KUSA – It’s not easy leaving home, the place where memories are made and family comes together. For 49 seasons and 262 games, Hughes Stadium has been home to the Colorado State University Rams.
On Saturday night, CSU took on New Mexico in the final game to ever be played at Hughes Stadium.
“I’m totally going to miss Hughes,” said CSU alum, Warren Krueger.
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Krueger met his future wife at CSU, graduated in 1990 and kept coming back for football and the tailgates outside Hughes Stadium.
“Share stories, share music, share food and we have such a good time together,” Krueger said.
As Krueger cooked up brats outside the stadium Saturday, John Hirn took a walk out onto Sonny Lubick Field before the game.
“This has served CSU very well over the last 49 seasons,” Hirn said.
Hirn was a freshman at CSU 27 years ago and has been hanging around ever since. He’s now a volunteer athletic historian at Colorado State University. He can tell you just about anything you want to know about the place.
“The old press box was built back in 2004,” Hirn said, pointing up to the glass windows.
Of course, Hirn knows more than the facts. He knows the feelings, too – how fans celebrated after the Rams took down 19th ranked Wyoming in 1990.
“We all just rushed the field and tore down the goal posts back in the day when you could tear down the goal posts,” Hirn said.
Hirn and all CSU Rams said goodbye to Hughes Stadium on Saturday.
“It’s done everything we need it to do” Hirn said. “It’s time to progress and move on, and that’s what’s so great about what we’ve got going on with the new stadium on the campus.”
The new $220 million on-campus stadium is being built three miles east of Hughes Stadium. Thanks to a $20 million donation, the field on the new stadium will keep the old name, Sonny Lubick Field.