Return to the main page

Melton Field was used by South Carolina from 1926-1933; it replaced Davis Field and was replaced by Williams-Brice Stadium. Its usage was supplemented by Fair Grounds II, which hosted the Clemson-South Carolina "Big Thursday" game throughout the plant's life.

Overall, NC State had a record of 1-4 at this field, playing each contest as a conference match.

  * Non-conference games

When South Carolina opened Melton Field in 1926, Davis Field had been their home grounds for nearly three decades. Fortunately, the Gamecocks did not go far: the replacement grounds were immediately adjacent to their old haunts; in fact, some early plans called on reusing the old grandstand. And it was familiar to them not only because of distance: it was also their old practice field / freshman field. The field, at the east end of their old grounds, was first put into condition in 1924. Two years later, about 6,000 stands were constructed on each side of the former practice grounds, making it permanently a football-specific field; additional stands from the former grounds were relocated to the new location, making room for another thousand supporters each. It was formally christened Melton Field just ahead of the 1926 football season in honor of the late Dr. William D. Melton, a long-time supporter of South Carolina athletics [1].

Besides the addition of a press box in 1929, expansion seems to have been a non-factor. A 1928 article emphasized that there were no plans of enlargement, and extant articles detailing construction at the field indicate repairs of mostly a restorative nature: worn-out seats in the north endzone were replaced in 1932, and in 1934 pine seating was replaced with hickory and painted gray. And finally, if and when a major game predicated it -- such as the 1931 Duke-South Carolina game -- the affair could be moved to the Fair Grounds, which held nearly twice as many spectators [2].

That said, the Old Wooden Bowl at the Fair Grounds was quickly running short on space, too. In 1929, Clemson and South Carolina were desirous of increasing the capacity of their Big Thursday battlefield to 20,000 seats, but ownership had to decline, citing a lack of capital on hand. Seeing little path forward through the fair, authorities began the idea of building a separate stadium. The venue's final collegiate game was the 1934 Erskine-South Carolina clash, which had originally been scheduled for Due West; relocated shortly before the season, it was kept away from the new stadium so as not to interfere with the new grass (which was sitll in ginger condition) or put a damper on opening festivities [3].

Once Columbia Municipal Stadium (now Williams-Brice Stadium) opened, Melton Field reverted back to freshman, intramural, and high school action. The only improvement I've found between the opening of Williams-Brice and the closure of Melton Field was the installation of lights, which afforded the university flexibility in scheduling high school games and freshman team practices; by 1947, seating was estimated at roughly 5,500 persons. The conditions of the field worsened yearly, eventually leading to the abandonment of the site for high school contests; gradually, intramural athletics became the main user [4].

This changed in the early 1950s, when ROTC use largely supplanted athletics. The change may have taken place as early as 1950: the Sanborn fire map of that year indicates only the east bleacher remaining. Around this time, some also began referring to the complex as "Davis-Melton Field" in reference to their increasingly shared usage. However, it was definitely the case by 1952, when the lights and seating were "carried away, piece by piece, in order to provide for a more spacious field on which the ROTC units may drill."

The field's devaluation continued further in 1954, when whatever minor intramural or scrimmage work remained on the Melton Field area was finally and totally displaced in anticipation of the construction of Russell House Library. The library, which had long been under consideration at that site, opened in 1955 after a years' work, squarely bisecting the old practice field. The university purchased new land for practice fields along Rosewood Drive -- much of the land comprises the grounds of the Carolina Softball Stadium. Bleacher seating from old Melton Field was relocated to W. A. Perry Middle School's new football field in 1960 [5].

Pictures of Melton Field