(04-02-2014 12:00 AM)CajunFan3406 Wrote:  UL plays at Cajun Field which sits on the UL athletic complex/research park of around 400 acres. The campus proper is about 140 acres and is separated from the athletic complex by about a quarter mile wide area of mixed commercial and residential. There are currently plans in the works to acquire some of this property separating the two to make one continuous campus.

I don't know what qualifies as off campus for you, but I don't consider Cajun Field to be off campus.

Prior to moving to Cajun Field in 1971, the Cajuns played at McNaspy Stadium which was located on what I previously called the "campus proper," the 140 acre or so main campus at UL. I believe McNaspy was built around 1940. Now to go further back than that, I'm a little rusty. But I believe before McNaspy, the Cajuns played in the area that is now the location of our on campus swamp. Any older Cajun fans feel free to chime in and correct me if I'm wrong there.

Hope this helps with your research!

My original thought was you were mistaken as I thought they had played in the current quadrangle area of campus, but I found the following info on the Ragin Cajun Athletic Network website. I copied what I thought were the pertinent parts. Needless to say that little piece of Whittington farm property turned out pretty valuable to the Universities current footprint. Beside the athletic portion, the Research Park has been HUGE for the university.

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Jefferson Caffery donation sparked stadium drive

In 1923, Ambassador Jefferson Caffery, a former student and coach at SLII, donated $200 to the Southwestern Louisiana Institute Athletic Association. This prompted President Edwin L. Stephens to begin a drive to build a stadium on the campus. The campaign dragged along until 1925, when Stephens put it into the hands of Lafayette entrepreneur Maurice Heymann. He raised $37,690 in three hours. With that $30,000-plus, the school intended to build a stadium complex that included �a quarter-mile oval, with straightway, baseball diamond, football field , a good fence, five thousand seats, a swimming pool, and a pavilion gymnasium with floor space for eighty feet by one hundred twenty feet."

Southwestern Stadium was built between McKinley Street and Hébrard Avenue. It's dedication took place on Oct.1 15, 1926, at the Southwestern - Sam Houston Normal game. The grandstand seated 1,200 persons, and 1,500 more could be seated in bleachers.

SLI athletes continued to use the facilities built under Stephens until McNaspy Stadium and the Earl K. Long gymnasium were completed during the 1939-1940 SLI construction program under President Lethar Frazer. More than a dozen new buildings went up on the campus during those years.

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Then, on April 19, 1966, President Clyde Rougeou announced that a new athletic complex would be constructed, away from the main campus. The plan to relocate the athletic complex ... was adopted almost a decade ago as one of USL's long range plans," Rougeou told a press conference. When the Whittington farm property and adjoining property was acquired, it was with the idea that this would be USL's expansion area for its main campus. The university, in making these long-range plans, was anticipating and planning for the large enrollment she is now experiencing and will continue to experience for some years in the future. Several months ago," Rougeou continued, I felt that the time had come to name a committee to look into the matter of relocating our athletic plant. First of all, we are in great need of the site on which the athletic plant is located for future expansion of our academic buildings and facilities. Secondly, our athletic plant is not only outdated, it is also most inadequate for our present needs. Because of our pressing needs and because of the interest indicated by such groups as the S' Club, I named (a) committee to look into ... relocating the athletic plant and determining facilities needed. ... The members of this committee are Herbert Heymann, chairman; D.S. (Shine) Young of the USL Athletic Committee; William T. Bass, Alumni S' Club; Whitey Urban, Athletic Director; William Patton, KATC-TV Manager; Dudley Lastrapes, KLFY-TV News Director; Richard D'Aquin, Daily Advertiser Editor; M.L. (Teague) Moore, Century Club; Foy McMath, Chamber of Commerce representative; and His Honor, Mayor J. Rayburn Bertrand, representing the City of Lafayette."
The result of those committee recommendations has been the creation of the present athletic complex built around the Cajundome and Cajun Field. The first part of the complex was Cajun Field, built in 1970.