(12-04-2019 10:57 PM)Zorch Wrote: (12-04-2019 07:14 PM)tribeinexile Wrote: I can’t be the only person on this board who remembers 1974.
(12-04-2019 08:18 PM)tribeinexile Wrote: .....
2) If I don't get some others on this board recounting their memories of 1974 then I'm declaring myself the old man of the board.
I got there in 1975. I do remember, though, a bunch of protests in 1979 where some students sought to de-emphasize football. The discussion was really about whether the college would provide the resources to keep W&M at the 1-A level (as an independent) or lower the commitment and play at the 1-AA level (also as an independent). I think the College finally went 1-AA in 1982 or so.
I have posted this before, but this film was the official response of the College to the controversy of 1974.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPrYWRNtc3M&t=7s
The 1979 controversy over enlargement of Cary Field is briefly outlined here:
https://scdbwiki.swem.wm.edu/wiki/index....le_Stadium
Stadium Expansion Controversy
In the 1970s there were demands from some football supporters and members of the Board of Visitors to expand the stadium further to seat 30,000 and secure a place for the university as a “big-time” athletic program. Williamsburg residents, students, faculty, staff, and alumni worked against the expansion including forming an opposition group, the Amos Alonzo Stagg Society. The outcry included boycotts of classes, rallies, the protest song “Ode to Cary Field” was written by a student, a Save the Charter Day event, a lawsuit, and other actions. Polls revealed 87% of students and 92% of faculty opposed further expansion of the stadium, but the Board continued to push for stadium expansion. The need for a larger stadium became a moot point after 3 years of discord when in December 1981 the NCAA lowered William & Mary from Division I-A to I-AA in football.
In 1979, the stadium underwent a $1 million renovation which raised seating capacity to 15,000, disposed of the original wooden bleachers, repaired masonry, crowned the field, and improved locker and equipment rooms.