Marietta College Athletics

As the nineteenth century neared its close, students at Marietta College were already more than familiar with what later became known as football. First played as the so-called “American Game” with a large round ball, the contests often included the entire student body competing over large tracts of campus between the old Academy and Dorm buildings and with two old sycamore trees serving as one of the goals.

With the College’s purchase of the property below Butler Street in 1891, interest in athletics continued to grow. Football, in a form more familiar to the modern day sportsman, was first introduced by Joseph Manley. Arriving from Harvard to teach Greek, he organized Marietta’s first squads and in 1894, while serving as both coach and quarterback, guided the Navy Blue and White to one of its most storied victories: a 16-6 rout of West Virginia at Parkersburg.

Those early years were filled with conquests of highly regarded opponents and the exploits of the College’s gridiron heroes took center stage. No moment surpassed the drama of Petey Gilman’s fabled forward pass against Ohio University at the Fairgrounds in 1906. His touchdown toss of 52 yards to Verne Moses, one of the first aerials in the history of the game, has become legend.

Indeed, while playing in a variety of locations, Marietta forged an enviable record over its first three decades playing the game, posting winning records in 23 of its first 32 seasons.

By 1916, the Pioneers shifted their game days to a location at Fifth and Greene Streets. This site hosted not only football, but baseball and the occasional track meet. Known as the Marietta Athletic Field, the venue was primitive at best and contests were played within the confines of high board fences with almost no seating available for spectators.

College Field, as it later came to be known, remained home to Pioneer football even as The Great Depression settled over the region and Pioneer football fell on its own hard times. However, while the economic outlook continued to be uncertain, an opportunity presented itself for the local community and the College to join together with the Federal Works Progress Administration to transform the field into a stadium. Construction, funded by the WPA, the city, the College and the high school, began early in 1934 and soon a tiered concrete stadium seating approximately 3,000 was complete with a cinder track ringing the field and lights installed for night play.

Dedicated October 5, 1934, Municipal Stadium proved a worthy setting for Pioneer athletics, high school sports and community activities. Granted preferential scheduling in perpetuity by virtue of donating the property, the College took full advantage of the new facility though never able to consistently rekindle the gridiron magic of its turn-of-the-century predecessors.

Even as the College sought to rebuild its football fortunes, it became the principal caretaker of the stadium with the City eventually leasing it to Marietta in 1966. While still guaranteeing community access to the ballpark, the College requested permission to re-name it in honor of one of its iconic athletes, coaches and administrators and on September 24, 1966, the re-dedication of Don Drumm Stadium took place.

By 1968, the magic was back. The Pioneers completed a dazzling 7-2 campaign and a year later the 1969 team topped that by delivering the best season since Petey Gilman’s heyday. Sustaining that level of play proved elusive, but even during the depths of a losing streak that extended almost four full seasons in the early 1980s, Don Drumm Stadium never lost its ability to generate excitement.

In fact, that has always been the case. While win-loss records have experienced more ups and downs than the stock market, classic individual and team performances remain a constant.

How about Dallas Garber’s six touchdowns and 40 points against Washington and Jefferson in 1959? Or beating Mount Union 20-6 at the 1977 Homecoming? Danté Brown’s signature game when he ripped through Baldwin-Wallace for a NCAA record 441 yards in 1996. Or 2009’s upset win 25-22 over seventh-ranked Otterbein?

Don Drumm Stadium has seen and supported it all.

However, across the nationally respected Ohio Athletic Conference, competing programs have invested in football facilities to provide a high quality gameday experience for fans and to recruit outstanding players. The new addition will modernize Don Drumm while retaining its classic sandstone architecture. To realize our dreams, the $3.6 million capital investment in Don Drumm Stadium is before us.

Even now as Don Drumm Stadium marks the 76th anniversary of its original dedication, a new chapter in Pioneer football is prepared to be written. Combined with the Chlapaty family’s generosity, your personal support of the sweeping renovations of Don Drumm Stadium is critical. The multi-million dollar capital project, set to open for the 2011 football season, is a lifetime opportunity to put your imprint on the history and the promise of Pioneer football