Ernest Hawkins Field at Memorial Stadium is an athletic stadium located in Commerce, Texas. It is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of the East Texas A&M University Lions football team, Texas A&M-Commerce Men's and Women's Track and Field, and the Commerce High School Tigers Football team of the Commerce Independent School District. Prior to 1996, the stadium was named "East Texas State Memorial Stadium, and until the end of the 2017 season, it was known as Texas A&M-Commerce Memorial Stadium." The stadium was built in honor of the 78 Texas A&M-Commerce alums and students who fought and died during World War II. The stadium was renamed Ernest Hawkins Field at Memorial Stadium was formally changed in November 2017 in honor of longtime Lion football coach Ernest Hawkins.

Stadium history

Memorial Stadium began as a project of the Ex-Students Association in the fall of 1945. The ESA and friends of the University raised a portion of the funds before the University itself received a state appropriation for the rest of the $300,000 to build the facility. Construction on the facility was started in the fall of 1949 and work continued quickly to have the stadium ready for the start of the 1950 season. The stadium was opened and dedicated on Sept. 23, 1950 with a game against regional rival the University of North Texas. The dedication ceremony featured U.S. Speaker of the House and Texas A&M Commerce alumnus Sam Rayburn and former Texas lieutenant governor Walter Woodul. General Douglas MacArthur, while not in attendance, wrote to then University President James Gee that "I am delighted and honored," to have his quotation affixed to the plaque honoring the Lions fallen comrades. That quote, also chiseled on the stadium at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, is a famous one: "Upon the fields of friendly strife, are sown the seeds that, Upon other fields, on other days, will bear the fruits of victory." The Lions and Eagles played before a capacity crowd of 12,000 fans from all over North Texas that night as the Eagles came out on top 42–20. It has proven over the history of the Stadium to be one of the few home losses for Lion football, as they have won nearly 70 percent of the games they have played at home. In 1996, when the Texas A&M University System purchased East Texas State University, the name was changed from ETSU Memorial Stadium to Texas A&M University-Commerce Memorial Stadium.

Renovations and modifications

Notable games

Attendance

Attendance records available 1976, 1983-84, 1989-2007, and 2009-Present. Inaugural game against North Texas State on September 23, 1950 is said to have had an attendance of over 12,000 but no official attendance records are available for that game.

Other functions

In addition to football games for East Texas A&M and Commerce High School, it also hosts college and high school track meets, including the University Interscholastic League's Conference 4A Region II track meet, which is a precursor to the Texas High School State Track meet in Austin. It also hosts Texas High School football playoff games due to Commerce's proximity to the Dallas, Texas metro area and also to the far northwestern parts of East Texas. Notable High School Games