Home Field: Texas High School Football Stadiums from Alice to Zephyr

by Jeff Wilson, Buzz Bissinger (Foreword), Bobby Hawthorne (Editor)

"The promise of an empty football field is an irresistible force for those who understand and revere the game," Jeff Wilson observes. Drawn by the sense of possibility and nostalgia inherent in every stadium, Wilson traveled the state of Texas to photograph high school stadiums for a photo essay that appeared in Texas Monthly in August 2005. The magazine's readers responded with an outpouring of enthusiasm, and Wilson's photo essay was nominated for a prestigious National Magazine Award. In Home Field, Wilson creates a unique photo portrait of nearly eighty Texas high school football stadiums, ranging from the bright lights, artificial turf, and seating for thousands at Southlake Carroll to the lone set of bleachers under the wide open sky in Veribest. Shot from the fifty-yard line facing the home stands, these photographs invite us to view each stadium from the same vantage point and experience it as an evocative place that holds a community's collective memories. Accompanying the photographs are reminiscences about the fields from players, coaches, team physicians, athletic directors, sportswriters and announcers, school superintendents, principals and teachers, band directors, maintenance workers, booster club parents, students, and fans. Their stories—whether funny, nostalgic, or poignant—reveal just how important high school football is to Texans and how it creates an unforgettable sense of community and camaraderie. Sure to bring back memories as soon as you open the book, Home Field captures what football is supposed to be—"simple and pure, like a perfect spiral arcing gracefully across the sky."

Genres: Sports

185 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2010

About the author

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Reviews

[SamT · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book containing the photos of 80 Texas football fields from all across the state. Each was taken from the 50 yard line and each was taken "in winter repose, after the season has run its course and the crowds have filed out."
Some are of the better known stadiums such as Ratliff in Odessa, Alamo in San Antonio, and Rose in Tyler. But for the most part they are from the small towns where the Friday night lights glow from September through November.
As a photographer of Texas Courthouses, I have seen many of the stadiums featured in the book but have set foot in only two of them.
One is Highlander in Dallas where my son played his final high school game against the tradition rich Scotties.
The other is Brave Stadium in Iraan where I once stood atop the press box on a windy November evening in far West Texas helping film the game as my high school's Broncos defeated the Braves.