A. W. Mumford Stadium, formally known as University Stadium, was established in 1928. The stadium was renamed in 1982 after Southern’s legendary coach, Arnett “Ace” W. Mumford. Mumford coached the Southern Jaguars from 1936 to 1961, for 25 seasons, leading them to win 10 SWAC championships. He held a record of 180 wins, 60 losses and 13 ties.
A Portrait of Southern University History, Achievements, and Great Football Traditions, written by Everett D. Gibson, tells us about one of the greatest coaches in Southern’s history.
In 1935, Mumford coached for the Texas Steers who competed against the Southern Jaguars that were being coached by Coach Purnell at the time. Mumford’s team lost to the Jaguars, and as a result, the team stole items out of the dormitory that they were staying in. Before departure back to Texas, Mumford was informed by Southern coaches about items being missing in the dorms. He made his team get off of the bus and each player was searched. When the President of Southern, J.S. Clark, learned about the situation, he was impressed by Mumford and appointed him Head Football coach stating, “This is the kind of coach we need at Southern.”
Mumford was always looking for ways to improve the football program at Southern. Although he was unable to attend most of the national football clinics, he would go to the hotels where major coaches were staying and pick up knowledge from the most renowned coaches.
Former player and director of athletics at Southern, Emery Hines stated in a Blitzer Article,“[Mumford] was a perfectionist,” he says, “A typical work day started around 6:00am and lasted until late at night.”
One alumni by the name of Phillip Smith Sr. remembers playing for A.W Mumford saying, “One word to describe playing for A.W. Mumford is proud.” He was an academic All- American before graduating in 1965. When asked about the lessons he learned from A.W. Mumford, he said, “He taught us what would last for the rest of our lives.”
A legendary game played at University Stadium (A.W. Mumford Stadium) was the Grambling Tigers against the Southern Jaguars in 1960.
Mumford’s plan to defeat Grambling was to score often and then play defense the rest of the game. He created a play called the “Speedy Special,” named after Southern’s then running back, Robert “Speedy” Williams. In practice, Coach Mumford made the Jaguars run the play thirty-two consecutive times and called for the “Speedy Special” less than one minute into the game. “Speedy” Williams ran 78 yards untouched. The final score of the night was Southern 16, Grambling 6. When asked why he didn’t run the play again, Mumford replied with “I got all I wanted out of that play.”
In the 1950s, the Jaguars became the team to beat. The larger games were played in Downtown Baton Rouge at Memorial Stadium. Due to complaints from students, in 1958, the state Legislature approved the funds to expand the stadium from 5,000 seats to 20,500 seats.
On September 25, 1982, the University Stadium was renamed to Ace W. Mumford Stadium and 4,500 more seats were added to the stadium.
In the early 2000s, the university built a Daktronics Video Scoreboard.
Today, Ace W. Mumford Stadium holds 28,500 seats, a recently installed state of the art scoreboard, a press box, and private suites.
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Making of A.W. Mumford Stadium
October 3, 2017
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