Baujan Stadium was used by Dayton's football team from 1925-1973; it replaced Varsity Field / University Field and was replaced by Welcome Field, a shared venue off of Dayton's campus that opened in 1949.

Overall, NC State has a record of 1-0 at this field, winning their sole game.

  * Non-conference games

Baujan Field opened in 1925 as Dayton Stadium. Plans to open the new gridiron had been fomenting among Dayton brass since June 1922, and athletic officials spent much of that year visiting the preeminent football plants of the region. The decision to move was not because the field was outdated or because of poor location -- their previous field was scarcely 1,000 feet away from their new venue, and was built in 1922*. Instead, the decision was twofold: first, it was part of an effort to celebrate the University's Diamond Jubilee, and second, it was a part of a larger effort to engender athletics at Dayton.

Simultaneously, the success of the 1924 Flyers prompted the University to look bigger: while initial plans had called for only one side of the stadium's eventual north-south bleachers to be completed, officials elected to expanded their ambitions to include a venue 12-15,000 persons. The Red and Blue's attendance had been skyrocketing since the end of the First World War: attendance ballooned from just 4,000 persons over the course of the 1919 football season to 34,500 in 1923, and nearly double that the following season. A more comprehensive athletic plant was needed [1] [2].

Though preliminary site prep had long since begun, the University decided to include the stadium in their massive 1925 commencement celebration, and they did it with some cachet: head coach Harry Baujan was able to draw his former coach, famed Notre Dame leader Knute Rockne, to give an introductory speech and assist in the cornerstone laying ceremony. Calling athletics "an integral part of the educational curriculum," Rockne described sports as "a laboratory where the youth experiments with himself, physically, mentally, and socially." Echoing some of the most popular talking points of the athletic boom of his era, Rockne went on: "The graduate who has taken part in athletics always has the edge on the student who has not embraced sports. For they develop some of man's finest qualities, stimulate fairness, square play and resourcefulness that cannot be acquired otherwise" [2] [3].

Located on the site of a former campus ravine (nicknamed The Rubicon) adjacent to the university orchards, construction was finished on schedule ahead of the 1925 season. Built at a cost of $140,000 (over $2.5 million in 2024), the initial stadium held 8,000 persons, with reinforced concrete bleachers on the north and south sides of the field and a quarter-mile track encircling the playing field and a "massive scoreboard" built at the east endzone. Beneath the south bleachers were offices and locker rooms for both teams, complete with showers; the northern bleachers were built into a natural slope. The inaugural game was a 45-0 shellacking of Wilmington College (an Ohio-based private liberal arts school) beneath a dreary sky, which was said to have hurt attendance. The stadium was not dedicated, however, until October 17th, when a near-capacity crowd watched the Gem City squad take down the rival John Carroll University aggregation 17-to-nothing [4].

Updates to the field after its completion were fairly meager in nature. Temporary endzone bleachers, capable of pushing the capacity to 12,000, were used intermittenyly at first but became an increasingly common fixture of the stadium as the years progressed. New lights were installed in 1929 (the first game under their glow was a 33-0 win over Indiana Central Normal on September 28th); they were replaced in 1940, and again in 1954. A new scoreboard was installed in 1949 -- this was either the second or third such device grace the stadium's sidelines: in 1939, funds were raised to either repair or replace the original one via a charity softball game, but it's not clear what, if any, changes took place [5].

In December 1961, the field was renamed Baujan Field (or, sometimes, Baujan Stadium) in honor of coach Baujan, who coached the Flyers' football team from 1923-1946. Apparently, the impetus came from an alumnus Pete Zierfolf: inspired by a muddy slog against the Miami (Ohio) Redskins in November 1959, the former Flyers tackle allowed that his Miami Engineering Co. would resod, till, and level his former stomping grounds free of charge, so long as University officials agreed to name it for his former coach. That same offseason (1960), the seats were painted red and blue, and the locker rooms painted and scrubbed [6] [7].

After several years of languishing success on the gridiron, the Red and Blue hired John McVay in 1965. The grandfather of Rams coach Sean McVay, John had played at Miami (Ohio) College before serving for several years as an Ohio-area high school coach before a three-year assistant coach stint at Michigan State. Upon his arrival, the Flyers were in rough shape, having lost 7 or more games in their previous seven seasons, and finished with a winning record only once in the last decade. After one more season in the doldrums, McVay began working his magic, turning Dayton into a significantly more successful team; though his overall record at Dayton was sub-500, he accumulated a 14-5-1 record in his second and third seasons.

With his success, interest in the team mounted, necessitating the construction of new endzone bleachers ahead of the 1967 season. Located in the east endzone, the seats raised the capacity to 13,888, though period reports noted they added only 505 new seats. Even with the enlarged capacity, the Flyers sold out their stadium more resoundingly than ever before: "We've had the people in the stadium before and announced them as sellouts," noted Finance Director Jack Brown, "But that's when we were hooked up with a grocery chain and practically gave away tickets" [8].

Though there was "nothing structurally wrong" with Baujan Field, the Flyers were looking to move on; as early as 1968, university officials began eyeing Welcome Field, a city-owned joint use high school field located just over the Great Miami River and adjacent to their basketball venue, Dayton Arena. Though the main advantages afforded by the new venue were easier motoring access and the opportunity for increased seating, there were other improvements to be found. Baujan's south stands were "decaying" and needed considerable upkeep. And that was just on the surface: the locker rooms beneath them were described by one writer described "Dank," "Dingy" and "like prisons." "At first you didn't know any better," recalled former Flyer receiver Larry Nickels. "Then you went on the road and saw their locker rooms."

At the time, no one knew the last game held on The Hilltop was the last. But where there's smoke, there's fire: The Flyers' final game on campus was an October 27th, 1973 win over Drake. "[Baujan Field] needed restoration 30 years ago when I was there," Chuck Noll recalled in 1984, "so I guess it must be time." The upkeep costs were just getting to be too high. As time went on, the tabled move to a new venue became increasing welcoming -- pun intended. In May 1974, the city and Dayton finally came together on an agreement to put an artificial turf on Welcome Field -- the final lynchpin in making the move -- officially mothballing Baujan Field's use as an intercollegiate football field [9] [7].

Thus began the slow march Baujan Field's current form. Though there were some talks of moving the endzone bleachers to Welcome Field, it was decided the cost to move and re-anchor them was not worth it. Instead, they were purchased by a Minster, Ohio-based company and donated to a local high school. In 1981, an arsonist set fire to the aging press box. And though the main sports shifted to collegiate soccer and rugby, there was some football in this period: the Dayton Colts, members of the semi-pro Midwest Football League, used the stadium as their base of operations in 1975, and the Flyers held a handful of spring games in their old stomping grounds. And prison-like though they were, the locker rooms and offices beneath the stands remained in service through 1983, with the football team dressing on-campus before bussing to their new home, whose locker rooms held only 50 persons [10].

The bussing continued until the summer of 1984, when an addition to Dayton Arena was built to include football locker rooms. Flush with cash from a highly successful basketball season and burdened by the need for more intramural fields, Flyers officials pulled the trigger; Baujan's south stands, rendered useless by the move, were pulled down; wrecking balls came on December 13th, 1984, and the whole thing torn down in about 60 days. The stands lived on, in a sense: bricks and concrete were ground down and used as aggregate fill for a new parking lot. The idea was that the space could be used to build two (partial sized) intramural fields

It's been difficult to find details on the renovation, but the field was ready by the following October, when it hosted women's soccer in by early October. Though the south stands were pulled down, it doesn't appear as if the field was bisected; the plans were initially put on ice because of adverse weather and the retirement of some administrative figures involved in the initial process. The northern bleachers were also likely demolished at this time, but it is unclear -- aerial images show they were gone by 1994. By 1990, the venue returned to intercollegiate play only once Founders Field (located where the RecPlex now stands) was lighted, but boasted no permanent seating [11] [7].

Baujan Field has since seen several changes prompted by consistent success of its most recent occupants: the men's and women's soccer teams. In 1999, a new scoreboard was installed on the east side of the pitch, while a pair of bleacher seats, holding 350 persons, were added to the south side of the field. These proved insufficient to handle the crowds coming to watch the Lady Flyers at the end of the 1999 season when, despite the spartan facilities, over 1,000 specators attended the Women's NCAA soccer playoff game against Evansville that season**. The following year, the northern grass berm was converted to terrace seating, affording the venue 2,000 total seated spots at a cost of $500,000 (just under $1 million in 2024). In 2003, the field was resurfaced; this was done again in 2015 [12] [13].

* Varsity Field was built just south of their previous, bleacherless home field. The preceeding field was not named, as best as I can tell.

** The 1,517 fans in attendance remains the 7th-most attendees for a women's soccer game in program history as of 2024.

Photos of Baujan Field