Houck Stadium



Houck Field has served as the home of the Southeast Missouri State University football team for over 80 years.

Houck Field underwent a huge makeover, as a new Field Turf playing surface, state-of-the-art Daktronics video scoreboard and new lighting were installed prior to the 2011 season. The facility was also re-painted, giving the home to Redhawk Football a dazzling look.

In 2010, a school record 8,342 fans turned out to watch Southeast at home. That mark was an improvement from the Redhawks average home attendance of 5,835 in 2009. Southeast also had two crowds over the Houck Field capacity.

Houck Field was built in 1930 at a cost of $150,000 and remains a beautiful and picturesque stadium today.

The dedication game pitted Southeast and Southern Illinois University from nearby Carbondale, Ill., on Oct. 3, 1930. That game attracted a crowd of over 6,000, with SIU claiming a 12-6 victory. The referee of the inaugural game was James T. Blair, who served as the Governor of Missouri from 1957-61.

Houck Field was constructed on the site of an old rock quarry and was purchased in 1925 for $11,000 at the recommendation of then-college President Joseph A. Serena.

Ten thousand bags of Portland Cement, 23,000 feet of Oregon Fir seat lumber and 150,000 feet of Yellow Pine Form lumber were used in the construction, according to an ad in the Houck Field dedication program. The original stadium included 5,240 seats on the south side of the field.

The field and stadium were named in honor of Louis Houck, who served 39 years as a Regent for the University and President of the Board for all but three of those years.

Seating on the north side of the stadium was added prior to the 1963 season. The press box was later constructed on the south side in 1979.

Approximately 400 chairback seats were added to a center section on the south side of the stadium in 1992.

In 2000, the initial Field Turf playing field was added and the exterior of the facility was resurfaced. Improvements were also made to the press box.

More upgrades took place in the fall of 2005. Those included a paved parking area adjacent to the east end zone and new parking and landscaping areas surrounding the outside of the stadium.

A state-of-the-art dormitory was added to the west end of Houck Field within the last three years. The ground floor of that building houses a locker room and athletic training room which the football program uses on gamedays.

Eight of the largest single-game crowds at Houck Field have come in the last 12 years.

In 2010, a school record 11,126 fans watched the Redhawks defeat UT Martin on Oct. 30. Southeast also drew a crowd of 10,316 vs. Tennessee State on Oct. 9 for the fourth-largest single-game home attendance.

Additionally, the Redhawks had over 10,000 fans for the Western Kentucky (10,222) and Murray State (10,028) matchups in 2000, the Murray State (10,100) game in 2001 and Southern Illinois (10,100) contest in 2005.

Southeast averaged over 8,000 fans per home game in 2000.