Groves Stadium
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Groves Stadium is a stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of the Wake Forest University Demon Deacons. The stadium opened in 1968 and holds 31,500 people.
The stadium name goes back to the original stadium at the original location of Wake Forest (Wake Forest, North Carolina). The old stadium was financed by Henry Groves, and when the school announced the move to Winston-Salem, he and his brother, Earl, decided to make a further contribution to the school to keep their name on any new stadium. After moving to Winston-Salem, many games were played in Bowman Gray Stadium while the project to build a new stadium met with many setbacks. It was not until 1966 that the final fundraising was done, and the stadium opened in September of 1968, with the Deacons losing to old rival NC State. The former Groves Stadium became the home football field for Wake Forest-Rolesville High School and is today known as Trentini Stadium.
The current stadium consists of two bowed grandstands on either side of the field. The southeast endzone is known as "Deacon Hill," and is used for berm seating during games. The Bridger Field House, originally built in 1968 with the stadium, was demolished in early 1996 and rebuilt during the 1996 football season. It opened midway through the 1997 football season. The structure is located behind the northwest endzone. In the summer of 2006, the natural grass surface was replaced with FieldTurf.
In 2006, the Wake Forest Athletics Department announced plans to further the renovations on Groves Stadium with the construction of Deacon Tower which will house a new press box. Deacon Tower is set to open in 2008. The press box will be the centerpiece of the third of six levels of renovations set to take place at Groves Stadium. The old press box, built in 1968, was successfully imploded & demolished on the morning of January 14, 2007 as numerous Demon Deacon fans watched on. Previous renovations included the bricking of the facade of the grandstand in 2005 and the implementation of FieldTurf in 2006.
Groves Stadium is just west of Ernie Shore Field, home of the Winston-Salem Warthogs minor league baseball team.
