Images of the Past

In my continuing quest for good pictures of the old Baker Field, I found a great one in a recently acquired game program from the 1973 season opener vs. Bucknell.

The program cover was another fine piece of artwork by Charlie McGill:

Speaking of McGill, he is indeed still alive but recently retired from his great career as a sports illustrator for the Bergen Record.

Here is a great profile of him published just about four years ago.

And here is a very recent story about the “Charlie McGill Athletes of the Week” that is still a big part of The Record’s sports department.

As I’ve written here before, McGill is really a gem of Columbia football history. He illustrated covers for game programs and media guides for many years starting in the late 1960’s. I continue to urge the athletic department to put together an exhibit on the Campbell Center of his Columbia-related work while McGill is still alive and well.

Another nice touch would be to include a collage of all his covers in a new Columbia program this season. 

A video profile of McGill is below:

Anyway, getting back to old Baker Field, the picture below may be the earliest photo of the stadium. This was taken in 1923, even before construction was completed. 

Enjoy!

An interesting thing about the 1973 program where I found this picture is that the program is dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Baker Field. Of course, that makes this year the 90th anniversary of the athletic facility and I noticed the literature that came with my 2013 season tickets included a special seal marking that 90th milestone.