I'm doing a project on Olsen Field, and I'm trying to discover the history of Olsen Field. Does anyone know what "Olsen Field" was before 1978?

You get bonus points for helping if you happen to have pictures, too! (:

Thanks for helping an Ag graduate!!!

Before 1978, we played at Kyle Field, a baseball stadium right next to the football stadium. Someone else can dig up a long, long thread on that stadium from earlier this off-season.

Olsen Field was named after C.E. "Pat" Olsen after he donated the money to buy lights for the stadium. Those lights were installed before the 1979 season. I don't know whether or not Olsen was called Olsen for the 1978 season.

TexAgs Thread with a couple of pics

There is another fairly recent thread with pics but I could not find it with a quick search.

Wiki Article on Kyle Baseball Field

Southwest Confernce Baseball's Greatest Hits by Neal Farmer should also help if you can find a copy. Unfortunately it is no longer in print.

I meant the history of the land. Does anyone know what Olsen Field was before they made it into the stadium?

before it was Olsen field, it was just a field. hth

Actually, I believe they had a rodeo setup of some sort on that site. Had to build a new one out on 2818 in order to make room for the baseball facility (which was being moved to make room for an expansion of Kyle Field).

Here's a 1971 photo of the campus. If you enlarge the image you will see that there in just pasture on the corner where Olsen is and what looks like a rodeo arena just west also.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cushinglibrary/3423874437/in/set-72157616423306573/

Here's one from 1941 that shows nothing there....in fact George Bush is not even there.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/cushinglibrary/3409420497/in/set-72157616222422453

[This message has been edited by Frio Cielo (edited 10/31/2011 7:08p).]


[This message has been edited by TexAgs staff (edited 10/31/2011 8:17p).]

Good find. Here's one that shows the future Olsen site in pretty good detail. Looks like the trees were saved for Nellie Duncan Olsen Grove. The rodeo facility occupied largely the space in the south parking lot, maybe bleeding over into the grandstand area ever so slightly. The rest was just open pasture, or the abandoned railroad right of way and what appears to be a road running parallel to the line (which south of Jersey--now George Bush Drive--is now, I think Marion Pugh).

Forgot the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cushinglibrary/3424695720/sizes/l/in/set-72157616423306573/

[This message has been edited by twk (edited 10/31/2011 8:53p).]

The picture in the above link was 1971-1972. They were still finishing the Oceanography building. The baseball field is up against Kyle Field. had seating for maybe 500 max. Used to cost 50 cents for students to go to the game. 2 old men sat in lawn chairs immediately behind home plate and gave the opposing players hell. One SMU catcher turned and threw his mask at the backstop at them once.
Rodeo arena is in the area where left field fence is now. As I recall is was a pretty shabby rodeo arena.

I know that the land where Olsen presently resides was boreal forest 18,000 years ago at the end of the last great ice age.

so now pat Olsen only paid for the lights?

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so now pat Olsen only paid for the lights?

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The lights were $2 million in 1978. Adjust that for inflation, and it's $6.96 million. That's a very nice gift.

Uh, sure.

where did you get that? $2mill for f'n lights and that's all?

story straight out of tom chandler's mouth is that he said we needed a big time facility and pat said "how much?" from there olsen donated to the construction costs.

so chandler and olsen were pretty much lying?

He's off base. $2 million was the initial construction cost, but that was without lights (they were added in 1980 so that we could host the SWC tournament). I don't think Pat quite gave the full $2 million, but he gave the bulk of the money, and in today's dollars, it was a very signfiicant gift.

The baseball field was going to be moved--the 1967 addition to Kyle Field took a small chunk out of right center and they simply were out of room once the additions of the 3rd decks started following the fotball season in the Fall of '78. If Pat doesn't step up to the plate, we would have ended up with a crappy facility.

Funny thing was, since it didn't have turf, the sips, for years the sips thought it was an inferior facility, but as times changed, and everywhere in baseball that could go to grass did, it because apparent even to the sips that Olsen was far superior to the Disch. I think that this renovation will allow us to say that once again.

If you really want the inside scoop, go find Leo. He looooves to talk about it. He was close to Mr. Olsen and can give you a first hand point of view.

I have the Neal Farmer book if you want to look it over. Let me know.

just a tad off base. Wtf.

What are those little buildings, widely spaced apart, on the otherwise undeveloped west campus?

At one time the Army ROTC had an obstacle course. Might not have been at Olsen. Maybe more where the rec center is. I also kind of remember a rodeo arena.

In the 71 picture you can see Krueger--Dunn appears completed, and (I believe) Aston / Mosher under construction to the east.

The previous baseball field was next to Kyle Field at the southwest corner butting up on Welborn road. You can see the diamond if you look closely at the 1971-1980 picture.


[This message has been edited by NJ75AGfdt (edited 11/13/2011 9:24a).]

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in fact George Bush is not even there

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you mean Jersey??

In 75-76, I took a couple of classes at the "Beef Center" which was approximately where the rec center is now. I remember most everything else being a field except the Corps Rangers course being somewhere near that corner where Olsen is now.