Marker For UConn's Gardner Dow Field Has A New Home

STORRS, CT — The University of Connecticut's dedication marker for a field that dates back several athletic complexes ago has a new home.

UConn staged a re-dedication ceremony in December for the original plaque for Gardner Dow Field, which was the home to various athletic teams from the 1920s through the 1960s. The ceremony took place at the J. Robert Donnelly Husky Heritage Sports Musuem, where the now refurbished plaque has a permanent home.

Gardner Dow Field was the original on-campus home field for UConn football, with games played there through 1952.

The field also hosted various other sports.

It was named after Gardner Dow, a UConn football player who was killed in a game at the University of New Hampshire in 1919.

Shortly after his death, the athletic fields were named in his honor, and the dedication plaque was placed on Hawley Armory next to the field. Gardner Dow Field is now the home of various academic buildings, including the Homer Babbidge Library.

For years, the plaque remained on and inside Hawley Armory, the current home of UConn’s ROTC program and Office of Veterans and Military Programs.