Goodwin Stadium: Difference between revisions

'''Goodwin Stadium''' was a [[stadium]] in [[Tempe, Arizona|Tempe]], [[Arizona]]. It hosted the [[Arizona State University]]Sun Devils football|Sun Devils]] [[American football|football]] team until they moved to [[Mountain America Stadium|Sun Devil Stadium]] in 1958, as well as the team for local [[Tempe High School (Tempe, Arizona)|Tempe High School]]<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.tuhsd.k12.az.us/ths/about_us/history.html| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110928082926/http://www.tuhsd.k12.az.us/ths/about_us/history.html| archive-date = 2011-09-28| title = Tempe High History}} </ref> until 1969. The stadium held 15,000 people at its peak and was opened in 1936. The first football game played was on Friday, October 3, 1936, when the Arizona State Teacher's College Bulldogs defeated [[California_Institute_of_Technology#Athletics|California Institute of Technology]] 26–0. The last football game played was on September 20, 1958, when ASU beat [[Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football|Hawaii]] 47–6 in front of 19,000 fans.

The stadium was named for Garfield A. Goodwin, former [[List of mayors of Tempe|mayor of Tempe]], member of the Arizona State Teachers College Board of Education and receiver on the 1899 Tempe Normal School football team.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.asu.edu/content/asu-rephotographed-look-tempe-campus-then-and-now|title=ASU rephotographed: A look at Tempe campus then and now|date=August 11, 2011|website=ASU News}}</ref>

Goodwin Stadium first hosted the Sun Devils in the 1936 season, after the completion of its west side grandstand. The western portion was a [[Public Works Administration]] project, built at a total cost of $92,000. This first grandstand had room for 4,000 spectators.<ref name="thomas">Alfred Thomas, "A Documentary History of Arizona State University", Vol. 4, Part X: Buildings, 1960.</ref> The contractor for Goodwin Stadium was [[Del E. Webb Construction Company]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://delwebbsuncitiesmuseum.org/newsletters-webb-spinners/|title=Newsletters – “Webb"Webb Spinner”Spinner" – Del Webb Sun Cities Museum|website=delwebbsuncitiesmuseum.org|language=en-US|access-date=2018-10-13}}</ref> The engineer for Goodwin Stadium was L.M. Fitzhugh.

On June 3, 1964, [[Martin Luther King, Jr.]] delivered an address at Goodwin Stadium, titled "Religious Witness for Human Dignity". The address was not noted in many biographies of King and was only found in 2013, when a woman discovered it along with reels from civil rights leader [[Lincoln Ragsdale]]'s radio show at a [[Goodwill Industries|Goodwill]] store.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The State Press|date=2014-02-03|access-date=2014-03-29|first=Emily|last=Mahoney|url=http://www.statepress.com/2014/02/03/asu-libraries-releases-lost-tape-of-martin-luther-king-jr-speech-at-the-university/|title=ASU Libraries releases lost tape of Martin Luther King Jr. speech at the University}}</ref> University president [[G. Homer Durham]], a member of [[Thethe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church), showed progressivism in inviting King to speak at the university, since the LDS Church did not fully recognize racial equality until 1978.