Highlights from the 2008 Spring Game

Game Day

CSU offers a spectacular setting for college football during Colorado’s typically gorgeous fall afternoons, when temperatures are generally in the 60s, few clouds are in the sky and humidity hovers around 30 percent.

Major upgrades

In 2003, the Bohemian Foundation contributed  $15.2 million to the Colorado State athletic department.

The majority of that gift was focused on improving the Rams’ home, Hughes Stadium.

Over a three-year period, the facility received a spectacular new west tower, containing a club seating area, luxury suites and press box. CSU also enclosed the north end zone, increasing stadium capacity to 34,400.

The foundation insisted that the venue’s playing surface receive a new name — Sonny Lubick Field, after the legendary head coach that spurred the most successful run of bowl games and conference championships in program history.

The final phase of renovation focused on that surface itself. The field underwent a $1.33 million makeover prior to the 2006 season, when Colorado State installed FieldTurf, the revolutionary, rubberized surface used by several NFL and major-college venues across the country.

Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium sits only a short hike from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Rams players step off their bus and walk through Ram Town, a special tailgate area near the south end zone. Players make their way to the locker room through a tunnel of enthusiastic fans, with the cheerleaders and band setting the stage with the CSU fight song.

 The entire east-side stands, along CSU’s home sideline, are reserved for students. And after kickoff, when the Rams get on the scoreboard, cover your ears!

 The Cannon

Since 1920, the CSU Army ROTC has fired its deafening cannon  — an intimidating exclamation point to opponents that just allowed a Rams touchdown, field goal or PAT.

The Aggie "A"

The prominent white “A” displayed on the foothills overlooking Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium turns 85 years old in 2008, making it the oldest ongoing tradition associated with Colorado State University.

The "A" evolved after World War I when a trend began among colleges to display the school insignia on a hill near campus.  At a special assembly on Dec. 4, 1923, the students of State Agricultural College agreed it was time to erect such an emblem.  A group of military volunteers formed the “A” Club and donated vehicles for transporting supplies, and female students provided food for the workers.

The college declared Dec. 12 a special holiday, and students worked from that morning until mid-afternoon to form the “A”.  One small detail was missing: the school didn’t own the land on which the insignia sat.  The College and Ag Board members met with landowner R.G. Maxwell and negotiated a long-term lease for the sum of $1.

The following September, students lengthened and widened the "A" to its present size of 450’ from top to bottom, and 210’ across at the bottom.  For many years the freshman class carried out the annual tradition of whitewashing the “A”.  Today, the “A” is an official landmark.  Each fall, members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and new freshmen football players join forces to give the “A” a fresh coat of white paint as part of Homecoming week activities.

CAM the Ram

The official mascot of Colorado State is CAM the Ram, whose name symbolizes CSU history — an acronym for Colorado Agricultural and Mechanical College, the institution’s former name.

All told, 22 live rams have served proudly on the Hughes Stadium sidelines. The mascot has its own corps of student ‘Ram Handlers,’ as well as a traveling trailer.