Dennis Craig, Campus Historic Preservation Officer
The Memorial Stadium was built in 1923 to honor Illinois men and women who gave their lives for their country during World War I, and their names appear on 200 columns that support the east and west sides of the stadium. The stadium was dedicated officially on October 18, 1924, historic for the dedication as well as for the Homecoming victory where Harold E. “Red” Grange scored six touchdowns, which remains the single greatest performance in the stadium’s history. In 1986, Memorial Stadium was nominated among 62 other sites, including Soldier Field, Wrigley Field, the Rose Bowl and Yale Bowl, to become a national historic landmark. Come learn more about the architecture and history of Memorial Stadium!
Dennis Craig, three-degree Illinois alumnus who is also a Bronze Tablet honoree, left the private sector as an architect to become the UI’s Campus Historic Preservation Officer. When he’s not managing projects to ensure the UI is compliant with the National Historic Preservation Act, he’s responding to inquiries like the one from a granddaughter of a contractor on the Mumford House or a woman whose great uncle carved one of the statues at Memorial Stadium. And of course, he’s the go-to person whenever a newly unearthed time capsule is discovered. (He thinks there are at least twenty or thirty still buried around campus.)