Gator Talk - History Lesson
Monday, September 14, 2009 | Football
By Norm Carlson, Assistant Athletics Director/Gator Historian
Those cars, trucks, motor homes and other assorted vehicles parked in the large lot immediately north of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium are sitting on an historic Gator athletic site.
That piece of land is called Fleming Field.
It's where Florida teams in baseball, football and track once practiced and competed. Major League Baseball teams used to practice and play exhibition games there. In 1924, it hosted the first Homecoming Day and “We Are the Boys” started to become a pep song instead of a dance number played for frat boys downtown at the Elk's Club.
The area started out as University Athletic Field in 1911. In 1915, the state Board of Control named the field Fleming Field in honor of former governor F. P. Fleming, Sr. (1889-93). His son, F.P. Fleming, Jr., was a member of the Board of Control from 1909-13.
From 1911-14, Florida football was a perfect 11-0 on that field. The biggest win was a 10-6 victory over South Carolina in 1912. The Gamecocks were the first state university willing to play in Gainesville.
From 1915-30, the Gators ran up a 38-7-1 record against competition that ranged from traditional rivals Rollins, Stetson, Florida Southern and Mercer to a few “major” colleges like South Carolina, Ole Miss, Clemson and Auburn. The record against the bigger schools was 4-1.
The bigger names of that era wouldn't play at Fleming Field. Home contests against Tennessee, Alabama, Tulane and Georgia were played in either Jacksonville or Tampa.
The Gator baseball team played the Philadelphia Athletics, managed by Connie Mack, losing an exhibition game at Fleming Field in 1916, 11-3. From then until a final appearance by the Boston Braves in 1929, various Major League baseball teams practiced at Fleming Field for at least a portion of spring training.
The World Series Champion Boston Red Sox, featuring slugger Babe Ruth, beat the New York Giants in two games there in 1919. Ruth went on to break the Major League home record with 29 that season, his final year in Boston before being traded to the New York Yankees.
Florida's star was Lance Richbourg, who went on to an outstanding eight-year Major League career primarily with Boston. His eight-year career with the Phillies (1921), Washington Senators (1924), Red Sox (1927-31) and Chicago Cubs (1932) resulted in an overall batting average of .308 with 378 runs, 247 runs batted in, 101 doubles and 65 stolen bases.
During the off-seasons of his Major League career, Richbourg was the Gators' head baseball coach in 1922, 1923 and 1926 and compiled a three-year mark of 39-21 (.650).
When Dr. John J. Tigert took over as UF's president in 1928, he soon realized that a true football stadium was needed on campus. He led a drive that resulted in the construction of Florida Field, immediately south of Fleming Field.
The Gators played two games early in the 1930 season at Fleming Field before moving to Florida Field for the dedication game against Alabama on Nov. 8 of that year, but it was 41 years before the Tide returned. Tennessee made its first appearance at Florida Field in 1953.
Fleming Field, reduced in size by the presence of the north end of the stadium, became a recreational area with tennis, volleyball and handball courts.
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