Bluford Library Archives: The History of the World War Memorial Stadium

The World War Memorial Stadium is the home to the North Carolina A&T baseball and softball teams today. However, as many Aggies know, the seats and fields hold a century of memories. It was home to Aggie football for over 50 years, and countless games, concerts, and performances. The stadium’s connections to N.C. A&T go back a century and comes with a surprising beginning.

Following the “The Great War,” multiple cities in the United States pledged to complete structures to honor fallen soldiers. A $100,000 stadium was announced for the city of Greensboro to be completed in 1926. The World War Memorial Stadium was dedicated on November 11, 1926, the eighth anniversary of Armistice Day. It was home to various Greensboro baseball teams until 2004 but was also equipped for football games.

As hard as it may be to believe today, with A&T’s long connections to the site, teams of color did not play in the stadium for a year. Until 2023, it was forgotten that the very first game in War Memorial featuring players of color was the 1927 A&T Homecoming game. Previously all A&T home games were played at Dudley Field (where Holland Bowl is located today in front of Williams Cafeteria) or the former Cone Athletic Grounds off of Summit Avenue.

News that an Aggie game would take place in a venue that could seat thousands of people was widespread at the beginning of the football season. The game was promoted in the national Black press as a “thriller,” with the “promise of a grand day.” Much of this anticipation was also because it was Lincoln University’s (Pennsylvania) return to the CIAA, and the Aggies had a tougher team recently nicknamed as the “Bulldogs”.

Beating Lincoln 20-0 on that Friday, September 30, game more than lived up to hype and satisfied “wild-eyed and rabid students, old grads and supporters” of A&T; as someone from Pennsylvania put it. This game was part of our legendary first undefeated season in the Colored (later Central) Intercollegiate Athletics Association (CIAA) under Coach Lonnie P. Byarm Sr. ‘1911.

Details of how A&T came to use the stadium are missing from the archives. It is assumed that some of the credit is due to Professor J. A. Grimes. He was the Dean of Men who doubled as A&T’s chair of the athletics committee.  He would sometimes represent the college for city conferences. He would later serve as a third, then second vice-president of the C.I.A.A.

The first game set the precedent for A&T to use the stadium for football, track and baseball games, concerts, and the show stopping A&T marching band. The earliest known Homecoming parade took place in 1934 and ended at the War Memorial Stadium. By coincidence that year, A&T beat Lincoln again leaving them with “0” score. Future parades would take place within the stadium with grand marches and lavish floats that earned A&T a national reputation for showmanship and school spirit.

Our baseball and football history precedes the War Memorial Stadium. Track and field are believed to have been the first sports team to have originated after the stadium was built. Coach Cecil G. Cooke, who was also a professor of biology and a track champion, started the sport at A&T around 1929. The first Aggie Relays with 22 events were held at the War Memorial in April 1931, including high school events. While Morgan State University took first place at A&T’s first “track carnival” it was good practice for the four Aggies Cooke brought to the Penn Relays that semester.

Being within walking distance of A&T College and East Greensboro also made the War Memorial ideal for concerts and exhibitions for the Black community. The stadium hosted Negro Southern League baseball games, especially with the Greensboro New Goshen Red Wings (later Greensboro Red Wings). Audiences packed the stadium when Jackie Robinson, number 42 himself, visited as part of All-Star Negro League game in 1949. The very first “Miss Black North Carolina” pageant was held in War Memorial in 1970.

While A&T had many multiple championships in War Memorial Stadium, the college (later university) was beginning to outgrow the property as a sole venue for most outdoor sports. Efforts began in the 1960s and advanced in the 1970s for a new stadium, which officially opened in 1981 as Aggie Stadium (now Truist Stadium).

Also, as the city of Greensboro began phasing their baseball team out of War Memorial, it became home to primarily A&T events. In 2001, the War Memorial Stadium was listed as a Nationally Registered Historical place. For many Aggies it was anticipated that the stadium, so close to Aggieland and the spot of so much Aggie Pride would be purchased by the university. It was finally transferred to A&T by the City of Greensboro in 2015.

Several Aggie moments from War Memorial Stadium were captured in the home movie collection of Dean Jerald Marteena and his wife, Constance Hill Marteena. Among them were the 1938 Homecoming Game and the 1949 All Star game with Jackie Robinson (starts at 14:23) The archives also have dozens of pre-Truist Stadium football games in our Aggie Sports Film collection

If you have more information about Prof. J. A. Grimes, memories or mementos of games, concerts, and unique performances in War Memorial, or if you want to know more about this story, please contact the F. D. Bluford Library Archives at libraryarchives@ncat.edu.

By James Stewart Jr.