THEN & NOW
from one football to another The evolution of Pumphrey Stadium
By Donna Mooney | Photos courtesy of the university museum and cultural center
From the early 1950s to 2000, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Pumphrey Stadium was the mecca for all fans of Golden Lion Football games. For decades alumni, community leaders, friends and supporters of this hometown team filled Pumphrey to capacity, unfeigned by shoulder-to-shoulder crowding, stop-and-go traffic on then Cedar Street, or aroundthe-block and down-the-street parking. Today, Pumphrey Stadium is the home and field of the UAPB Lady Lions Women’s Soccer Team, and this sport has brought renewed worth to a memorable site.
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PRIDE Magazine • University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff
Pumphrey used to have a seating capacity of 6,000, which was large scale for an HBCU at that time. According to Carl Whimper, UAPB Recruiting Officer and former UAPB Sports Information Officer, a successful stadium campaign in 1989 funded an upgrade to add end-zone stands that boosted the seating to 7,500. Documents from the University Museum and Cultural Center show that Pumphrey Stadium was named after Claude T. Pumphrey, an outstanding UAPB football player from 1936-38, who hailed from Ogden, Arkansas.