Repository: UIHistories Project: Dedication - Memorial Stadium [PAGE 4]

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FOREWORD r ^ H E Memorial Stadium of the University of Illinois is the gift of more than twenty-one thousand students, alumni, and other friends of the University. It is a memorial to the University men and woman who gave their lives in the great World War. For many years Mr. George Huff, Director of Athletics at the University, planned for a time when athletics, both intercollegiate and intramural, could be provided for more adequately than by the facilities offered on the old Illinois Field. After the War he conceived the idea of a memorial stadium with columns on which would be inscribed the names of those who died in the War. In April, 1921, were held the first mass meetings of students which started the drive to raise funds for the Stadium. In the months following, meetings of alumni were held all over the country for this purpose. Ground was broken for the Stadium in September, 1922. The first football game was played in it on November 3,1923. The structure was completed in October, 1924, and dedicated on Friday afternoon, October 17.

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