Tulsa Gets a New Home -- Skelly Stadium
8/19/2004 12:00:00 AM | Tulsa Hurricane
The University of Tulsa's new football home, Skelly Stadium, was dedicated on the date of the 1930 season opener with the University of Arkansas (Oct. 4, 1930). Built at a cost of $300,000, the stadium bore the name of one of the principal contributors to the fund, William G. Skelly. It had a seating capacity of 15,000, with the north and south ends open for either future construction or bleachers. William Skelly, a long-time friend of The University of Tulsa gave $125,000 to the Stadium Fund Drive in the spring of 1930. The remaining $175,000 was raised by Tulsa businessmen who organized the Stadium Corporation of Tulsa. Ground-breaking ceremonies were held on May 11 and the building race was on to complete the stadium for the opening of the 1930 football season. Before the Tulsa-Arkansas game actually started, one of the Tulsa players offered to bet any of the other men that they had played on this same ground before. It sounded like a sucker's bait - and was. What the wagering tackle knew was that some of the soil on the Skelly gridiron had been removed from McNulty Park! On the opening kickoff, Arkansas fumbled and End Johnny Potts recovered for Tulsa. Billy Boehm scooted through the entire Razorbacks eleven on the first play to score the first touchdown on the north end of the stadium. The Hurricane had things their way that day, and won easily, 26-6. To Chet Benefiel went the honor of first crossing the south goal line. Tulsa went on to an overall 7-2 record in 1930, including a 6-2 mark on its new home field. Before Tulsa played its home games in Skelly Stadium the Golden Hurricane used McNulty Park, the baseball minor league stadium that was the forerunner of Oiler Park. McNulty was located near the corner of 11th and Elgin. TU teams enjoyed tremendous winning seasons at McNulty Park since 1919. Some observers believed it was partially due to the field and officials. The playing field was only 90 yards long. When one team moved the ball to the 10 yard line the officials moved it back to the 20. When a long run or pass play occurred it was up to the referees' judgment if the ball carrier would have scored or not. Numerous accounts of fights were recorded during TU's days at McNulty. --- Excerpts from the book "The Golden Hurricane . . . Fifty Years of Football at The University of Tulsa, 1895-1945", written by Robert Rutland and published by The Tulsa Quarterback Club in 1952.
