1895 (November 9) - WSU defeated Idaho 10-4 in the first football game at Soldier Field.
1902 - The field was renamed Rogers Field in honor of the governor of Washington state, John R. Rogers.
1936 - WSU, then named Washington State College, built a completely new football stadium, but retained the same name; the new stadium was an all-wood structure built on concrete pilings. The field also featured new stands, an enlarged press box and an electronic scoreboard.
1970 (April 4) - Fire destroyed the south stands; a one-million dollar fund drive began after the decision was made to rebuild the stands rather than relocate or build an entirely new stadium; Dan Martin, a Los Angeles businessman, gave $250,000 to the project with the stipulation the stadium be renamed after his father, Clarence D. Martin. Clarence Martin was governor of Washington state from 1933-40.
1972 (summer) - First artificial turf (Astroturf) was installed.
1972 (Sept. 30) - WSU met Utah in the first game played in refurbished Martin Stadium
1975 - New north (student) stands were built;
1978 (fall) - Work began on the academic portion of the complex on the south side with the computer center relocating to the complex upon completion of the project in 1979.
1979 (January) - Another renovation of the stadium began to increase the seating capacity from 27,600 to 40,000; renovation was deemed necessary in order to meet requirements of the Pacific-10 Conference; the floor of the stadium was excavated 16 feet to add 12,400 seats;
the track was removed from the stadium and relocated to the Bailey Baseball Stadium area directly north of the football complex, while a new baseball stadium was then built just south and east of Friel Court; the entire project, like the one in 1970, was funded through contributions; gift-in-kind and the purchase of "stadium builder'' seat options; it marked the first time a collegiate football stadium had been enlarged by digging down rather than building up; the project was also funded in part by the Martin family, with Charlotte Martin, widow of Dan Martin, giving $250,000 to the project; a SuperTurf artificial surface was installed.
1979 (October 13) - WSU celebrated Homecoming by defeating UCLA 17-14 before a record crowd of 32,651 in the first game played in the enlarged Martin Stadium.
1990 (summer) - Installed the sand-filled Omni-Turf playing surface.
2000 (summer) - Installed FieldTurf in Martin Stadium and on Rogers Field.
MARTIN STADIUM ATTENDANCE
40,306 11-15-97 WSU 38, Stanford 28 40,000 10-17-81 WSU 17, UCLA 17 40,000 11-20-82 WSU 24, UW 20 40,000 11-17-84 UW 38, WSU 29 40,000 11-22-86 UW 44, WSU 23 40,000 11-19-88 WSU 32, UW 31 38,434 09-30-89 USC 18, WSU 17 37,600 11-23-96 UW 31, WSU 24 (OT) 37,600 11-17-90 UW 55, WSU 10 37,600 11-21-93 WSU 42, UW 23 37,600 10-08-94 WSU 21, Oregon 7 37,600 10-15-94 Arizona 10, WSU 7 37,600 11-19-94 WSU 23, Washington 6 37,600 11-09-02 WSU 32, Oregon 21 37,600 11-23-02 UW 29, WSU 26 (3OT) 37,444 11-02-02 WSU 44, ASU 22 37,251 11-21-98 Washington 16, WSU 9 37,196 10-10-98 Oregon 51, WSU 29 36,861 10-05-02 WSU 30, USC 27 (OT) 36,770 09-19-98 WSU 24, Idaho 16 36,686 11-05-94 USC 23, WSU 10 36,090 10-21-89 Arizona 23, WSU 21 35,759 10-18-97 WSU 63, California 37 35,283 10-06-01 WSU 34, OSU 27
