{"id":2402907,"date":"2026-05-05T10:16:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T10:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2402907"},"modified":"2026-05-05T10:16:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T10:16:07","slug":"breese-stevens-field-is-still-breaking-the-rules-100-years-later-entertainment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/breese-stevens-field-is-still-breaking-the-rules-100-years-later-entertainment\/","title":{"rendered":"Breese Stevens Field is still breaking the rules, 100 years later | Entertainment"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In its 100 years, Breese Stevens Field, the city-owned field smack in the middle of Madison\u2019s isthmus, has lived a hundred different lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time somebody tries to tell Breese what it\u2019s going to do, it doesn\u2019t,\u201d said Tristan Straub, Breese\u2019s general manager.<\/p>\n

The field\u2019s official centennial is this week. It first opened on May 5, 1926 as a field for the city\u2019s high school sports games and as the home field for the Madison Blues, the city\u2019s semi-pro baseball team. Around 4,000 people were in attendance.<\/p>\n

The field\u2019s namesake, Breese Stevens, was the 20th mayor of Madison. The city purchased the land for the field from his widow in 1923 under two conditions: that they\u2019d name the field after Stevens, and that it would be used solely for sports, said David Michael Miller, author of the book, \u201cThe Rise of Breese Stevens Field,\u201d published in August 2025.<\/p>\n

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This photo, taken by\u00a0Angus Boyd\u00a0McVicar in 1931, shows the lights of Breese Stevens Field. The field was the first in Wisconsin to install permanent lights.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cAnd they broke that rule the first season, when they started having neighborhood pageants,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n

Since then, the field has hosted Chicago Bears games, exhibition events for superstar athletes like Jesse Owens and Satchel Paige, marble tournaments, car races, religious ceremonies and high-profile musicians.<\/p>\n

It was the first venue in Wisconsin to install lights for outdoor games, enabling the Blues to play night games. The field was equidistant between Madison East and the now-defunct Central High School.<\/p>\n

The field still hosts all kinds of events, but is now the primary home of the city\u2019s USL soccer team, the Forward Madison FC. This will be the first year the Rally Madison FC<\/a>, a women\u2019s USL team<\/a>, will begin playing on the field.<\/p>\n

The Rally\u2019s first game, a friendly pre-season match against Chicago House AC, will kick off the field\u2019s anniversary celebration on May 15. (The Forward Madison FC will play its home opener the day after.)<\/p>\n

The field will host different events in commemoration of the centennial, from its standard markets like The Bodega at Breese Stevens Field<\/a> featuring stalls from Wisconsin-based artisans, to its lineup of national touring musicians like Alabama Shakes and Brandi Carlile to a percussive show featuring the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps<\/a> in June.<\/p>\n

Miller said while the field has hosted many events, it\u2019s always been a reflection of the Madison community.<\/p>\n

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A 1931 photo taken by\u00a0Angus Boyd McVicar shows the entirety of Breese Stevens Field. On the left is East Washington Street; in the background is the Capitol building.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s Madison\u2019s field, and it belongs to the city. And (in) every step of its history, it\u2019s served the citizens \u2014 and that\u2019s what it\u2019s there for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Legendary athletes<\/h3>\n

Before Breese Stevens opened, the Madison Blues played occasionally at Camp Randall but mostly at Kipp Field, where the Madison-Kipp Corporation built its second location on Fair Oaks Avenue.<\/p>\n

The city commissioned the architectural firm of Claude and Starck to design the field. The firm had also designed notable Madison landmarks like the Lincoln School and the Majestic Theater.<\/p>\n

The Blues\u2019 first game at Breese was against the Beloit Fairies. Wisconsin\u2019s governor at the time, John Blaine, threw the first pitch to the mayor, Albert Schmedeman, Miller said. (The Blues disbanded in 1942.)<\/p>\n

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A nighttime game at Breese Stevens Field featured the Gardner Bakery baseball team. This photo was taken in 1946 by\u00a0Arthur M. Vinje.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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In 1929, the Chicago Bears played a game at Breese due to a scheduling issue with Wrigley Field (the Bears and Cubs shared the stadium at the time). It was one of three NFL games played on the field.<\/p>\n

In 1938, Jesse Owens ran three exhibition races on the field. \u201cHe raced against one of the Madison Blues players and gave him a big head start, but Jesse still beat him,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n

Hall of Fame pitcher Satchel Paige pitched at Breese in 1947 as a member of the Kansas City Monarchs in a win against the Industrial League All Stars, made up of players from different industry-sponsored teams. Paige\u2019s arrival and game stats dominated headlines.<\/p>\n

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A 1955 photo by Edwin Stein shows members of a\u00a0drum line competing at Drums on Parade.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Before he went to the Marines, University of Wisconsin-Madison star athlete, and later NFL great and UW athletic director, Elroy \u201cCrazylegs\u201d Hirsch played a game at Breese to raise money for war bonds in 1944. He hit a grand slam, and the game raised over $40,000 (the equivalent of over $700,000 today) by auctioning memorabilia from Hirsch and from the game.<\/p>\n

Some elements of the building\u2019s history are better documented than others.<\/p>\n

Straub has done research attempting to parse the facts behind longstanding rumors. One rumor he\u2019s been trying to crack is about a 550-foot home run hit on the field during a high school game.<\/p>\n

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A 1964 track meet at Breese Stevens saw\u00a0Steve Kayes (right) of Central High School just pulling ahead East High School’s Jim DeForest. This photo was taken by Richard Sroda.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n COURTESY OF THE WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY<\/span>
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\u201cIt\u2019s a pure legend,\u201d Straub said. \u201cI\u2019ve heard at least five different names tied to this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Straub has also heard rumors of a speakeasy under the grandstand during the 1920s and \u201830s, where the Forward Madison FC team store is now located.<\/p>\n

A rumor he has on \u201cgood authority\u201d is true is that the front gate at Breese was bent by a wrestler known as the Mighty Atlas. The wrestler competed in a series of wrestling matches organized on the field by Jimmy Demetral, a legendary wrestler in his own right who moved to Madison in 1912.<\/p>\n

Demetral won the middleweight crown on the field in 1928 and would continue to organize matches at the field for decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was this incredible personality who, in his own way, boosted the stadium,\u201d Miller said. \u201cHe was one of these homegrown personalities that people fell in love with.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Breese Stevens also held a number of religious congregations. Here, in a 1955 photo by\u00a0Arthur M. Vinje,\u00a0<\/span>Archbishop Philip Pocock of Winnipeg preaches to\u00a0the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Straub said he\u2019ll randomly stumble on old relics of the building\u2019s past. \u201cThere\u2019s a plaque … that dedicates a seating section in the grandstand to a man named Gus \u2014 no idea who he is,\u201d Straub said.<\/p>\n

Centennial events<\/h3>\n

Some of the events the field will host this year come from people\u2019s memories of the field. Straub said that during a talk he gave at the Madison Sports Hall of Fame, people asked him about Drums on Parade, a national touring show that brings together different musical marching units.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a really huge thing here for a while,\u201d Straub said of drum and bugle competitions, noting their popularity was especially high in the 1960s. \u201cThe Madison Scouts were a very high-ranking drum and bugle corps at the time, touring around the country. They still are today.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A 2014 photo shows Breese Stevens Field getting a new turf. Tristan Straud, manager of Breese Stevens, said the field just got a new turf for the upcoming soccer season, which starts in May.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n MICHELLE STOCKER<\/span>
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Field of Drums, the event Breese is hosting in June, will invite back the Madison Scouts, along with other percussive groups like Madison\u2019s Black Star Drum Line<\/a> and the UW-Madison Marching Band<\/a>, among others.<\/p>\n

Around the 1970s, the building started to decline. Miller\u2019s book notes that the Cap Times wrote a commemorative article for Breese\u2019s 25th anniversary, but no such article came for the field\u2019s 50th in 1976.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only mention of the field was in a Capital Times\u2019 story about Breese\u2019s likely consumption by Madison Area Technical College\u2019s new campus on East Washington,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

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A 2015 file photo shows the exterior of Breese Stevens Field. The field will celebrate 100 years on May 5, 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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In the 1980s, Breese was briefly considered for demolition before the city allocated funds to restore it. It was initially primed to host soccer games, but not before one last baseball hurrah. In 1982, the Madison Muskies, a minor league baseball team, played its first six games on the field before moving to their home at Warner Park.<\/p>\n

After the Muskies moved to Warner Park, a few local teams still used the field, along with continuing to host some middle and high school events. In 2013, the Madison Radicals, an ultimate frisbee team, formed and started playing games on the field. The Forward Madison FC began playing at Breese as its home field in 2019.<\/p>\n

The field had artificial turf installed in 2014 and began hosting concerts in 2015 (The Avett Brothers were the first band to play). Big Top Events, the group that owns Forward Madison FC and the Madison Mallards, took over management of the field. The team disbanded in 1993.<\/p>\n

Part of the centennial celebration was replacing the aging turf. \u201cWe should have the nicest field all year in the league, and it is really impactful,\u201d Straub said.<\/p>\n

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A file photo from 2021 shows people social distancing at Breese Stevens Field before a fireworks show for the Fourth of July.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Straub said he likes going to live shows, and he believes there\u2019s no other venue like Breese. \u201cSome artists are able to create an intimacy here,\u201d he said. \u201cI consider it like a little boutique amphitheater in downtown Madison.\u201d<\/p>\n

Breese Stevens was designated a landmark by the City of Madison in 1995. As far as the future is concerned, Straub said the focus is \u201cgoing to continue to be on community and soccer. And really, how do you continue to bridge those?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Alison Krauss and Robert Plant perform at Breese Stevens Field in Madison on Saturday, June 8, 2024. The field has hosted live concerts since 2015.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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But he notes that trying to define the future for Breese is nearly impossible. The field could be swept up in the next sports craze.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy favorite part is the field does seem to speak for itself,\u201d Straub said. \u201c like a facility with an attitude.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source captimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In its 100 years, Breese Stevens Field, the city-owned field smack in the middle of Madison\u2019s isthmus, has lived a hundred different lives. \u201cEvery time somebody tries to tell Breese what it\u2019s going to do, it doesn\u2019t,\u201d said Tristan Straub, Breese\u2019s general manager. The field\u2019s official centennial is this week. It first opened on May […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2402908,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2402907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Breese-Stevens-Field-is-still-breaking-the-rules-100-years.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2402907"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2402909,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402907\/revisions\/2402909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2402908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2402907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2402907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2402907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}