View source for Thompson Stadium

{{short description|Former football stadium at the United States Naval Academy}}
{{use mdy dates|date=November 2021}}
{{Infobox stadium
| stadium_name  = Thompson Stadium
| image      = Thompson Stadium 1942.jpg<!--[[File:Thompson Stadium 1942.jpg|150px|alt=Men playing on a football field]]-->
| image_size = 220 
| caption    = Looking south at [[1942 Navy Midshipmen football team|1942]] [[Army-Navy Game]],<ref name=rdeag42ang>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZL8hAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7JwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4395%2C171611 |newspaper=Reading Eagle |location=(Pennsylvania) |agency=Associated Press |title=Navy's 14-0 win adds final touch to unusual service clash |date=November 29, 1942 |page=13}}</ref><br> the third and most recent at Annapolis
| fullname   = {{nowrap|[[Robert Means Thompson]] Stadium}}
| location   = [[United States Naval Academy]]<br>[[Annapolis]], <!--[[Anne Arundel County, Maryland|Anne Arundel County]],--> [[Maryland]]
|coordinates = {{coord|38.9786|N|76.483|W|region:US-MD_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| built      = {{start date and age|1914}}
| opened     = [[1914 Navy Midshipmen football team|1914]]
| surface    = Natural grass 
| demolished = early 1980s (~{{Time ago|1982}})
| owner      = United States Naval Academy
| operator   = United States Naval Academy
| seating_capacity   = 12,000
| tenants     = [[Navy Midshipmen football|Navy Midshipmen]] ([[National Collegiate Athletic Association|NCAA]]) ([[1924 Navy Midshipmen football team|1924]]–[[1958 Navy Midshipmen football team|1958]])
| dimensions  = 
}}
{{Location map
|USA
|relief     = 1
|label      = <small>Annapolis&nbsp;</small>
|lat        = 38.9786
|long       = -76.483
|caption    = Location in the [[United States]]
|float      =
|marksize   = 5 
|background = 
|width      = 245
}}
{{Location map
|USA Maryland
|relief     = 1
|label      = <small>Annapolis</small>
|lat        = 38.9786
|long       = -76.483
|caption    = Location in [[Maryland]]
|float      =
|position   = 
|marksize   = 5 
|background = 
|width      = 200
}}
'''Robert Means Thompson Stadium''' was an [[American football]] [[stadium]] in the [[East Coast of the United States|eastern]] [[United States]], located on the campus of the [[United States Naval Academy]] in [[Annapolis, Maryland]]. Constructed in 1914, it was the home stadium of the [[Navy Midshipmen football|Navy Midshipmen]] from [[1924 Navy Midshipmen football team|1924]] through [[1958 Navy Midshipmen football team|1958]], and was named after alumnus [[Robert Means Thompson]] (1849–1930)<!--[[United States Marine Corps|marine]] [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]]-->. He created or led several athletically-based organizations at the academy until his death. It was succeeded by the larger [[Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium]] in [[1959 Navy Midshipmen football team|1959]],<ref name=nswinsta>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FTNWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=n-cDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6750%2C4292026 |newspaper=Spokesman-Review |location=(Spokane, Washington)|agency=Associated Press |title=Navy is winner in new stadium |date=September 27, 1959 |page=3, sports}}</ref> the current venue of Navy football.

Before its conversion to a football stadium, the Thompson Stadium site was an unused area on the south end campus, near the water of Annapolis Harbor.  Work on the stadium began in 1914, and was finished later the same year. The [[seating capacity]] was 12,000,<ref name=cilfns>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7sFXAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZvQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5827%2C2426550 |newspaper=Spokane Daily Chronicle |location=(Washington) |title=Contract is let for Navy Stadium |date=November 15, 1922|page=14}}</ref> and it underwent few changes during its entire use. It was surrounded by a regulation quarter-mile (402 m) running track, and only had a single seating section, along the southwest sideline. The field had a northwest-southeast alignment, at an [[elevation]] slightly above [[sea level]].

During the 1940s, the Naval Academy began to look for options to construct a new, larger football stadium. The school's directors collected money to build the stadium, for which much support was given  by the public, due to the lack of seating at Thompson Stadium. Construction on the new stadium began in 1958 and it opened in September 1959.<ref name=nswinsta/> Use of Thompson Stadium ended for varsity games, but it remained until the early 1980s, when it was replaced by Lejeune Hall,<ref>{{cite web|title=1972 Reef Points map|url=http://www.usna-ntx.org/poop_deck/201010/current.html|publisher=USNA Parents Club of North Texas|access-date=5 August 2012|date=9 October 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111114014458/http://www.usna-ntx.org/poop_deck/201010/current.html|archive-date=14 November 2011}}</ref> the venue for USNA water sports.

==Name==
From its origins until 1931, Thompson Stadium went without a name,<ref name="Page 191">[[#Background|Kiland et al.]], p&nbsp;191</ref> and was referred to on maps as simply "Football Field."<ref name="1924 map">{{cite map |publisher=[[United States Army]] |cartography=C.E. Miller |title=United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland |date=<!--Improvements to-->June 30, 1924 |edition=1924 |section=L31-M33}}</ref> That year on May 30, the stadium was formally dedicated as the Robert Means Thompson Stadium, for the benefactor and alumnus of the Naval Academy.<ref name="Dedication">{{cite news |title=Navy Dedicates Stadium In Honor Of Thompson |url= https://www.proquest.com/docview/543427852/|work=The Sun |location=Baltimore, Maryland |date=31 May 1931 |agency=AP}}</ref> Born in March 1849, Thompson graduated from the Naval Academy as part of the class of 1868. He was commissioned as an officer in the Navy in 1869, but retired two years later to pursue a career in law. After leaving the navy, Thompson became active in helping with the athletics program at the academy, donating the Thompson Cup, an award given to the academy's athlete with the greatest improvement throughout the course of the season. In addition, he served as the head of several Naval Academy organizations and founded the Naval Academy Athletic Association.<ref name="Page 213">[[#Names|Royston 2009]] p.&nbsp;213</ref>

==History==
The Naval Academy's football team played their first game {{Time ago|1879}} in 1879, an away game against the Baltimore Athletic Club, which ended in a scoreless tie.<ref name="Page 154">[[#All Time|Navy 2005]] p.&nbsp;154</ref> The Navy football team, not yet known as the "midshipmen,"<ref name="Middies">{{cite web |author=Staff |publisher=[[United States Naval Academy]] |url=http://www.navysports.com/trads/usna-facts-figures-history.html |title=U.S. Naval Academy Facts, Figures and History |work=Traditions |year=2013 |access-date=March 14, 2013}}</ref> did not have an official stadium. For the duration of the 1880s, during which the squads obtained a record of thirteen wins, twelve losses, and two ties, the football squads most likely played home games on an unused drill or parade field.<ref name="Page 191"/><ref name="Page 154"/> From the beginning of the 1890s until 1924, a period in which the Navy squads finished with an overall record of {{nowrap|202–82–23 ({{winning percentage|202|82|23}})}}, the football team used [[Worden Field]], a large multi-use athletic field for their home games.<ref name="Page 191"/><ref name="Pages 154-157">[[#All Time|Navy 2005]], pp.&nbsp;154&ndash;157</ref>

==References==
;Footnotes
{{Reflist|2}}

;Bibliography
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |ref=Background |last1=Kiland |first1=Taylor Baldwin |last2=Howren |first2=Jamie |year=2007 |title=A Walk in the Yard: A Self-Guided Tour of the U.S. Naval Academy |publisher=[[United States Naval Institute]] |location=[[Annapolis, Maryland|Annapolis, MD]] |isbn=978-1-59114-436-6 |oclc=72799100}}
* {{cite web |ref=All Time |author=Naval Academy Athletic Association |publisher=United States Naval Academy |url=http://graphics.fansonly.com/photos/schools/navy/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/1935_05-FB-MG---9---History-15.pdf |title=Navy: Football History |work=2005 Navy Football |year=2005 |access-date=March 14, 2013}}
* {{cite book |ref=Names |last=Royston |first=Mark W |year=2009 |title=The Faces behind The Bases: Short Biographies of Those for Whom Military Bases are Named |publisher=[[iUniverse]] |location=[[Bloomington, Indiana|Bloomington IN]] |isbn=978-1-4401-3712-9 |oclc=475622904}}
{{refend}}

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[[Category:Defunct college football venues]]
[[Category:Navy Midshipmen football venues]]
[[Category:American football venues in Maryland]]
[[Category:1914 establishments in Maryland]]
[[Category:Sports venues completed in 1914]]
[[Category:1980s disestablishments in Maryland]]