 Cramton Bowl in 2012 | |
  Cramton Bowl Location in Alabama Show map of Alabama Cramton Bowl Location in the United States Show map of the United States | |
| Location | 1022 Madison Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36107 |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 32°22′46″N86°17′35″W / 32.37949°N 86.293002°W /32.37949; -86.293002 |
| Owner | City of Montgomery |
| Capacity | 25,000 |
| Surface | UBU Speed S5 |
| Opened | 1922 |
| Tenants | |
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Cramton Bowl is a 21,000-seatstadium located inMontgomery, Alabama. Cramton Bowl opened in 1922 as abaseball stadium and has been home toMajor League Baseballspring training and tominor league baseball. Today, however, its primary use is forAmerican football.
It is the host of the annualSalute to Veterans Bowl (formerly the Camellia Bowl) for theNCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS); theFCS Kickoff, an annual season-opening game in the Division IFootball Championship Subdivision; and of Montgomery's five high school squads. It was previously home to the formerBlue–Gray Football Classic, acollegiate all-star game usually played on Christmas Day, theAlabama State Hornets football team, and hosted the first ever football game played under the lights in the South.[1][2]
Cramton Bowl is named for Fred J. Cramton, a local businessman who donated the land on which the stadium is built.[3] After a conversation with friends about the need for a baseball stadium, Cramton donated his sanitary landfill to the city so a facility could be constructed there. The city held the land for a time and then returned it, stating that Cramton's stadium idea was too big of a project for the city to undertake. Cramton then decided to take matters into his own hands; with the help of theJunior Chamber of Commerce, Cramton raised $33,000 to build the sports venue.[4]
Seating capacity was expanded in 1929 to 7,991. More additions were made in 1946, increasing the seating capacity to 12,000.[5] East stands were added in 1962 bringing the seating capacity up to 24,000. After new renovations were completed in July 2011 the capacity was reduced to 21,000.[6] The stadium's modern boundaries are Madison Avenue (north); Hall Street (east); Pelham Street (south); and buildings and Hilliard Street (west).
The first baseball game played on the new field was in May 1922 betweenAuburn University andVanderbilt University. Shortly after its completion in 1922, thePhiladelphia Athletics decided to move their spring training operations fromEagle Pass, Texas to Montgomery. They used the facility for their 1923 and 1924 spring training and exhibition games before moving to a newer stadium inFort Myers, Florida.
After the departure of the Philadelphia Athletics spring training,Minor League Baseball's newly formedSoutheastern League placed a team in Montgomery which became known as theMontgomery Lions. The Lions played in Cramton Bowl from 1926 to 1930. There was no team from 1931 to 1936 due to problems within the Southeastern League and the ongoing negative economic effects of theGreat Depression. The team returned for the 1937 season as theMontgomery Bombers and garnered their firstmajor league baseball affiliation with theCleveland Indians. The Indians pulled out for the 1938 season and were replaced by thePhiladelphia Phillies. After one season the Phillies dropped their affiliation; the team became a co-op franchise and were renamed theMontgomery Rebels. In 1943, the Rebels would disband due to the manpower shortage caused by World War II. On July 11 of that year, theChattanooga Lookouts moved their home games to Cramton Bowl to play out the rest of the season.[7] The Lookouts managed to move back to Chattanooga and reverse the trend of declining attendance sometime later in the 1940s. The Rebels returned in 1946 through 1949 before moving to the newly constructedPaterson Field located just across the street.[5][8]
The eighth and deciding game of the1943 Negro World Series was held at the Cramton Bowl, with theHomestead Grays defeating theBirmingham Black Barons, 8–4.
On September 23, 1927, Cramton Bowl became the site of the first game played "under the lights" in the South with Cloverdale taking on Pike Road High School. Former superintendent D. H. "Sarge" Caraker remembers fondly, "[We] used dishpans for reflectors and sent to California for the lamps. We drew 7,200 people from all over the South to see it."[4]
Cramton Bowl was host to all home games forAlabama State Hornets football prior to ASU's construction ofan on-campus stadium in 2012 and was the host to all home games for theFaulkner University Eagles football team until 2012 when Faulkner University constructed its own facility. It was also home to theTurkey Day Classic and in 2009 hosted the inauguralHBCUAll-star Bowl.
Cramton Bowl also provided a location forAlabama Crimson Tide football home games in the capital city. The Crimson Tide played home games at Cramton Bowl in the1922 through1932 seasons, in1934, from1944 through1946 and again from1951 through1954. Alabama's all-time record at Cramton Bowl was 17 wins and 3 losses.[9]
Cramton Bowl probably achieved its greatest fame as the home of theBlue–Gray Football Classic, an annualcollege footballall-star game which was held there each December from 1938 until 2001.
Beginning in 2014, Cramton Bowl began hosting theCamellia Bowl, a college footballbowl game with tie-ins with theSun Belt Conference andMid-American Conference.[10][11] The game was renamed theSalute to Veterans Bowl in 2024.[12]
In 2017, the stadium became the regular host of theFCS Kickoff, a season-opening Division I FCS game operated byESPN and nationally televised onone of ESPN's networks.[13]
In October 2020, Cramton Bowl was announced as the host stadium for theMontgomery Bowl, a one-off bowl game played in December 2020, during the pandemic.[14]
Several area high schools call Cramton Bowl home including theJohnson Abernathy Graetz Jaguars,Percy Julian Phoenix, Park Crossing High School Thunderbirds, andCarver Wolverines. In July 2011, Cramton Bowl hosted theAlabama High School Athletic Association Alabama All-Stars Sports Week football game.
By the start of the 21st century, Cramton Bowl was widely regarded as being functionally obsolete for major sporting events. The stadium's relatively small capacity was not a concern as much as its age and condition. The stadium was not well maintained for most of its history, and by the dawn of the new millennium, it was actually crumbling. These issues were factors, although not the predominant ones, in the Blue-Gray Game not being held in 2002 and its subsequent relocation in 2003 toTroy University'sVeterans Memorial Stadium, about 50 miles (80 km) from Montgomery.
In mid-2010 the City of Montgomery approved a measure for a $10 million renovation and addition to Cramton Bowl. The renovations planned for Cramton Bowl were a unique mix of the old and the new. The old structure was revamped and updated with four entrances, a state-of-the-art press box, an aesthetically enhanced plaza area, and a "Walk of Fame," which celebrates Montgomery's sports history and houses various articles of historic sports memorabilia. Perhaps the most important and impressive addition was the 90,000-square-foot (8,400 m2) multi-purpose sports facility.[4] Demolition of the north end zone and press box began in late November 2010, which was phase one of the project. Phase two began in early January 2011 as crews removed an existing brick wall from the south end zone and dismantled the scoreboard to make way for the new multi-purpose sports facility. Work on the stadium was completed in 2011 while the new multi-purpose facility was finished in 2012.[15][16]
