Don writes in…

On Sunday, March 6 at 3:00 pm Decatur Stadium will host a men’s NCAA Division 3 college lacrosse game featuring Roanoke College, ranked #5 nationally, and Birmingham-Southern College. Tickets are $5 in advance (see the Decatur Laxdog in your neighborhood) or $7 at the gate. Proceeds benefit the boy’s lacrosse program at Decatur High. Roanoke is a highly respected program and plays an up-tempo, exciting and fun-to-watch brand of lacrosse. BSC features a large number of Atlantans on their roster, including DHS class of 2008 graduate Chris Clarke.

“Last Hurrah” Photo Courtesy of the AJC

The AJC writes about last week’s “Last Hurrah” for Decatur Stadium, which will be torn down later this year, and notes some of the 1940 stadium’s history…

“The field is believed to be the first on a Georgia high school campus to stage a lighted game in 1930. The stadium, built in 1940, had been metro Atlanta’s oldest.

Decatur had state championship teams in 1949 and 1950. Trinity High, Decatur’s school for blacks until the system desegregated in 1967, was a state champion in 1965.

NFL stars Larry Morris and Clarence Scott and legendary Arkansas coach Frank Broyles called the stadium home.

Bill Clinton held a political rally in the stadium in 1992, and an Olympic soccer exhibition and concerts were held in 1996.”

Concrete and grass make way for metal and artifical turf!

Isn’t it interesting how much development Decatur saw in the early 1940s? While most American towns are devoid of development from this era due to WWII, Decatur has residential development and a stadium that date from the late 1930s/early 1940s. What else?