We have some family guests in town visiting University of Washington on a campus tour — so Saturday this is where we’ll be. Husky Stadium for the game against Arizona State!
Here’s an aerial shot from the Max R.
Jensen archives. Who can date it? Click for higher res.
University of Washington Stadium — Home of the Huskies.
The Stadium of the University of Washington in Seattle, home of the Huskies, with its matchless cantilever deck, has a seating capacity of 55,000. Its location on the shore of Lake Washington makes it unique insofar as it can be reached by plane or boat as well as by conventional transportation.
In the back: part of the beautiful university campus, on the right the Hed Edmundson Pavilion, indoor-sports arena for the university. Color photo by Max R.
Jensen.
Neat picture. I was a student at the UW from ’65 to ’69, and that’s what the stadium and surrounding area looked like at that time.
That’s a lot of buses!
Wonder what the helicopter parked on the unused field area is for?
Interesting…it looks like the two fields were created on the site of an old race track, which seems to be weeding over on the western end. Go Dawgs!
Eastern end, sorry. I got my tang tungled around my eye teeth and couldn’t see what I was saying.
“Hed” Edmundson pavilion? That’s a Hec of a way to spell it!
As to when the picture was taken, definitely before 1987 when the upper tier was added on the north side. Probably also before the 1968 addition of seating on the upper rim, though without a comparison photograph I cannot be certain. My guess would be the mid 1960s. Enlargement of the picture suggests the cars are about that vintage.
“with its matchless cantilever deck” Heh. How prescient. Considering it eventually finds a match.
The IMA hasn’t been built, which I believe opened in 1966, and
Rainier Vista is still open to vehicular traffic up to Stevens Way. In the 70′s I went to a game, and the program showed all the Pac-8 stadiums, and the one showing Husky Stadium was before the upper deck was built, or the upper horseshoe seats were added. http://www.washington.edu/alumni/columns/dec96/back_pages1296.html I love that John Stamets caught this, and 4 years later was snapping The Hammering Man when it fall down and go boom.
Note that it looks to be grass field, not astroturf that was installed around 1968 or so. Also, the goalposts are straight up wooden posts rather than the modern metal ones. The crowd is packed, so things were doing a little better (though Husky football was very popular then as there was little else going on). I forget when the upper deck was added, but that would be a good clue. My guess would be around the 1963 season, when they went to the Rose Bowl.
I was a student from ’65 to ’69 and I think the IMA was later than ’66. I think it may have opened after I graduated. The upper deck on the north side wasn’t added until ’87, and I think the upper deck on the south side was added around 1950, so those dates aren’t much help. The football team was mediocre in my day, but the stadium was usually full anyway. It’s hard to tell much about the cars in the picture, but I don’t see many that appear to be from the 50s, which makes me think the picture might be from ’67 or ’68 rather than ’63.
Early 60′s. Grass turf, as others have mentioned. New additions to the track and north grandstands in 1968-69, and yes, major addition to the north in ’87.