They are now able to come in and have these tailgating parties in a place where they can really congregate." -Fran Curci, Wildcat head football coach on one of the advantages of Kentucky's new Commonwealth Stadium I'm not a big advocate for building new football stadiums, but if better tailgate parties are an advantage, then I might be persuaded to change my mind. Actually, by the early 1970's, Kentucky was in need of a new place. Their facility, McLean Stadium, only seated 37,500 and due to its confined location on campus, there wasn't much room for expansion. It's a shame that McLean Stadium had to go. It's location was on the site of what many believe was the first football game played in the South. That game, played on April 9, 1880, between Centre College and Kentucky University took place on what would one day be known as Stoll Field. A rugby ball shipped from England was used as KU won by the score 13 3/4 to 0 (Don't ask). The field was normally used for glass ball shooting so there was broken glass all over the place. In fact one Centre College player cut his hand very badly. Eventually the glass was picked up before any future games, but Stoll Field could still be a dangerous place. Consider this from the December 5, 1880 Lexington Daily Press: On Tuesday evening as some of the students of the A&M College were playing football, a man who afterwards gave his name as White, came riding by, and not liking the noise the students were making, commenced firing a pistol at them. They all ran and were followed by this man, who repeatedly loaded and fired whenever anyone appeared in sight. This continued for about an hour, when two or three of the more courageous approached near enough to knock the pistol from his hand, when they all pitched in and gave him a severe drubbing. They then took his cartridges from him and started him home. The violence didn't end there, as even the stadium was named after a UK football player, Price McLean, who died of injuries suffered during the 1923 Cincinnati game. In 1924, concrete bleachers were built on each side of Stoll Field, and the "new" stadium was dedicated in McLean's honor. Though night football games at UK has been played in Lexington since 1929, it wasn't until 1949 that the Wildcats moved almost all of their September and October games to the evening. The reason wasn't because of severe midday heat, it was so the local horsetrack, Keeneland, wouldn't suffer from poor attendance due to folks going out to see UK football (or vice-versa). The final game played at McLean Stadium was in November of 1972. Construction on Commonwealth Stadium had begun the summer before and the first game was slated for September 15th of 1973. There was one problem though, UK officials feared that the new place wouldn't be ready in time. Tickets to the game against Virginia Tech were printed for both Commonwealth and McLean Stadiums (which must have been interesting because Mclean only held 37,500 while Commonwealth held over 50,000). Besides worrying about little things like a press box or lockerooms, UK had trouble with the actual field. Due to heavy rains in the Spring, the planting of Bermuda grass on the playing field had to be postponed to the next season. In it's place, Kentucky bluegrass was planted. Kentucky bluegrass may seem appropriate, but it gets slippery when wet and doesn't replenish the "divots" like Berumda does. Despite all of the troubles in getting the place ready, it opened on schedule with the Wildcats beating the Hokies 31-26. Down through the years, McLean and Commonwealth have played host to many interesting games: -The 1925 UK/UT Game UK alumni Guy Huguelet and Rollie M. Guthrie thought that the Wildcat/Volunteer game needed a symbol like Purdue and Indiana's "Old Oaken Bucket". They came up with the idea of a whiskey barrel. When the Women's Christian Temperance Union protested, they changed it to a beer barrel. The Anti-Saloon League didn't like a beer barrel so they protested (Temperance Union? Anti- Saloon league? Where was that guy with the pistol when you needed him?). Eventually it was named the Ice-Water barrel (though it was later changed back to the beer barrel once prohibition was repealed). Russell Rice, in his book "The Wildcats", describes the scene on Thanksgiving Day, 1925, as the barrel is brought out for the first time: Kentucky's blue-and-white-clad band marched from one end of the gridiron and the Tennesseans, in orange and white, came from the opposite goal. Six representatives from each school, their trousers decorated accordingly with either the blue of UK or the orange of UT and both wearing white waists, preceded the bands. They met at the 50 yard line, where the keg rested royally. A representative from each side drank from the barrel, filled with water, and toasted the honored foe. Then, to the tune of "How Dry I Am," the traditional ceremony was completed. Len Tracy, would score three touchdowns for the Wildcats and Gayle Mohney kicked a field goal as UK beat the Vols 23-20 to claim the barrel. The 1949 UK/UT Game In '49 the Wildcats shutout their first five opponents and were 8-1 by the time they faced the Vols. A Wildcat win could have meant at least a share of the school's first SEC championship. The week before the big game, UK coach Bear Bryant, draped the goalposts on the practice field with orange paper. He even had his "scrubs" wear orange jerseys during practice. All of the psychological game playing didn't help Kentucky. The Vols intercepted Wildcat quarterback Babe Parilli's first pass setting up a Vol drive that led to the game's only score. The Tennessee defense harassed Parilli the entire day and intercepted three more of his passes. The Wildcats could only manage four first downs the entire game as UT went on to win 6-0. The 1960 UK/LSU Game Late in the game the Wildcats had driven to the LSU 25 yard line. There they faced a fourth and one situation. The game was tied at 0-0 when UK decided to go for the first down instead of kick a field goal. Kentucky QB Jerry Woolum plunged into the LSU line and appeared to be halted when he tossed the ball to halfback Gary Steward, who picked up 5 yards and more importantly, the first down. The Tigers protested that the Woolum had been stopped and the play should have been blown dead before the pitchout, but the refs said the play stood. A few plays later, Chuckie Mayfield kicked a 28 yard field goal to win it for the Wildcats. Before Mayfield made the kick, his teammate (and future New Orleans Saints head coach) John North, gave him this piece of advise: "Mountain Boy, if you miss it, just keep on running because you won't eat another meal here." I have a feeling that Mayfield ate very well that night. The 1965 UK/Ole Miss Game Seldom does anything good come from a 4th and 41 situation, but this night back in '65 it did for the Wildcats. Kentucky was winning against the Rebs 9-7 with just 30 seconds left in the game. Wildcat punter Larry Seiple was back to kick from the UK 30. Here's how Seiple described the situation: "I started to kick, and nobody was coming. I hesitated and started to kick again, and nobody was coming. You stand there 15 yards behind the center and you can see everything. I saw an opening and took off." Take off he did, all the way to the endzone. Final score Kentucky 16 Ole Miss 7. The Gators have been playing games in Lexington since 1919, and hold a 11-10 edge over the Wildcats (though UF is 9-1 in their last ten games at UK). Even though UF holds an overall edge, there have been some painful defeats for the Gators in the Bluegrass state. The 1950 game was a 40-6 rout for the Cats. The night before it had snowed and the UK groundskeepers used gasoline to burn the snow off the field. "The field made a heck of an odor when you hit the ground" said Wildcat player (and future LSU head coach) Charlie McClendon. In 1976, the Gators traveled to Lexington knowing a win would earn them their first share of the SEC championship, but lost 28- 9. Ten years later the Gators needed a win against Kentucky to lock up a bowl bid. Once again the UF fell to the Wildcats, this time by the score of 10-3. Regardless of these losses, Commonwealth Stadium will be forever regarded to Gators fans as the place that "The Danny Wuerffel Legend" was born. In the '93 game Wuerffel replaced an ineffective Terry Dean. Despite throwing a touchdown pass to Chris Doering, Wuerffel didn't look that much better than Dean. In fact it was a Wuerffel interception late in the game that led to a Wildcat field goal that gave Kentucky a 20-17 lead. The Gators took over on their own 42 following a Harrison Houston kickoff return. Danny managed to get the Gators down to the UK 28, but by this time there was only eight seconds left in the game. I'll let UF radio announcer Mick Hubert describe how the game ended: "Well the Gators have 8 seconds. Time for a couple of plays. Jack Jackson, Chris Doering wide right. Aubrey Hill and Harrison Houston go wide left. 3rd and ten. 28 yard line. Wuerffel dropping back to throw. Pumps and fires the ball over the middle. It's Doering. DOERING'S GOT A TOUCHDOWN! DOERING'S GOT A TOUCHDOWN! OH MY! DOERING'S GOT A TOUCHDOWN! THE GATORS HAVE TAKEN THE LEAD! UNBELIEVABLE! CHRIS DOERING'S GOT A TOUCHDOWN!" Just printing Hubert's remarks really don't do this "call" justice. He really explodes when he starts saying "Doering's got a touchdown". Not half as much as I exploded when Chris caught the pass. I was in a crowded bar and when we won I hugged my wife and started screaming Yes! Yes! Yes! The Gators buried a lot of ghosts with that catch (and I buried a lot of beers). I was really disappointed with the Kentucky campus the first time I visited Lexington. I was expecting rolling hills, white fences and horses. What I got was a school located in the downtown of a fairly large city. But as I traveled South through the campus things got prettier. It began to open up. I saw green fields, a beautiful chapel and stately old trees. I also saw a football stadium located on 86 "perfect for tailgating" acres. I'm not going to kid you and try and tell you that Kentucky has been a "cornerstone" of SEC football, but they've had a role in some of our conference's great moments. With plans proceeding to expand Commonwealth Stadium, and offensive minded Hal Mumme at the helm, Wildcat football is moving up. Last year, for the first time in 75 seasons, Kentucky beat Alabama in a football game. The UK students tore down the goalposts. Kentucky athletic director C.M. Newton, said, "If I wasn't so old, I'd have joined them". I'd have joined them too.