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Beaver Stadium, the 93,967-seat home of the Nittany Lions, will be even larger when the 2001 season opens. Construction of the expansion and renovation of the stadium, including the addition of a 10,000-seat upper deck in the South end zone will begin following this season.

Now the second-largest stadium in the Big Ten Conference and the fourth-largest in the nation, Beaver Stadium will have an approximate capacity of 103,500 when the project is completed. The renovation and expansion will improve rest room and concession facilities, handicap access and pedestrian circulation patterns, and add new scoreboards with instant-replay capability and 60 enclosed skyboxes in a three-level structure at the top of the East stands.

Beaver Stadium has more than doubled in size since it was moved from its former west campus site just northeast of Rec Hall to the east side of campus in 1960. The addition of a 10,033-seat upper deck in the north end zone in 1991 and portable seats on the north end zone concourse has maintained the stadium's stature as one of the largest in the nation.

In 1980, an expansion project raised the seating capacity to 83,770. Lights were added in 1984 and the addition of walkways around the top of the end zones and entry ramps at the four corners resulted in lowering the capacity to 83,370.

Penn State dedicated Beaver Stadium with a 20-0 win against Boston University on Sept. 17, 1960. Nittany Lion halfback Eddie Caye scored the stadium's first touchdown at 10:45 of the first quarter.

Built in a horseshoe configuration seating 46,284, the stadium now towers 110 rows on the east side, 100 rows on the west, 60 in the end zones and 35 in the upper deck.

Additions of over 2,000 seats in 1969 and more than 9,000 in 1974 raised the capacity to 57,536. Expanded bleachers in the south end zone in 1976 increased seating to 60,203.

A unique expansion during the winter, spring and summer of 1978 added more than 16,000 seats, bringing the capacity to 76,639. The stadium was cut into sections, raised eight feet by hydraulic jacks and precast concrete seating forms inserted within the inner circle of the stadium, where the running track previously had been located. Penn State's first permanent home for football was Beaver Field, located between the present-day Osmond and Frear laboratories in center campus. Before that, games were played on the lawn of Old Main.

The first game at 500-seat Beaver Field was played on Nov. 6, 1893 against Western University of Pittsburgh (later to become the University of Pittsburgh). The game, won 32-0 by Penn State, was delayed two days because of bad weather and played on a Monday afternoon.

New Beaver Field, located adjacent to Rec Hall, was opened in 1909 with the Nittany Lions defeating Grove City, 31-0. The area also contained facilities for baseball, lacrosse, soccer and track. New Beaver Field was the Nittany Lions' home through the 1959 season, after which the 30,000-seat stadium was dismantled and moved in 700 pieces one mile to the east end of campus. The old stadium was reassembled with 16,000 additional seats to form Beaver Stadium.

The stadium is named in honor of James A. Beaver. A lawyer in nearby Bellefonte at the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted as a second lieutenant in the Union Army and rose to the rank of brigadier general prior to his discharge in 1864. Beaver, who died in 1914, served as a superior court judge, governor of Pennsylvania and president of the University's Board of Trustees. He is credited with being among the most influential leaders in the development of the University at the turn of the century.

The largest crowd in Beaver Stadium history - 97,498 - witnessed the Nittany Lions' 34-8 loss to Michigan on November 9, 1997.

Information and text courtesy of The Pennsylvania State University

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