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R-MC commemorated the last game played
on Day Field on November 12, 2011.
Click on Day Field to view a photo slideshow of the day. |
This year’s football rival match-up between Randolph-Macon and Hampden-Sydney on Saturday, November 12, 2011 was the 37th meeting of the two schools on Day Field. The Yellow Jackets rushed past Hampden-Sydney to win the game 48-34. This game marked the last played on the current Day Field. R-MC commemorated the occasion before the game and also recognized the senior members of the Yellow Jacket football team.
Randolph-Macon College announced in October 2011 that through the generous support of alumni, parents, and Yellow Jacket fans, the college met its initial $3.5 million fundraising goal for the renovation of Day Field.
The new project will move the current field to a north/south orientation, change the surface of the playing field to turf, and add new brick walkways, visitor stands, and a new scoreboard. The new Day Field will be surrounded on the north side by Andrews Hall, a new 108-bed residence for freshmen and on the south side by the future Birdsong Residence Hall for seniors.
The new Day Field will be home to Randolph-Macon’s football and men’s and women’s lacrosse teams. Also, the turf surface will allow the field to be used for intramural team competitions. Construction will begin on the new facility in the winter of 2011 and is scheduled to be completed in time for the start of the fall 2012 athletic season.
The new Day Field is part of a larger Campus Master Plan for Randolph-Macon that includes a new tennis facility; Andrews Hall; Birdsong Hall, a new senior residence hall; a new science center; the Werner Pavilion, an addition to the McGraw-Page Library; a new campus student center; and a new baseball facility, Hugh Stephens Field at Estes Park. All of these projects are part of the college’s “Building Extraordinary” capital campaign which has now surpassed $70 million in contributions.
History of Day Field Day Field serves as the home field for the Randolph-Macon College football team. The facility is named after Frank L. Day who was a professor of Bible at Randolph-Macon College for 29 years. An avid sports supporter, Day donated the land for the athletics fields to R-MC in 1937.
Home of the Yellow Jackets since the 1930s, Day Field has been host to some of the largest crowds in NCAA Division III history. The season finale against Hampden-Sydney College, also known as “The Oldest Small College Rivalry in the South” and “The Game,” has produced overflow crowds for each of the 116 games in the rivalry.
Randolph-Macon won the inaugural game, 12-6, back in 1893. The two teams played only twice in the next six years, but since 1900 the Yellow Jackets and Tigers have met in all but three seasons and every year since 1930 (excluding wartime). Hampden-Sydney holds the overall advantage, 60-45-11. After the 1893 meeting, the Hampden-Sydney Tigers began to take control of the series, winning 21 of the first 28 contests. The Yellow Jackets came back to win 9 of the next 11 games before a long period in which neither team was able to take the upper hand.