Rogers Field (Washington State)

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Rogers Field was a football and track stadium in Pullman, Washington, the on-campus home field of the Washington State Cougars until April 1970.

Originally built in 1892 for track and field and named Soldier Field, it hosted its first football game in 1895, when WSU defeated its Palouse neighbor Idaho 10-4. In 1902, the stadium was renamed for Governor John R. Rogers, who died in office the previous December. The final structure was completely rebuilt in 1936.[1]

The 23,500-seat wooden stadium had a horseshoe-shaped grandstand, open on the west end, with its playing field at an elevation of 2530 feet (771 m). During its final season, Rogers Field was also the home for the neighboring Idaho Vandals. Idaho's wooden Neale Stadium had been condemned after the 1968 season and was to be rebuilt with concrete grandstands, ready in 1971. Idaho planned on playing its two Palouse home games at Rogers Field for next two seasons (1969-70), with another home game played in Boise. During the 1960s, the WSU football team actually played more often in Spokane than in Pullman.

A fire significantly damaged the Rogers Field stadium late on Saturday, April 4, 1970, the first day of Spring Break. A definitive cause of the blaze was not determined, but was widely believed to have been arson. A track & field meet with Oregon State had been held at the stadium earlier in the day.[2] Idaho's idle (and condemned) Neale Stadium had burned in November 1969, also a suspected arson.

In 1970 both the WSU Cougars and Idaho Vandals played their home football games at Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane. This included the game between the teams, the so-called "Displaced Bowl," easily won by WSU on September 19th, ending a ten game losing streak for Jim Sweeney's Cougars, dating back to September 1969.

The Idaho Vandals returned to Moscow in 1971 to play in their new "Idaho Stadium" (to be enclosed four years later and renamed the Kibbie Dome), but the Cougars again used Joe Albi as their home field for the 1971 football season. Martin Stadium, the new concrete football stadium in Pullman, was ready by late September 1972. After the 1978 season, the field level at the stadium was lowered and its seating capacity expanded. The revamped Martin debuted in mid-October 1979 with an inspired win over UCLA. The last Apple Cup in Spokane was in 1980, but the Cougars continued to play several home games in Spokane through the 1983 season.