It’s not just a stadium for many, but a place built on tradition and family.
“When we get to her seats I look up and say thanks nama for the seats, thanks for looking over us and the Huskers,” said Kristi Lounsbury.
Kristi Lounsbury, a Lincoln native, has had season tickets in her family since 1936, they originally started with her grandmother, Stella Duncan.
“It’s a family tradition, for 88 years we’ve always had family sitting in these seats and my grandmother meant a lot to me and the Huskers meant a lot to her and it’s just kinda evolved through the family. I think the state becomes a family on game days,” said Lounsbury.
Kristi and her husband now have four kids and five grandchildren that also attend games from time to time.
This year marks 100 years since Memorial Stadium was built. It was named after the veterans that served in World War I, and their legacy is seen on the pillars outside of the stadium.
“The stadium was built in 1923 and it was finished in under a year. It was an amazing feat to get it done as quick as they did, some of it done with horses pulling plows. I think that’s one of the cool things about Memorial stadium you can go to the east and the west and see the original façade,” said Brandon Meier, Senior Associate AD of Marketing and Multimedia at the University of Nebraska.
He also produced and wrote the “Memorial Stadium: 100 Years Through These Gates” keepsake book.
The stadium has had 392 sellouts. Lounsbury has been able to experience the 200th and 300th sellout and is excited to make it to the 400th.
“We certainly would like to continue for another 12 years so we can hit 100,” said Lounsbury.
The first game that marked the start of the sellout streak was Nebraska vs. Missouri on November 3, 1962.
Despite the ups and downs the football team may have faced over the years, the energy and culture have remained the same.
“I love the little things that make the stadium unique, the Cornhusker Marching Band, the folks that know the friends around them in their seats,” said Meier.
While Meier was working on the book, he learned that there was once a track inside the stadium surrounding the field.
To celebrate the anniversary during this weekend’s game, the football team will be wearing alternate uniforms that encompass blue stitching outlining the numbers and the 100-year stadium patch.
“On one of the very first games here in Memorial stadium it was against Oklahoma and Oklahoma only brought their red uniforms, so Nebraska obliged and wore blue that day,” said Meier.
Nebraska beat Oklahoma 24-0 in its inaugural game on October 13, 1923.
With a changing crowd comes new demands for the stadium. The last renovation was done on the east stadium. The recently approved South Stadium will come next which will include general seat back seating, concession upgrades, restroom modernization, and enhanced student life amenities.
The original South Stadium was built in 1964 and increased Memorial Stadium’s capacity to 48,000.
“When I first started coming in the 60′s, there were knothole bleachers just like you’d see at a high school football game. It was plainer, it was still grand, but it was 60 years ago so it was only 40 years old,” said Lounsbury.
Regardless of the physical changes, the traditions will continue to keep the spirit of Memorial Stadium alive for another 100 years.
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