Wake Forest's Athletic Field was used by the Deacons from approximately 1888 to November 1921; it was Wake Forest's first home field and was replaced by Gore Field.

Overall, NC State had a record of 5-0 at this field, with all the matches coming as non-conference games; notably, Wake Forest attempted to claim one win by forfeit over NC State in the 1892 season, however, this victory is not formally claimed by Wake Forest's athletic department, nor has it been for a number of years -- or possibly ever.

  * Non-conference games

  ** It was said that Wake Forest's whole student body (500) was in attendance, plus 400 rooters from Raleigh took a special train to the game

Wake Forest's athletic field was part of the original lot of land purchased comprosing Wake Forest College -- the land which now belongs to the Southeastern Seminary. In fact, it was among a select few plots of land which the college never sold and later repurchased, though it was put up for sale and withdrawn in 1882 [1]. That year:

[T]he Board of Trustees had voted to withdraw the Old Athletic Field from sale, and ordered it to be fenced and planted in shade trees and kept as a play ground for the students of the College. It was, however, neither fenced nor planted in trees. The students had already begun to use it for baseball and probably for football. The latter was introduced at Wake Forest not later than September, 1882, not the American college game as now played, but a rude approximation of the Rugby game with much rushing and with the ball advanced only by kicking. Clubs were organized and match games played in the fall of 1882 and 1883, but before the next year football had lost its popularity..." [2]

Despite its use for intra-school games, Wake Forest did not play any intercollegiate games until Fall of 1888 and Spring of 1889, with all those games taking place at neutral sites in Raleigh. The Baptists' first home game was not until December 10th, 1889. The original field, which was shared with the baseball team and tennis, was not known to have permanent seating, and was situated with home plate at the corner of Juniper and Main Streets. In 1894, a grandstand of 250 seats was built along the railroad tracks, with the field orientation shifted so that home plate was on the opposite side. In 1904, the field's drainage was improved by baseball coach J. Richard Crozier so that it could be "well drained and ready for play even after hard showers" [2].

Aside from the above, there were no major improvements to the field from its first opening until its abandonment following the completion of Gore Field just a few blocks to the west in November 1922. Recognizing the decrepit nature of their athletic field, Wake Forest played an ever-dwindling number of games at home in their Athletic Field's final years of action. The Baptists had played virtually no games of any consequence on their home grounds since their 1915 NC State game, including 6 years with two or fewer home games (including one with none in 1918, though this was the fault of war and Spanish Flu cancelations), and all of them against minor teams they (usually) handily defeated. In fact, the only year the Gold and Black played more than two home games in Wake Forest from 1915 until 1923 was the year Gore Field opened in 1922, with the Deacons playing two smaller schools (Atlantic Christian, now Barton, and Elon) at Athletic Field before christening Gore Field with a game against NC State on November 25th. Notably, however, it was originally expected that Gore Field would open prior to the start of the 1922 season [6].

Other than its semi-formal conversion into tennis courts and use for a variety of non-varsity and non-sporting events, including a circus (see McIlwain and Friedenberg's Legends of Baptist Hollow, pp. 45-56), the field remained unused by intercollegiate athletic teams until the 1930s. At that time, it was converted into formal, regulation tennis courts. It remained in general use through at least the 1940s; the field itself remains undeveloped to this day [4] [5]. The last known construction to Athletic Park was made to be "the best baseball diamond" Wake Forest "has ever possessed" just prior to the opening of Gore Field; this made it a well-outfitted practice field for some time, depending upon its upkeep afterward [3]

Pictures of Athletic Field

Unfortunately, there are few known photos of Wake Forest's original football field.