Cramton Bowl

Coordinates: 32°22′46″N 86°17′35″W / 32.37949°N 86.293002°W / 32.37949; -86.293002
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Cramton Bowl
Montgomery Lions (Southeastern League) (1927–1930)
  • Philadelphia Athletics (AL
    • ) (spring training) (1923–1924)

    Cramton Bowl is a 25,000-seat

    minor league baseball. Today, however, its primary use is for American football
    .

    It is the host of the annual Camellia Bowl for the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS); the FCS Kickoff, an annual season-opening game in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision; and of Montgomery's five high school squads. It was previously home to the former Blue–Gray Football Classic, a collegiate all-star game usually played on Christmas Day, the Alabama State Hornets football team, and hosted the first ever football game played under the lights in the South.[1][2]

    Stadium history

    An architect's sketch of Cramton Bowl in 1921

    Cramton Bowl is named for Fred J. Cramton, a local businessman who donated the land on which the stadium is built.

    Junior Chamber of Commerce, Cramton raised $33,000 to build the sports venue.[4]

    Seating capacity was expanded in 1929 to 7,991. More additions were made in 1946, increasing the seating capacity to 12,000.[5] East stands were added in 1962 bringing the seating capacity up to 24,000. After new renovations were completed in July 2011 the capacity was reduced to 21,000.[6] The stadium's modern boundaries are Madison Avenue (north); Hall Street (east); Pelham Street (south); and buildings and Hilliard Street (west).

    Baseball

    Cramton Bowl during a baseball game in the 1920s or 1930s

    The first baseball game played on the new field was in May 1922 between

    Philadelphia Athletics decided to move their spring training operations from Eagle Pass, Texas to Montgomery. They used the facility for their 1923 and 1924 spring training and exhibition games before moving to a newer stadium in Fort Myers, Florida
    .

    After the departure of the Philadelphia Athletics spring training,

    Cleveland Indians. The Indians pulled out for the 1938 season and were replaced by the Philadelphia Phillies. After one season the Phillies dropped their affiliation; the team became a co-op franchise and were renamed the Montgomery Rebels. In 1943, the Rebels would disband due to the manpower shortage caused by World War II. On July 11 of that year, the Chattanooga Lookouts moved their home games to Cramton Bowl to play out the rest of the season.[7] The Lookouts managed to move back to Chattanooga and reverse the trend of declining attendance sometime later in the 1940s. The Rebels returned in 1946 through 1949 before moving to the newly constructed Paterson Field located just across the street.[5][8]

    The eighth and deciding game of the 1943 Negro World Series was held at the Cramton Bowl, with the Homestead Grays defeating the Birmingham Black Barons, 8-4.

    Football

    On September 23, 1927, Cramton Bowl became the site of the first game played "under the lights" in the South with Cloverdale taking on Pike Road High School. Former superintendent D. H. "Sarge" Caraker remembers fondly, "[We] used dishpans for reflectors and sent to California for the lamps. We drew 7,200 people from all over the South to see it."[4]

    College football

    Cramton Bowl was host to all home games for

    an on-campus stadium in 2012 and was the host to all home games for the Faulkner University Eagles football team until 2012 when Faulkner University constructed its own facility. It was also home to the Turkey Day Classic and in 2009 hosted the inaugural HBCU All-star
    Bowl.

    Cramton Bowl also provided a location for Alabama Crimson Tide football home games in the capital city. The Crimson Tide played home games at Cramton Bowl in the 1922 through 1932 seasons, in 1934, from 1944 through 1946 and again from 1951 through 1954. Alabama's all-time record at Cramton Bowl was 17 wins and 3 losses.[9]

    Cramton Bowl probably achieved its greatest fame as the home of the Blue–Gray Football Classic, an annual college football all-star game which was held there each December from 1938 until 2001.

    Beginning in 2014, Cramton Bowl began hosting the Camellia Bowl, a college football bowl game which features teams from the Sun Belt Conference and Mid-American Conference.[10][11]

    In 2017, the stadium became the regular host of the FCS Kickoff, a season-opening Division I FCS game operated by ESPN and nationally televised on one of ESPN's networks.[12]

    In October 2020, Cramton Bowl was announced as the host stadium for the

    Montgomery Bowl, a college football bowl game played in December 2020.[13]

    High school football

    Several area high schools call Cramton Bowl home including the Johnson Abernathy Graetz Jaguars, Percy Julian Phoenix, Park Crossing High School Thunderbirds, and Carver Wolverines. In July 2011, Cramton Bowl hosted the Alabama High School Athletic Association Alabama All-Stars Sports Week football game.

    2011 renovations

    By the start of the 21st century, Cramton Bowl was widely regarded as being functionally obsolete for major sporting events. The stadium's relatively small capacity was not a concern as much as its age and condition. The stadium was not well maintained for most of its history, and by the dawn of the new millennium, it was actually crumbling. These issues were factors, although not the predominant ones, in the Blue-Gray Game not being held in 2002 and its subsequent relocation in 2003 to Troy University's Veterans Memorial Stadium, about 50 miles (80 km) from Montgomery.

    In mid-2010 the City of Montgomery approved a measure for a $10 million renovation and addition to Cramton Bowl. The renovations planned for Cramton Bowl were a unique mix of the old and the new. The old structure was revamped and updated with four entrances, a state-of-the-art press box, an aesthetically enhanced plaza area, and a "Walk of Fame," which celebrates Montgomery's sports history and houses various articles of historic sports memorabilia. Perhaps the most important and impressive addition was the 90,000-square-foot (8,400 m2) multi-purpose sports facility.[4] Demolition of the north end zone and press box began in late November 2010, which was phase one of the project. Phase two began in early January 2011 as crews removed an existing brick wall from the south end zone and dismantled the scoreboard to make way for the new multi-purpose sports facility. Work on the stadium was completed in 2011 while the new multi-purpose facility was finished in 2012.[14] [15]

    References

    Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cramton Bowl.
    1. ^ City of Montgomery, website Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine
    2. ^ McMurphy, Brett (August 19, 2013). "Bowl created for MAC, Sun Belt". ESPN.com. Retrieved August 20, 2013.
    3. ^ "City Dads Accept Cramton Bowl Gift", Montgomery Advertiser, February 9, 1921.
    4. ^ a b c Fields, Tommy. "The Cramton Conversion". Retrieved 2011-05-10.
    5. ^ a b Baseball-Reference
    6. ^ Central Alabama Sports Commission Archived 2011-08-11 at the Wayback Machine
    7. ^ The Old Scout (July 16, 1943). "Senators shift Lookout franchise" (PDF). New York Sun. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
    8. ^ Digital Ballparks
    9. ^ University of Alabama Sports Information. "All-time Football Results". Retrieved 2009-01-02.
    10. ^ "Camellia Bowl name of Montgomery, Alabama's new bowl game - SBNation.com".
    11. ^ "Newly created Camellia Bowl will feature MAC, Sun Belt teams - NBC Sports College Football".
    12. ^ "Guardian Credit Union Joins FCS Kickoff as Title Sponsor" (Press release). ESPN. March 21, 2017. Retrieved May 7, 2017.
    13. ^ "Montgomery Hosting Two College Football Bowl Games This Year". alabamanews.net. October 30, 2020. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
    14. ^ Gayle, Tim. "Cramton Bowl to get a facelift: Stadium to be joined by an indoor arena". Archived from the original on 2013-02-08. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
    15. ^ Gayle, Tim. "Cramton Bowl renovation work reveals hidden rooms". Archived from the original on 2011-02-19. Retrieved 2011-01-27.
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