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Groves Stadium -- Home of the Deacs
The home of Wake Forest Football is BB&T Field, considered one of the most beautiful stadiums of its size in the nation. The facility, which celebrated its 35th season in 2002, underwent a $1.5 million refurbishing in recent years which added significantly to both its appearance and utility heading into the 21st century. Of course, the most obvious and striking improvement to the complex has been Bridger Field House, which houses the Wake Forest and visitor locker rooms, postgame interview room, specific areas for the equipment and sports medicine staffs and the Deacon Shop on the first floor. Wake Forest is currently in the middle of a six-phase plan to completely renovate BB&T Field. Prior to the 2005 season, the facade along the sidelines and south endzone were re-faced with approximately 89,000 bricks, specifically created for this project by Pine Hall Brick Company. The bricks are in the same style of those that adorn the buildings on Wake Forest's Reynolda Campus, less than a mile away. In 2006, a state-of-the-art, "next generation" FieldTurf surface was installed. In January 2007, construction began on Deacon Tower, a massive new seven-story pressbox that will house luxury suites, club seats, boxes for the University President, home and visiting athletic directors and print and electronic media. Construction is scheduled to be finished in time for the 2008 season. The new Deacon Tower will be located on the west side of the stadium. Dedicated on September 14, 1968, in a 10-6 loss to rival NC State, BB&T Field represents an extensive fund-raising effort undertaken by the college during the mid-1960s which, for all practical purposes, made possible Wake Forest's continued membership in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The stadium, which has 31,500 permanent seats, is located between Reynolds and Deacon Boulevards, one mile from the Wake Forest campus. It also is part of the athletic center of Winston-Salem which includes Lawrence Joel Coliseum, home of the Demon Deacon basketball teams, as well as Ernie Shore Field, where the professional minor league baseball Winston-Salem Warthogs play each summer. The most modern technology available is also present at BB&T Field with its state-of-the-art scoreboard and computerized display and message center at the south end of the playing field. The history of BB&T Field can be traced back to the original home of the university in the eastern North Carolina village of Wake Forest. When the school announced its planned move to Winston-Salem in 1948, the Groves family, led by Henry (the original stadium's primary benefactor) and his brother Earl, made an additional financial commitment to insure that their family name would remain on whatever new facility that the football program would construct. The new stadium, however, remained only a dream for nearly two decades. The actual cost of the campus' relocation to Winston-Salem was much greater than first anticipated, and more pressing physical needs in academic areas took precedence. The Deacons had scheduled frequent dates in Winston-Salem's Bowman Gray Stadium in the years preceding the college's move and made that 16,000-seat facility their permanent home in 1956. Winston-Salem philanthropist Charles H. Babcock donated a 77-acre plot of land for the building of a new stadium, but each time that the project seemed on the verge of becoming a reality, other needs would emerge. Finally in 1966, a fund-raising campaign was initiated. And while the $1.5 million raised was less than half of the total price tag, construction began the following year. After dropping its opening contest at BB&T Field to NC State, the Demon Deacons played Clemson to a 20-20 tie the following Saturday, September 21, 1968. That contest also marked the first televised football game in Wake Forest history, as ABC broadcasted the game as part of its regional package. Wake Forest's first victory in the facility had to wait until after three-straight road dates, when on October 26th of that season, Wake defeated North Carolina, 48-31. Through the 2006 season, Wake Forest has compiled a 88-123-4 record at BB&T Field. That mark includes two undefeated home seasons, which not surprisingly are two of the finest overall years in Deacon football history. Wake was 4-0 at BB&T Field during its ACC Championship season of 1970; the 1979 squad improved that figure by one win to a 5-0 mark on its way to a Tangerine Bowl bid. One of the most dramatic BB&T Field victories also occurred during that 1979 season when the Deacs rallied from a 38-20 halftime deficit to defeat Auburn, 42-38. That game marked the first time that two nationally-ranked teams met at BB&T Field. In 1987, Wake Forest and NC State, the same two schools that met in BB&T Field's first game, played the 100th contest in the facility's history. This time the Deacons came out on top, 21-3. In 1990, a BB&T Field milestone of sorts was reached when the University of Virginia became the first (and still the only) No. 1-ranked team to appear there. In 1997 and 1998, BB&T Field hosted its first-ever national telecasts as part of ESPN's popular Thursday night series. In both games, the Deacons emerged victorious, defeating NC State, 19-18, in 1997 on a last-minute field goal by Matthew Burdick, then downing Navy, 26-14, in 1998, scoring 23 unanswered points after falling behind 14-3 in the first half. In 1999, BB&T Field hosted another dramatic victory as the Demon Deacons upset 14th-ranked Georgia Tech, a team featuring the nation's top ranked offense. The 26-23 win, which prompted fans to swarm the field and quarterback Ben Sankey to climb the goalpost, secured a winning season and a bowl bid for Wake Forest for the first time since 1992. Wake Forest broke its single-game attendance record in 2004 when temporary bleachers were installed for the North Carolina game. Six of the 13 largest crowds in Groves Stadium history have congregated in the past three years. The Deacons have broken single-season attendance records in three of the past four years. Note: For complete Groves Stadium records, please see football archives |
