LAMAR HENNON FIELD
(Cooper Field)

The J. Lamar Hennon Field seats 1,100 (not including the parking areas along the outfield) and was officially dedicated on Nov. 4, 1989. It is the oldest athletic facility on campus still in use as the field site itself, then called Cooper Field, has been used since 1910. It was also the home of the LMU Airedale/Railsplitter football team and portions of it were used for track and field events by the LMU track team. Until the renovation of the site in 1988-89, home plate was located in the area now comprising left field, and the stands and LMU tennis courts were adjacent to the right field line. In the late 1980's Lamar Hennon, a 1959 graduate of LMU and an All-VSAC catcher, spearheaded the effort to renovate and modernize the baseball facilities as LMU made the move from NAIA to the NCAA Division II. The field and stands area were renamed the J. Lamar Hennon Field in his honor. Hennon also donated funds for the construction of the stadium at Western Carolina University which is called Hennon Stadium. That field was the "home" of future LMU coach Jeff Sziksai during his college days as a player at WCU.  Within the past two years lights have been installed and the field resurfaced. 

The field house has recently been renovated.  Here are some photos.

 
Cooper Field in 1931. The stands were a gift from Kentucky Senator John Sherman Cooper and blew down
in a "cyclone" that hit the campus on March 14, 1933.  The same storm also did damage in several states
and nearly destroyed the nearby town of Pruden, Tennessee.

A game from the mid-1940's

The Railsplitter dugout locker room in 1991.

Hennon also sponsored the conversion of the Auxiliary Gym in the Turner Arena into an indoor batting facility.