Charles C. Hughes Stadium

Hughes Stadium

Location	Sacramento, California
Capacity	20,311[1]
Tenants
Sacramento City College Various regional high schools Sacramento Republic FC

Charles C. Hughes Stadium, commonly referred to as Hughes Stadium, is a 20,311 seat stadium in Sacramento, California, located at Sacramento City College. The stadium first opened in 1928. In 1944, the stadium was named after Charles C. Hughes, the first superintendent of the Sacramento City Unified School District.^[2] In 2012, the stadium underwent a major overhaul, installing an artificial grass field surface, a new track surface and a major refurbishment of the facilities documented in this video.

Location

It is located on the eastern portion of the Sacramento City College campus. The Union Pacific (ex Western Pacific) tracks are to the East and Sutterville Road is to the South. The City College station of Sacramento Regional Transit District's Blue Line is to the Northeast. Sutterville Road's bridge over the tracks is visible from the western seats. The closed end of the stadium's horseshoe shape is to the North-Northwest. The open end with its scoreboard is to the South-Southeast. Its parking lots are to the Northwest and Northeast of the stadium

Events and teams hosted

Camellia Bowl

Hughes Stadium hosted 16 college football bowl games known as the Camellia Bowl between 1961 and 1980. The 1961-63 games were for the NAIA national football championship. The 1964-72 Camellia Bowl games were part of a set of bowls that led up to a poll to determine the NCAA College Division championship, prior to the current Division II playoff structure, initiated in 1973. It was also the site of the third Division I-AA championship game in 1980, in which Boise State defeated defending champion Eastern Kentucky in the fog on December 20.

Sacramento Capitols

The Sacramento Capitols of the Continental Football League used Hughes Stadium as their home field in 1968 and 1969, before the League folded.^[3]

Sacramento Solons

The Sacramento Solons, a AAA minor league baseball team affiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers played three seasons in Hughes Stadium from 1974 to 1976. In 1976, the Solons' affiliation changed to the Texas Rangers. As a football and track stadium, the field was expectedly unsuitable for baseball, with a left field foul line reportedly only 233 feet long, or 17 feet shorter than the minimum requirement 250 feet, but baseballs hit over the high screen were still counted as home runs. This photo, though somewhat exaggerated due to the zoom lens, provides a sense of the closeness of the left field area.

Track and field championships

Hughes Stadium was the site of the 1968 AAU National Championships. At the meet, the evening of June 20, 1968, when three men, Jim Hines, Ronnie Ray Smith and Charlie Greene, equalled the (hand timed) world record in the 100 metres (and several others were very close), is famous amongst track and field historians as the "Night of Speed."^[4][5] It was also host to the 1995 NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships as well as several other championship events. The stadium was the host of most long distance races at the 2011 World Masters Athletics Championships .^[6]

Boxing

On September 9, 1978, Pete Ranzany fought for the world WBA welterweight title against champion José Cuevas, more commonly known as Pipino Cuevas. A crowd of 17,000 plus fans watched Cuevas knock out Ranzany in the 2nd round.

Causeway Classic

Though Sacramento State and UC Davis traditionally switched stadiums for the annual Causeway Classic football game, Hughes Stadium was used as a third-party venue for several games in the 1970s, 1980's, 1990's and last in 2002. Hughes Stadium was the host of the famous "mud bowl" in 2000, where wind and rain was so strong that a UC Davis punt actually flew backwards during the game.

Racing

Hughes Stadium's track has been used for Midget car racing.

Sacramento Pop Festival

It was the site for the Sacramento Pop Festival in 1967.

Pig Bowl

For many years the "Pig Bowl" was played at Hughes Stadium. The teams were composed of the Sacramento City Police Officers and the Sacramento County Sheriff's Deputies. These were mostly played in the 1970s.

Sacramento Mountain Lions

During the 2012 season, the Sacramento Mountain Lions of the United Football League used Hughes Stadium as their practice facility.^[7]

Sacramento Republic FC

The expansion USL Pro soccer club Sacramento Republic FC played the first few home games of 2014 at Hughes Stadium, where their per-game attendance dwarfed that of the rest of the league, and where they recorded three sellouts.^[8] The team left Hughes in June 2014 for Bonney Field, a newly built facility in Cal Expo with a full-sized soccer field and lower capacity.

References

1. http://www.ucop.edu/treasurer/_files/report/UC_Annual_Endowment_Report_FY2011-2012.pdf
2. "Sacramento City Unified School District". Retrieved 2009-11-08.
3. Crossley, Drew. "1968-1969 Sacramento Capitols". www.funwhileitlasted.net. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
4. http://www.cricketcollectables.net/the-night-of-speed-signed-print.html
5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-09-22. Retrieved 2014-04-11.
6. 2001 World Masters Athletics Championships
7. Mountain Lions begin season with morning practice. KTXL. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
8. "Republic FC Set To Face Arizona: Sellout crowd set for final game at Hughes Stadium". USLSoccer.com. United Soccer Leagues. 6 June 2014. Retrieved 5 July 2014.

External links

• Hughes Stadium
• Article about the Camellia Bowl
• Pacific Association Track & Field records including more than ten that were set in Hughes Stadium

Coordinates: 38°32′26″N 121°29′12″W / 38.54056°N 121.48667°W