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The Carl Smith Center, Home of David A. Harrison III Field at Scott Stadium, located in Charlottesville, Virginia, is the home of the Virginia Cavaliers football team. It sits on the University of Virginia Grounds, across from first-year dorms on Alderman Road. Constructed in 1931, it is the oldest Division I football stadium in the state of Virginia. It occasionally hosts other events, such as concerts for bands that can fill an entire stadium, such as the Rolling Stones (2005) and the Dave Matthews Band (2001). It hosted the Division I NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship in 1977 and 1982.

Known for its classical construction (with features such as the pergola) as well as its unique “grass-seating” area called The Hill, Scott Stadium is regarded as one of the best places in America to watch a college football game. The stadium, which holds 61,500, is large for a school of just 13,000 undergraduates and 6,000 graduates, but it is regularly filled to and even past capacity.

Built as a replacement for the old Lambeth Field or “Colonnades,” Scott Stadium bears the name of donor and University Rector Frederic Scott, and held 25,000 spectators at opening. The stadium is considered one of the most beautiful facilities in the nation, and formerly had a view of the Blue Ridge Mountains and specifically Monticello Mountain out the south end of the stadium. An artificial turf system was installed in 1974, making impossible a long tradition of a mounted Cavalier riding into the stadium with the football team. David A. Harrision III provided a gift allowing natural grass to be reinstalled in the stadium, and the Cavalier has ridden into Scott, waving his sabre high, every game since 1995.

The first expansion to the stadium’s capacity came in 1981, when upper decks and grass hill seating allowed 41,000 fans. Carl Smith’s donations helped make the most recent contributions to Scott Stadium in 2000, filling in the upper deck and south end to allow 20,000 additional fans, and installing the pergola, state of the art lighting and gigantic audio/visual tower known as “Hoo-Vision,” as well as a new lighting system placed on towers with “V’s” built in. While the dramatic view of the Blue Ridge was lost in this expansion, Scott Stadium remains a sight to behold. The facility’s official name, a result of this string of donations, may be the longest for a sports venue in the United States, and possibly the world.

A new tradition has recently taken hold at Scott Stadium. Beginning near the end of 2003 and accelerating through 2004, students, fans, and alumni have taken to wearing orange shirts – and even orange hats – to each of the games. Previously, males would wear coats and ties while females would wear sundresses, which is also the tradition at Auburn, Georgia, and Ole Miss. This tradition has not been welcomed by all students. Some upperclassmen continue to wear ties and sundresses, feeling the “Sea of Orange” had been forced on them by Coach Al Groh.

Though ties and especially sundresses can still be easily found at Virginia football games, many have compromised to wearing ties with orange shirts. Some very creative ladies have even been spotted in orange sundresses. However, many more students have begun wearing orange t-shirts (with slogans like “Orange Crush”, “Orange Fever”, and “Sea of Orange”) and abandoning the coats and ties or sundresses altogether. See image above and notice the orange-colored student section, to the left of where the band was sitting. (There are actually two UVa bands present at each game in the stadium, the 230-piece Cavalier Marching Band, led by a professional band director, and the much smaller Virginia Pep Band, led by fellow students, though the latter only performs outside for the tailgating crowd). The Cavaliers set their attendance record on November 19, 2005, when they hosted the Virginia Tech Hokies.

[Source: Wikipedia]