As Colorado State fans, alumni and Fort Collins residents ready to say so long to Hughes Stadium on Saturday, one of perhaps the Rams most prolific players to don the green and gold described the stadium as “gritty,” like the player he was.
Bradlee Van Pelt, a three-year starting quarterback for the Rams from 2001 to 2003 who earned a reputation for being tough on the gridiron, told Sports Radio 104.3 The Fan’s “The Drive” on Thursday that the soon-to-be-closing stadium embodied everything he was as a player.
“For anyone who’s been to Hughes or has played some football in the stadium, it’s very gritty. You’re thinking about dirt parking lots. You’re thinking about big, concrete columns and staircases,” Van Pelt said. “It’s not a flashy stadium. It’s not going to wow people. But there’s a lot of grit and I kind of like that.”
The Rams will move into a brand-new, on-campus stadium in 2017 after spending nearly five decades at the facility nestled up against the foothills west of campus.
“I’m a football player who’s kind of gritty, tough. I didn’t need all the sparkle, and I didn’t need the big locker rooms,” Van Pelt said. “Hughes was a good stadium for me, and I think it fit Fort Collins for a long time.”
Van Pelt, who was drafted out of college by the Denver Broncos, however, admitted the new $220 million, 36,000-seat facility would be a place he would a place he’d like to have played.
“It’s quite spectacular. It’s a stadium that I would have liked to play in, it looks like,” Van Pelt said.
In Hughes Stadium’s final game, the Rams (5-5) will host the New Mexico Lobos (7-3) with a chance to earn a bowl bid in its fourth consecutive year.
Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @JohnnyHart7.
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