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Herty Field was Georgia's first home football field, in use from 1892 to 1910; it was replaced by Sanford Field, and then by Sanford Stadium.

Though NC State had a game scheduled at this field in 1906, it was canceled in the midst of an eligibility dispute.

  * Non-conference games

The University of Georgia's first field was a rudimentary clearing on what is now the north side of their campus. Described by one source as "a rough, rock-strewn pasture," it was surrounded on three sides by buildings: Moore Hall to the north, the Chapel and New College to the east, and starting in 1901, Candler Hall to the west. Though it shared its duties with the ROTC cadet corps for much of its life, unlike most schools' drill fields, Herty Field actually started its life with athletics: baseball took place as early as the 1867-68 schoolyear, while it was not used for military drills until 1872, when Georgia became a land-grant college; formal athletics (in the form of baseball) arrived in 1884. While it was initially generically referred to as Athletic Field, the venue's earliest name was Alumni Field.

Though the drill field was the most fitting piece of land on campus, it still wasn't exactly flat: there remained a considerable gulley in the center until grading efforts were undertaken in 1890, and again in 1893-1894. Similarly, athletics in general remained fairly spartan until about 1891, when Professor of Chemistry Charles H. Herty took an interest in the students' athletics, helping guide the school towards the creation of permanent coaching staffs. The initial field was approximately 450' long by 350' wide, with the gridiron running north-to-south, and the diamond facing more or less due south, with home plate being near the west edge of Moore Hall. The initial configuration had neither fences nor permanent seating; the former in particular resulted in a rather hitter-friendly park [1] [2] [3].

In 1897, funds were subscribed to improve the athletic field, with the work supervised by Professor Herty. Though university officials toyed with the idea of relocating the athletic grounds to the south side of campus, it was ultimately decided to keep the field in its existing location, felling several trees on the west side of the grounds to enlarge the area; this work may have been done with baseball in mind: a student correspondent explained that "Heretofore our baseball teams have been compelled to seek other grounds." The grounds had also become too hard, with the surface being blamed for a heightened rate of injuries. In total, about $1,900 (just over $174,000 in 2026) was raised for the efforts, yielding a larger field and seating for a few hundred persons; capacity was about 1,000 [2] [4].

To give thanks for the chemistry professor's efforts, the field was renamed Herty Field in his honor sometime before February 1903. And there was change in the air besides the new monicker: money was needed to erect a fence, the canvas used previously having proved cumbersome and ineffective. Money was also needed for the construction of a new grandstand -- the old one, small as it was, had been burnt by overzealous students celebrating their 10-inning victory over Georgia Tech in baseball on April 27th, 1903. Income from the two remaining home diamond games went towards building a new 160-person portable grandstand, which, when completed late September, was located on the west side of the field. Overall capacity appears to have gradually returned to about 1,000 spectators. Five years later, a new field hourse was built. Located between Candler Hall and the infirmary (Denmark Hall), it remained in place until 1914, when it was purchased and moved off-campus [5].

The field saw few more major improvements: it had been an open secret amongst Athens athletic circles that college officials desired a new athletic field, feeling the old one was "small, open and of bad proportion for football and baseball." Work on the new Sanford Field (which NC State never visited) began in February 1910, with intercollegiate athletics moving to that venue upon completion in February 1911, just after the start of baseball season. After this, Herty Field returned primarily to military use, with the college ROTC program calling the field home. Intramural, fraternity, and YMCA athletics also found new life on the grounds. Among other uses, it also hosted the Bulldogs' first soccer and lacrosse games, as well as practice, when overlapping schedules necessitated.

As Herty Field entered its twilight years, its space became increasingly encumbered; in fact, a 1913 baseball practice by the Boston Red Sox (relocated to Herty Field due to rain) was forbade from batting, fearing a broken window. In 1930, the field was converted into several short-lived (and slowly-built) tennis courts, though these were done away with shortly, allowing the field to return to its old uses. These continued on until the grounds were bisected by Herty Drive in 1937, with a large portion of the remaining field turned into a parking lot. It remained one until 1999, when what was -- over half a century ago -- the western portion of Herty Field was converted back into a green space, complete with a decorative fountain [6].

Pictures of Herty Field