Weird stadiums

oxat622

Well-known member
Who in Ohio has a weird or unique stadium? I'm talking like the old Taylor stadium that had a corner of the endzone running up a hill, or Fairport Harding where the stadium is shoehorned into a lawn against the school and sidewalks and there's basically a tree overtop one of the goalposts.
 
 
Caldwell plays at the Noble County Fairgrounds. You have a covered grandstand, but you also have the homestretch of the horse track between the grandstand and the field. For a better visual, punch 44187 Fairground Rd. Caldwell, OH into your favorite mapping site.

Columbus St. Charles is an unusual setup. Most of the field also serves as the outfield for the baseball field, the infield dirt around 2nd base encroaches onto the visitors' side of the playing field, and the visitors' sideline is entirely on the infield dirt. The scoreboard is mounted to the side of one of the school's buildings, too. I watched film of one of their games and could see a bunch of kids playing kickball on the baseball diamond behind the visitors' bench. 2010 E. Broad St. Columbus, OH

Columbus West HS also comes to mind with part of the football field also doubling as the outfield for the baseball field. The oddity here is that West HS has a more squared track which surrounds both the football field and the baseball field. 179 S. Powell Ave. Columbus, OH.

EDIT: Sykotyk beat me to Caldwell.
 
Steubenville has very little room between the field and fence

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Read a similar post on another message board a couple years ago. Saw this picture but I am not sure where it is located. Reminds me a little of HB Hole Field in Versailles Ohio before the fixed a similar elevation problem a few years ago.
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Portsmouth Spartan Municipal Stadium home of Portsmouth Norte Dame was once home to the NFL’s Portsmouth Spartans which are now the Detroit Lions back around the depression era. Walking into the stadium is a blast to the past with how old the structure is.
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Another is Shaw Cardinal Stadium in East Cleveland and once served as home to the then Cleveland Rams I believe in 1941. Now the Rams are back in LA obviously.
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One of the Cincinnati public high schools has kind of a weird setup. Withrow maybe? All the seats are concrete and wrap around from one end to the corner of an endzone. Makes like an "L" around part of the field. And if I remember right, the places where there are no seats have hills behind them.
 
Portsmouth Spartan Stadium home of Portsmouth Norte Dame was once home to the NFL’s Portsmouth Spartans which are now the Detroit Lions back around the depression era. Walking into the stadium is a blast to the past with how old the structure is.

Another is Shaw Cardinal Stadium in East Cleveland and once served as home to the then Cleveland Rams I believe in 1941. Now the Rams are back in LA obviously.


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They were in the very first super bowl since they tied the Chicago Bears. Lost 9-0. Speaking of weird. The game was set to play at Wrigley Field but bad weather moved it inside to the Chicago Bulls basketball arena. Game was played at 80 yards.
 
Columbus St. Charles is an unusual setup. Most of the field also serves as the outfield for the baseball field, the infield dirt around 2nd base encroaches onto the visitors' side of the playing field, and the visitors' sideline is entirely on the infield dirt. The scoreboard is mounted to the side of one of the school's buildings, too. I watched film of one of their games and could see a bunch of kids playing kickball on the baseball diamond behind the visitors' bench. 2010 E. Broad St. Columbus, OH

St. Charles is sufficiently weird.
 
Shea Stadium for Norwood High School is a strange set up. It is not on the grounds of the high school, nor any school for that matter. It is sandwiched in an industrial area, right next to a rec. center, with factories and a rail yard as it's backdrop. Not to mention, little to no parking.

Stadium itself is pretty cool, very old concrete stands. Odd place though.
 

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Many stadiums obviously get shaped around obstacles and squeezed on too small land.

I hate when they have a large piece of land and them place some oddball shaped stadium on it. I don't think the new Olentangy's got it right putting the visiting stands roughly 1/4 mile away from the field. Other examples?
 
Shea Stadium for Norwood High School is a strange set up. It is not on the grounds of the high school, nor any school for that matter. It is sandwiched in an industrial area, right next to a rec. center, with factories and a rail yard as it's backdrop. Not to mention, little to no parking.

Stadium itself is pretty cool, very old concrete stands. Odd place though.

Probably donated land
 
Now, while technically in Kentucky, just south of Cincy are a few of my favorite oddities.

1. David Cecil Stadium, Ft. Thomas Highlands. School is about 10-15 ft from the home sideline. They literally placed that stadium as close to the school as humanly possible.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/H...aad15b64785d71!8m2!3d39.0839642!4d-84.4497563

2. The other is a 2 for 1. They are Newport High School and Bellevue High School and their respective stadiums. They are the 2 closest high school stadiums in the US I do believe.... separated by Interstate 417. The closest points are just a few hundred feet apart.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/N...8215b97b4ea602!8m2!3d39.0959654!4d-84.4838675
 
A couple of other unique stadiums up in NE Ohio happen to be CVC rivals Kirtland and Cuyahoga Hts.

Rogers Field home of the Kirtland Hornets has a unique setup, the visitors bleachers are a small concrete structure with a small press box placed inside the track while the home side is metal bleachers and the press box up on top of the school roof. What makes Rogers unique is that you can literally stand on the side walk outside the fence and watch a game for free along Rt.306. Many Kirtland supporters perch themselves right across the street and you are able to still watch the game. They have a nice setup with a full fledge tailgate as well. Definitely worth checking out.

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Adams Field in Cuyahoga Hts is pretty unique based on the fact the stadium is perched up on a cliff and beyond the visitors bench down the cliff is I-77. The home side is just a concrete grand stand the houses both the home and visitors fans.

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Now, while technically in Kentucky, just south of Cincy are a few of my favorite oddities.

1. David Cecil Stadium, Ft. Thomas Highlands. School is about 10-15 ft from the home sideline. They literally placed that stadium as close to the school as humanly possible.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/H...aad15b64785d71!8m2!3d39.0839642!4d-84.4497563

2. The other is a 2 for 1. They are Newport High School and Bellevue High School and their respective stadiums. They are the 2 closest high school stadiums in the US I do believe.... separated by Interstate 417. The closest points are just a few hundred feet apart.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/N...8215b97b4ea602!8m2!3d39.0959654!4d-84.4838675

Been to Highlands, like it a lot.

By the way, I used to work in college admissions and I've visited hundreds of high schools throughout Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and New York. No other school did I see as many "football bodies" as I saw at Highlands. Just walking through the halls, I was like "Yep, that guy plays football. Yep, so does that guy."
 
Read a similar post on another message board a couple years ago. Saw this picture but I am not sure where it is located. Reminds me a little of HB Hole Field in Versailles Ohio before the fixed a similar elevation problem a few years ago.
d1d3a0be7c963ab17e5f9aebbab458d0.jpg


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Love this kooky field hahaha!
They have since torn the school and stadium down I guess.

Played on this field at Taylor High School a couple of times when I played at Greenhills High School in the old Hamilton County League.

Love the pylon sticking out of the hill!
Classic.
 
Sorry to do this folks but if we are going out of state Galileo HS in San Francisco has one of the most unique settings for HS Football.

Talk about shoehorning something into a city block, how many HS Football Stadiums have high rise apartment buildings yards away from the sideline?
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The view from the apartment building, note the elevation change for the street that borders the endzone.>
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Also of note, the Stadium was at one time named after their most famous football alumni, OJ Simpson.
 
At Danville, back in the 90's, the field was literally tilted down hill from the home sideline to the visitors.
 
While in SF they also have one of the most gorgeous setting for HS Football in George Washington High School. End zone to end zone bleachers with no track and a view of the Golden Gate Bridge>

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This topic has been one of the most interesting threads on here in a very long time. The pictures have been great to look at...no matter what part of the country the stadium is located in! Awesome!
 
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