Page 159 - 2011 Toledo FB Guide

TheGlass Bowl, todayone of thepremiercollegefootball facilities in the country, had a humble beginning. Built by the Works Progress Adminis-tration in 1936, it was one of 65projectsundertakenbythe WPA in Ohio that year. Workers used picks, shov-elsandwheelbarrowstocarve out a site for the structure south of campus, removing more than 13,000 square yards of earth from a natural ravine. The work was done entirely by manual labor, as bulldozers andothermachin-ery were not available. The project was paid for with $272,000 from the fed-eral government and$41,558 fromthecityofToledoandthe university. The 300-man crew

needed over one year to complete the work. The new stadiumhadmanymodern features, includ-ing a press box, a one-storywooden structurewith fve windows located on the east side. Two stone towers, which still are in use today, were built on the north side andwere used as locker rooms and at one point served as living accomodations for 12 players.

Originally known as University Stadium, it initially had a seating capacity of 8,000, which was increased to 11,500 in 1940. The largest pre-war crowdwas 9,500 for a 13-7 Rocket victory over 12th-ranked Marshall in 1938.

The stadium fell into disrepair following nearly four years of vacancy (1942-45) during the war, when football was discontinued at UT. In 1946, Wayne Kohn,

a Libbey-Owens Ford engineer, conceived of the idea of usingglass to rebuild the stadium. Glass blocks were installed throughout the stadium and a glass electric scoreboard was built in the south end zone. A new two-tier press box of blue vitrolite and glass blocks was also constructed. Lights were installed, beginning the tradition of night football at UT.

Thenewly renovatedstadiumwasofcially named the Glass Bowl in honor of Toledo’s primary industry. The Glass Bowl Dedication Game was played on Dec. 7, 1946 as a post-seasongamevs. previouslyundefeatedBates College. Toledo won the game, 21-12. Three more post-season “Glass Bowl Games” fol-