Something Nice - Mississippi State Mississippi State's Scott Stadium is the oldest football stadium in the Southeastern Conference. It opened on October 3rd, 1914 with the Bulldogs pounding Marion Military Institute 54-0. What's astonishing is not that MSU beat the hell out of M.M.I., but that the stadium was built at all. The MSU athletic program was up to it's ears in debt, so it's always been kind of a mystery just how W.D. Chadwick came up with the money to build the place. Chadwick was first hired by MSU in 1909 as the school's first professor of physical education (which is a nice way of saying he was the football coach and A.D.). He quickly went to work on building State's athletic facilities. One of the first buildings he engineered was a gymnasium. Due to the lack of funds, Chadwick built the gym without aisles. Students had to be passed to get their seats. Chadwick managed to win 29 games in the 5 years he coached and interest in MSU football was growing. He realized he needed a stadium to replace Hardy field, where the Bulldogs (they were more commonly referred to as the Maroons back then) were currently playing. The stadium was built on a pasture just past the president's house. It had a lush carpet of Bermuda grass and was surrounded by a cinder track. For it's first five years the new facility was known as The New Athletic Field. I guess people started getting tired of this rather bland name, because near the end of the 1920 season a movement by MSU students was started to change it. Eventually it was named after Don Scott, a former Bulldog football player and the first MSU grad to participate in the Olympics. Through the years, the stadium has undergone many changes. Expansions in 1936 and 1948 brought it's capacity up to 35,000 seats. In 1983, the endzone seats were removed and thus lowered seating to 32,000. In 1986 a major project was started. A $7.2 million drive was started by MSU athletic director Carl Maddox. Maddox, through the help of school boosters and leaders in the community was able to add 9,000 more seats to Scott stadium without the use of appropriated state funds (you hear that FSU?). An upper deck contributed 5,500 of the new seats, while chairbacks extending from the top of the existing stands added 1,700 seats. 1,700 more were added to the west side stands to complete the addition. A permanent lighting system was installed at this time as well. Some of the more memorable games played in Starkville include: -The 1926 MSU/Ole Miss game in which a brawl broke out after the game. Following the Reb's 7-6 win (their first in 14 straight meetings), the Ole Miss faithful tried to tear down the goalpost. They were met by some resistance (if you define resistance as smashing someone over the head with a folding chair). This incident led MSU to recommend that in the future the winning team should be awarded a goalpost. After some deliberation, a joint student delegation got together and came up with a trophy shaped like a football that would be awarded to the winning school. The trophy resembles an egg more then it does a football and is now more commonly called the Egg trophy or Golden Egg trophy. The game between Ole Miss and MSU is referred to as the Egg Bowl. -A 7-0 MSU win over General Neyland's Vols in 1950, was the Vols only loss of the season. UT would finish the season 11-1 and beat Texas in the Cotton Bowl. MSU took the opening kickoff and marched down the field for a touchdown in what amounted to the only scoring of the day. -In 1951, Ole Miss' Showboat Boykin set an SEC record by scoring 7 touchdowns as the Rebs defeated the Bulldogs 42-7. -In 1996, the Bulldogs defeated Alabama for the first time ever in Scott Stadium. The 17-16 MSU win was the Tide's first loss in Starkville after 12 straight wins. The Gators have met the Bulldogs a total of 48 times, but amazingly only 8 of them have been played in Starkville. Actually that's good for UF because MSU holds a 5-3 game advantage in games played in Scott Stadium. UF's first win came in 1956. In that game, UF defensive back Joe Brodsky picked off three passes, returning one 100 yards for a TD. Brodsky's return was for more yards then the UF offense could generate the whole day (97) as UF went on to win 26-0. Overall the Gators have met MSU in seven different locations (Gainesville, Starkville, Jackson, Orlando, Jacksonville, Montgomery and Tampa). One of State's biggest traditions is ringing cowbells during games. In 1974, the SEC voted 9-1 against the use of artificial noise makers (read cowbells), but that hasn't stopped the ringing during non-conference games (and for that matter at some conference games). The history of the bells dates back almost 100 years to a game between State and Ole Miss. MSU was winning the game handily when a cow wandered onto the field. The State faithful took this as a good omen and began bringing a cow to all games. Well after awhile they realized hauling a cow to games stinks (literally) and just started bring cowbells. In the early 60's, two MSU professors, Earl W. Terrell and Ralph L. Reeves began to weld handles on to student's bells. This allowed for maximum ringing power. By 1963, demanded was so high for bells with handles, that the Student Association bought bells in bulk so the Industrial Education club could weld handles on. The bells were eventually sold in the MSU bookstore so part of the profits could go to various student organizations. Scott Stadium is not only a football venue, it's also part cemetery. Buried at midfield is the first MSU Bulldog mascot, Bully. Tragically, in 1939, poor Bully was run over by a bus. Though he'd only been the school's mascot for three years he had endeared himself to the student body. Bully was placed in a glass covered coffin in Lee Hall. The morning of his funeral students passed by to pay their respect. At one o'clock a procession to the football stadium began. By the time Bully arrived at Scott Stadium there were over 2,000 people in the stands as well as 1,000 cadets standing at attention. In his book, The Maroon Bulldogs, William W. Sorrells described the scene like this: The famous Maroon Band played funeral dirges, and, one by one, the football players on Coach Allyn McKeen's first football team at State filed past the grave. At Bully's bier, each player paused for a second and dropped a flower. Bully's spirit is still there, facing the Maroon Bulldog bench. People often ask me why I love college football so much. Sometimes I tell them the story of Bully's funeral. Most folks listen, but still don't get it. Oh well, their loss.