Filled to capacity, Tiger Stadium holds more than 93,000 screaming fans, a resplendent sea of purple and gold. Roars and cheers within the stadium have reached tremendous levels, especially the legendary 1988 game against Auburn during which the crowd’s reaction to quarterback Tommy Hodson’s game-winning touchdown pass registered as an earthquake on a nearby seismograph. It is this energy and ferocity that author and Louisiana native Chet Hilburn fell in love with as a sixteen-year-old kid attending his first LSU football game. Here, Hilburn captures the essence of those much-anticipated fall Saturday nights and takes fans inside the magic and intrigue that is Tiger Stadium. Beginning with a brief history of the stadium, Hilburn then delves into a list of thirty legendary games and moments that came to define Tiger Stadium as one of the most magical—and terrifying—venues on earth.
Hilburn uses material collected from many personal interviews and eyewitness accounts to transport fans into revolutionary football moments, including the classic 1959 Halloween night game in which Bill Cannon made his famous eighty-nine-yard touchdown and earned the LSU Tigers their rightful place in college football history. Complete with seventy vintage and modern-day black and white photographs, this work is a collection all devoted and casual fans of football will adore.
About the Author
Chet Hilburn has been a rabid Tiger football fan since he attended his first LSU football game in Tiger Stadium more than fifty years ago. Hilburn is a native of Ruston, Louisiana, and a graduate of Louisiana Tech University. A longtime news editor and writer for the Houston Chronicle, he began his career as a combat reporter and photographer with the US Army’s 173rd Airborne brigade in Vietnam in 1971, where he was awarded the Bronze Star. Now retired, Hilburn lives in Houston, Texas.
LEGENDARY TIGER STADIUM
The Thirty Greatest LSU Football Games
By Chet Hilburn
SPORTS & RECREATION/ Football
112 pp. 8 1/2 x 11
70 b/w photos
ISBN: 9781455618859 pb