Georgia Southern Head Football Coach Erk Russell didn't concern himself with his surroundings, even as he and his staff had meetings and watched film in a trailer/makeshift office behind Hanner Fieldhouse. One of his legendary quips, "when you don't have the best of everything, make the best of everything you have," applied to more than a few things as the program went from a start-up to national champion in just a few short years.
From the beginning, Georgia Southern Football has been a community effort. Contributions for practice attire, a coaches' tower, blocking and tackling sleds, a sawbuck for socks or this or that, -- so many items completely taken for granted everywhere else – were accepted and appreciated. An assembly of players wore hand-me-down jerseys, helmets and football pants in an array of colors from their gridiron brethren at older, more established institutions, as part of the football program's own humble beginnings.
The team's first practice "facility" was none other than the tennis courts by Hanner Fieldhouse and they wouldn't long suffice once the Eagles would start contact . Dirt and weeds on the north side of campus were transformed into two practice fields on the "banks of Beautiful Eagle Creek" through kindness and sweat equity. And with fans packing in the stands to double the capacity at Statesboro High School to see the new college team in South Georgia play, the Eagles would need a stadium of their own.
Georgia Southern President Dale Lick, Athletic Director Bucky Wagner and the "Dirty Dozen," already had "stadium" on their wish list when moving the Georgia Southern football program from dream to reality. It wasn't long after Coach Russell arrived in Statesboro when Sen. Glenn Bryant, from nearby Hinesville, made a major commitment to the program and donated the property that is now "Erk Russell Athletic Park." M.C. Anderson, a contractor, pledged to prepare the site and dig the bowl for the stadium. One of the "Dirty Dozen," Morris Lupton contributed nearly a half million dollars for a locker room and facility that previously occupied the west end zone.
Fans and members of the community, many one and the same, came out to see the groundbreaking for the new stadium in 1983. They envisioned a football palace for 18,000, as they stood on land covered with trees and shrubs. A lot of asking, digging and building had taken place over the past several months, and there was more to do. Congressman Bo Ginn had visited with Gulfstream Aerospace founder Allen Paulson and by the end of 1983, Paulson presented a personal check for a million dollars to complete the construction of the stadium that would bear his name. He added several hundred thousand more and continued to support many academic endeavors of the institution.
In certainly what was a hand-wringing decision, Allen E. Paulson Stadium would not open for the first game of 1984. An unusually rainy month of July had thrown off the construction schedule to find bleacherless stands and mud puddles on Lanier Drive as preseason practice began for the Eagles. Administrators moved the Sept. 1 game between Georgia Southern and Florida A&M to Savannah. It would be four weeks later – a long wait after so many years of planning -- when Georgia Southern's new stadium would play host to its inaugural game against Liberty and get the first of its 173 wins to date.
Nearly 30 years later, what Coach Russell described as "The Prettiest Little Stadium in America," is undergoing big changes. The 50,000-plus square foot football operations center continues to rise in the east end zone. Following the 2013 season, construction on the north stands and upper deck, adding 6,000 seats, resumes. Both projects will be complete in mid-2014 and for the 30th anniversary of Paulson Stadium.
Additional research information obtained from "ERK, Football, Friends & Fans" by Erskine Russell with Ric Mandes.
