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The History & Demolition of Victory Stadium - Roanoke, VA
Victory Stadium was built in 1942. The land was donated to the City of Roanoke by the old Norfolk and Western Railway,
and on land that tended to flood when the nearby, usually timid, Roanoke River became rather more than gentle, and turned
a horrible brown with heavy rains. The stadium seated 24,000. Some of the more famous visitors to the stadium were,
Richard Nixon, Dave Matthews Band, Herman's Hermits, James Brown, Little Richard, The Chiffons, and Tom Jones. Victory
Stadium also hosted many VPI, (now known as Virginia Tech), and VMI football games in the 1960's.
In it's hey day, Victory Stadium was the elite stadium in the State of Virginia. In the 1970's, the Group AAA high school championship game between T.C. Williams High School of Alexandria and Salem's Andrew Lewis High School was played there. T.C. Williams won and the game was the inspiration for the film "Remember the Titans." Semi-pro football games were played here along with some exhibition NFL games. And, stock car races were held here too.
The popularity of the stadium saw the beginning of the end in 1985 when floods ravaged the Roanoke area. Images of a flooded Victory Stadium remain in the forefront of those who lived through the harsh weather. Soon after, city officials began discussing their options for the deteriorating stadium. In December 1995, city council approved a $13-million renovation project. The work never took place.
Demolition of Victory Stadium was never seriously considered until 2000, when a citizens committee recommended to city council that it be torn down. The proposal sparked six years of debate. The City of Roanoke made the final decision on May 15, 2006, to demolish the cast-in-place, concrete and brick structure. S.B. Cox, Inc., of Richmond, Virginia, successfully bid and won the project, and started the demolition on June 26, 2006.
S.B. Cox, Inc. had a 60-day time frame in which to complete the project, but with skilled labor and a fleet of equipment it was completed in 45 days. S. B. Cox, Inc. used their fleet of specialized demolition machines, which included five excavators, equipped with concrete pulverizers, universal processors, and hydraulic hoe rams. A 40-ton crawler crane was also used.
The demolition produced approximately 1,200 loads of concrete debris that was hauled to a local concrete disposal site and S.B. Cox, Inc. imported 1,000 truckloads of fill dirt back into the site to prepare it for future development. S.B. Cox, Inc. segregated approximately one million pounds of rebar and steel for recycling. S.B. Cox, Inc. also donated the stadium lights to a local high school for reuse and salvaged 10,000 bricks for the City of Roanoke to distribute as souvenirs.
