| Stadium Name: | Hughes Stadium |
| Location: | Sacramento, California, U.S. |
| Surface: | Natural grass (1928–2012) Artificial turf (2012–present) |
| Former Names: | Sacramento Stadium (1928–1944) |
| Tenants: | Cal Aggies football (1928–1931) Sacramento State Hornets football (1954–1968) Sacramento City College Various regional high schools Sacramento Republic FC (January–June 2014) NCAA Division II Football Championship game (1973-1975) |
| Seating Capacity: | 20,311[1] |
Charles C. Hughes Stadium (commonly referred to as Hughes Stadium) is an outdoor stadium in the Western United States, located at Sacramento City College in Sacramento, California. The stadium opened in 1928 and was initially known as Sacramento Stadium and Sacramento College Stadium.[2] It was renamed in November 1944 in honor of Charles Colfax Hughes, the first superintendent of the Sacramento City Unified School District, who died a month earlier.[3] [4]
Hughes Stadium is located on the eastern portion of the Sacramento City College campus. The Union Pacific (ex Western Pacific) railroad tracks are to the east and Sutterville Road is to the south; its bridge over the tracks is visible from the western seats. The City College station of Sacramento Regional Transit District's Blue Line is to the northeast, and the stadium's parking lots are to the northwest and northeast.
The football field has a near north–south alignment, but slightly northwest-southeast. The open end of the U-shaped grandstand is to the south, with the scoreboard. The elevation of the field is approximately 20feet above sea level.
Former NFL Europe football team the Sacramento Surge, the only American team to ever win the World Bowl, played its inaugural season at Hughes Stadium in 1991, before relocating to Hornet Stadium on the Sacramento State University campus in 1992.[5] The Sacramento Surge played five home games at Hughes Stadium, with ticket prices ranging from $40 to $100.[6]
The Sacramento Surge, which played in the World League of American Football (WLAF) in 1991 and 1992, featured many notable football stars. The team was coached by Kay Stephenson,[7] former Buffalo Bills quarterback and head coach, with Charlie Sumner as the defensive coordinator and Jim Haslett as the defensive assistant coach. Mike Keller served as General Manager,[8] while Special Projects was led by Jack Youngblood, who also partnered with Joe Starkey and Ronnie Lott on the Surge radio broadcasts KRAK. Future professional wrestler Bill Goldberg also played for the team.
In 1992, the Surge played in the World Bowl. The Surge won the game, 21–17, behind quarterback David Archer's MVP performance (22 completions of 33 attempts for 286 yards, two touchdowns and one interception). The game would be the only World Bowl involving two North American-based WLAF teams, as well as the only World Bowl played on North American soil.
The Surge was owned by Fred Anderson, who, upon the WLAF going on hiatus after the 1992 season, continued Sacramento's professional football presence by forming the Sacramento Gold Miners, which played in the Canadian Football League for three years, albeit at Hornet Stadium.
Hughes Stadium hosted sixteen college football bowl games known as the Camellia Bowl between 1961 and 1980. The first three games were for the NAIA national football championship. The 1964–72 games were one of four regional bowls that led up to a poll to determine the NCAA College Division championship, prior to the current Division II playoff structure, initiated in 1973. It was also the site of the third Division I-AA championship game in 1980, in which Boise State defeated defending champion Eastern Kentucky with a late touchdown in the fog on
The Sacramento Capitols of the Continental Football League used Hughes Stadium as their home field in 1968 and 1969, before the league folded.[9]
Though Sacramento State and UC Davis traditionally switched stadiums for the annual Causeway Classic football game, Hughes Stadium was used as a third-party venue for several games in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and last in 2002. It was the host of the famous "mud bowl" in 2000, where wind and rain was so strong that a UC Davis punt actually flew backwards during the game.
For many years the "Pig Bowl" was played at Hughes Stadium, an annual football game between police officers. The teams were composed of the Sacramento City Police Officers and the Sacramento County Sheriff's Deputies, and these games were mostly played in the 1970s.
During the 2012 season, the Sacramento Mountain Lions of the United Football League used Hughes Stadium as their practice facility.[10]
The Sacramento Solons, a Triple-A Minor League Baseball team affiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers played three seasons in Hughes Stadium from 1974 to 1976. In 1976, the Solons' affiliation changed to the Texas Rangers. As a football and track stadium, the field was expectedly unsuitable for baseball, with a left field foul line reportedly at just, or 17 feet shorter than the minimum requirement of 250feet, but baseballs hit over the high screen were still counted as home runs. This photo, though somewhat exaggerated due to the zoom lens, provides a sense of the closeness of the left field area.
Hughes Stadium was the site of the AAU National Championships in 1968; on the evening of June 20, Jim Hines, Ronnie Ray Smith, and Charlie Greene all bettered the world record (hand timed) of ten seconds in the 100 metres (and several others were very and is famous amongst track and field historians as the It was also host to the 1995 NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships as well as several other championship events. The stadium was the host of most long-distance races at the 2011 World Masters Athletics Championships .[11]
Hughes Stadium was one of the regular sites that would host the California Interscholastic Federation State Track and Field Championships on a rotational basis. The meet was held on ten different occasions from 1979 to 2007. (1979, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007) [12]
On September 9, 1978, Pete Ranzany fought for the world (WBA) welterweight title against champion José "Pipino" Cuevas. A crowd of over 17,000 saw Cuevas knock out Ranzany in the
Hughes Stadium's track has been used for Midget car racing.Hughes Stadium's legacy began more than 80 years ago | Valley Community Newspapers, Inc.Hughes Stadium's track has been used for Speedway Motorcycle Races 1957/58
The expansion USL Pro soccer club Sacramento Republic FC played the first few home games of 2014 at Hughes Stadium, where their per-game attendance dwarfed that of the rest of the league, and where they recorded three sellouts.[13] The team left Hughes in June 2014 for Bonney Field, a newly built facility in Cal Expo with a full-sized soccer field and lower capacity.
The Sacramento Pop Festival was held at Hughes in 1967 on Sunday, October 15, headlined by Jefferson Airplane, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Strawberry Alarm Clock, and It was held four months after the Monterey Pop Festival.
In 1988, Hughes Stadium was the venue for Pink Floyd during their Momentary Lapse of Reason tour, with a sold-out crowd of 27,000 on April 20.
On August 16, 1981, 21,041 fans attended the "Rockin' the Capital" concert, according to Billboard Magazine. The Doobie Brothers headlined the concert and were joined by Santana, Rick Springfield, Gamma and Ranger.
