Known as “the Rock,”Roberts Stadium is
one of the few stadiums in college football built in the 1970s. For more than seven decades, the
University of Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles have played football at the
site of Roberts Stadium. Football at the site dates
back to 1932 when a 4,000 seat stadium known as Foulkner Field was
built.
In 1939 stands
were built on the east side of the field. The
name, “the Rock” was coined during the construction of the east stands
when prison work crews helped build these stands. Nearly 5,000 seats were added before the 1950 season on the
west side of the stadium. With a seating capacity of 15,000, the
Golden Eagles home was too small. In 1976, funds for a new stadium were
allotted to construct a larger stadium. Built on the same site of Foulkner Field, Roberts Stadium
opened on September 25, 1976 when Southern Miss played Ole Miss. The
stadium was named after M.M. Roberts who was given credit for the
development of Southern Miss as a comprehensive university. When Roberts
Stadium
opened in 1976 it had a capacity of 33,000. In 1998,
a new scoreboard was added and before the 2004 a new type of
artificial turf, Momentum Turf was installed at the stadium. In April
2007, Southern Miss began expanding Roberts Stadium. This expansion
added 3,700 seats, 34 suites and 320 club seats. A new
video/scoreboard was added in the north endzone and a concourse
was built connecting the east and west sides of the stadium. At a
cost of $31.8 million, this project was complete by the 2008
season and increased the seating capacity to 36,000.
