Huntingdon College
Football Field & Stadium
Hawks Football: Catch It!
In the summer of 2002, Huntingdon College made history when it announced the formation of an NCAA-Division III football program, the only such program in the state of Alabama. The program was to be up and running with its first class of recruits in the fall of 2003. And up and running it was!
With more than 85 recruits taking the field, the first season of Hawks football was a rousing success. Nearly 2000 fans attended the first home game, and 1800 attended the second—both of which were played at the football field at St. James School. The second season continued the excitement, opening our own home field, Charles Lee Field on the Cloverdale campus. The team finished the season with five wins and a bright outlook for the future under new Head Coach Mike Turk. The 2005-2006 season, the team's third, raised the bar, with a record of 7-2 and national recognition for the team, its coaches, and its players.
Charles Lee Field
Charles Lee Field, the site of Hawks Football's home games, is named in honor of Charles Lee, a 1962 Huntingdon College alumnus, former Hall of Fame football coach for Jefferson Davis High School, and current director of Jackson Hospital Sports Medicine. Lee has contributed countless hours as a coach and as an expert in the field of sports medicine to the game of football and to area athletics since he graduated from Huntingdon College.
A Statement from Charles Lee '62 (on the establishment of Hawks football in 2003):
Back in the 1950s and '60s, Montgomerians had a “Little Village” within their city. Cloverdale was a unique community, anchored by Huntingdon College, Cloverdale Elementary and Junior High Schools, and the Montgomery Country Club. It was this thriving little village where within easy walking distance you could get a hair cut, buy a milk shake or sundae (Richardson's Pharmacy), select a lady's ensemble (Tommie's Dress Shop), pick up your dry cleaning, buy your groceries, browse around in the ‘dime store,' go by the Post Office, grab a sandwich (Joe's) or a full meal (Varon's), get your watch repaired, attend a movie (Clover Theatre), put air in your bicycle tires or gas in your car (Sinclair's), or get a frozen Coke or popcorn from Pop's. What a great community and what wonderful people enjoyed this environment!
Huntingdon College is about to offer the people of Montgomery and surrounding areas some of the same neighborhood fun of years ago. With the recent purchase and renovation of Cloverdale School, plus the building of a new football field to be home to its new football team, people will now have a reason to come back to a community that they haven't enjoyed in years.
With an NCAA-III football program, you'll see many student-athletes playing their hearts out because they love the game of football. You'll remember their names not because you'll see them play on Sunday in the NFL, but because you'll see them later as your banker, lawyer, physician, minister, teacher, or all-around community leader.
Can't you imagine taking your whole family to a fun-filled atmosphere of college football? Tailgating, having fun, laughing, and pulling for the Hawks to beat the likes of Sewanee, Millsaps, Rhodes, or other similar institutions of higher learning.
I think it's great! I can't wait! I hope to see many people who over the years have loved and supported athletics, from Termite and Pee-Wee Football all through high school, those who have loved and appreciated what Huntingdon academics and athletics have meant to the city and surrounding areas, come back to the little village of Cloverdale and look to the future of Huntingdon College Hawk football.
W. James Samford Jr. Stadium
In December 2005, the College received a gift from the W. James Samford Jr. Foundation and named the stadium in Samford's memory. The gift will provide for enhancements to football coaches’ offices, locker room facilities, the construction of a stadium addition to include a new media box, and a new iron-gated entrance to the stadium and Charles Lee Field.
Samford’s sister, Lucinda Samford Cannon, a Huntingdon College Trustee, said “My brother loved athletics – almost every sport – and I know he would have loved this Huntingdon football program. He lived just down the street from Huntingdon in Old Cloverdale. I’m sure that, on days when there weren’t Auburn home games, he would have walked down the street to cheer for the Hawks. He would have loved to see the family atmosphere at the games and how this program, in particular, and Huntingdon, in general, have united the neighborhood. Most of all, he would have had such respect for the motivation of the young men on the team, because they play for the love of the game. We have a strong family connection to Huntingdon College as both of our grandmothers graduated from Alabama Conference Female College in Tuskegee, which was a forerunner of Huntingdon College prior to its move to Montgomery in 1909.” Two of the Samford siblings' ancestors were instrumental in steering the College through times of growth and expansion, including their great-great grandfather, William Flewellen Samford, who helped to raise funds to expand the dormitories at Tuskegee Female College (Huntingdon’s earliest identity) in 1856; and their great-great uncle, William Hodges Samford, who chaired Huntingdon’s Board of Trustees in 1913, shortly after the College moved from Tuskegee to Montgomery.
Samford, an attorney, died at the age of 53 in 2003. His professional service included work with the litigation division of the FDIC in Washington, DC, and, in Alabama, as president of the Public Service Commission, legal advisor to Alabama Governor Fob James, and private law practice. A long-time Auburn University Trustee, including five years as President Pro Tempore, he spearheaded efforts to construct Auburn University’s Plainsman Park, which was named the top collegiate baseball facility in the nation by Baseball America in 2003. The university’s baseball stadium is named W. James Samford Stadium in his honor.
“This gift means the world to us,” said Huntingdon Head Football Coach Mike Turk. “We already offer a tremendous facility for our program, but improvements enabled by this gift will establish our field and stadium among the elite in Division III programs. Jimmy Samford is a legend in Alabama sports, and we are grateful that his Foundation and Ms. Cannon are associated with the Huntingdon program in such important and meaningful ways.”
The gift will be used, in part, to construct a stadium addition to include two coaches’ boxes, a media box, and a broadcasting area, as well as a suite to be used for special College receptions and functions. A new wrought iron and brick gate and fencing will be constructed at the main entrance. The name, W. James Samford Jr. Stadium, will be included in the archway of the gate and across the front of the stadium addition.
“Huntingdon currently has broadcasting and announcing facilities atop scaffolding opposite the stadium,” said Athletic Director Buzz Phillips. “This will be a tremendous improvement and will allow us to host special guests, as well as to provide space for home and visiting coaches. I think the gift shows that whether a football program is Division I or Division III, it adds tremendous value to the life of the College and to the life of the community.”
Read more about W. James Samford, Jr. | View photos from the news conference
Contact
To contribute to Huntingdon's athletic facilities and programs or for more information, contact:
The Rev. Dr. Mark La Branche
Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Church Relations
Office of Institutional Advancement
Huntingdon College
1500 E. Fairview Avenue
Montgomery , AL 36106
(334) 833-4563
mdl@huntingdon.edu
