History of Steele Stadium

Steele Stadium Celebrates 100th Anniversary, Part 1
by Peter J. De Kever

School Field. Mishawaka High School Stadium. Tupper Field. Steele Stadium.

Over the past century, the athletic facility at the corner of Linden and Gernhart Avenues has gone by several different names. Though its surroundings and appearance have changed, the battleground where generations of athletes have practiced and competed has endured. On September 18, Mishawaka High’s football field will turn 100 years old, a fitting occasion to celebrate one of Indiana’s most storied high school sports venues.

Origins

When the Chicago architectural firm of Perkins, Fellows & Hamilton was designing the new Mishawaka High School on Lincoln Way East, the campus plan included a football field north of the building on property bounded by Gernhart Avenue, Linden Avenue, and Studebaker Street. According to the 1946 Miskodeed yearbook, soil was brought in from the Mishawaka Hills, deposited by glaciers thousands of years earlier, to fill in the land that became the famous gridiron. 

When classes started on September 2, 1924, the school building was far from finished. Construction workers had scrambled to ensure that classrooms and the industrial arts wing were ready for student use. The spacious gymnasium would not be available until December, and the cornerstone-laying ceremony for the magnificent auditorium only occurred on September 11. That facility would open on May 5, and the adjacent new cafeteria was first used on May 14. 

Completing the football field and track was a lesser priority than getting the building open and finished. School officials knew that the football field would not be available for the 1924 season, but they hoped it could be used the following year.

In the meantime, Mishawaka gridders would play their home games elsewhere. In 1923, the Maroon and White had used Dodge Field, near the intersection of Laurel and Tenth Streets. The next year, Mishawaka, under Coach Frank Steele, played three games at the Ball-Band athletic fields, located on the east side of Cedar Street and south of Jefferson Boulevard. In 1925, J.W. Fink, who owned the land, again offered his facility for the first two home contests, and Mishawaka High installed bleachers to seat 1,100 spectators. It was initially hoped that the high school field would be ready for the season finale against Elkhart, but that did not occur. In the end, the Maroons played all three home games at Ball-Band Field.

Mishawaka finished the 1925 season with an 8-0 record, outscored its opponents by a 281-29 margin, and claimed the mythical state championship. By any measure, the 1925 team was the greatest in the long history of Mishawaka High football, yet it never played a single down on the field that would later witness so much history. With many talented veterans returning, Coach Steele’s Cavemen hoped to continue their winning ways in 1926, aided by a true home field advantage for several games.

1926

As late as February 24, there was still uncertainty about whether Mishawaka’s new football field would be ready for the 1926 season. “It is possible that again this year the sod of the field north of the school plant will not be heavy enough to withstand the tear of football cleats,” a South Bend Tribune article reported. “The grass was drilled in by machine, it is said, and was not sowed. Consequently the grass appears in tufts that will not be able to stand the test of a game. It is hoped that some action will be taken this spring to insure the readiness of the field.”

In the following months, this issue was resolved, and Mishawaka was able to play its season-opener at the new athletic field on Saturday afternoon, September 18 against Lowell. The pre-game dedication ceremony consisted of the high school band performing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and a contingent of Boy Scouts raising the American flag. An arrangement of maroon and white flowers in the shape of a horseshoe was given to team captain Mark Kline by McGowan Floral Shop. 

The Cavemen then proceeded to demolish their visitors from Lake County. Ralph Kreiter’s two-yard touchdown run put Mishawaka on the board, and Al Eminger’s 50-yard punt return and Burton Doyle’s extra point made the score 13-0. In the second quarter, Doyle threw a 25-yard strike to Eminger, who crossed the goal line and increased the hosts’ advantage to 19-0. Doyle then scored on a 50-yard run and made the point after to give the Maroons a 26-0 lead at halftime.

Mishawaka began using its reserves in the third quarter, but Lowell was unable to keep the Cavemen out of the end zone. Eminger and Francis Denman each scored on 30-yard runs, and Mishawaka was on top, 38-0, going into the final period. Doyle made a 30-yard touchdown run and the extra point, and he then threw a 30-yard pass to Joe Dentino, who scampered 16 yards to the goal line. Doyle added one more rushing touchdown, making the final score Mishawaka 57, Lowell 0. 

Not all of Mishawaka’s performances in 1926 would be so dominant, but the Cavemen were outstanding and completed another 8-0 season with home wins against Marion and LaPorte and road victories over Goshen, Elwood, Peru, South Bend (at Cartier Field), and Elkhart. Mishawaka outscored its opponents 232-39 and staked its claim to a share of a second straight mythical state championship.

With their first season of football at Mishawaka School Field in the books, the Cavemen had begun a tradition that would include hundreds of home victories and many memorable moments in the ensuing decades.

1935 Champs

The 1935 edition of the Maroons, coached by Russell Arndt, won the Eastern Division of the Northern Indiana High School Conference and earned a spot in the league title game against Western Division winner Gary Horace Mann. That contest was played at Mishawaka School Field on Saturday afternoon, November 23.

Starting at 4 a.m., senior fullback Leon DeWitte had worked an eight-hour shift in the hot kitchen at Fobe’s Bakery and had just 90 minutes to get to Mishawaka High, put on his uniform, and warm up before kickoff. That afternoon, DeWitte was one of the Maroons’ stars, scoring a point after, sprinting for a 38-yard gain, and tackling future Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon on the Mishawaka 9 yard line, preventing a score. The Cavemen made touchdowns in the second and fourth quarters and defeated the Horsemen, 14-0, for the school’s first conference title and fourth mythical state championship. DeWitte was later chosen Most Valuable Player by his teammates, which earned him the Gilbert Award trophy.

Lights

During the first 11 seasons of football played at Mishawaka School Field, games had to be held on Saturday afternoons due to the absence of lights. The first major league baseball night game was played at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field in May 1935, and other sports venues were soon planning to play their events under the bright lights.

The era of night football began at Mishawaka High on September 11, 1937. In the weeks prior, the school had installed a $3,200 lighting system with ten 60’ poles that each held four 1,500-watt lamps. The poles were placed between the track and the football field, and trenches were dug in which to lay the underground cables connecting the poles. Mishawaka Electric Department workers wired the lights. 

In a game that started at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Coach Arndt’s Cavemen used a different kind of power to light up St. Hedwige, 52-0, and annex the first win of the season. A crowd of 2,500 watched Mishawaka score seven touchdowns and amass 407 rushing yards against the hapless Lions.

W.P.A. Bleachers

Adding lights to Mishawaka School Field was only the beginning of efforts to modernize the facility. 

On February 22, 1938, Supt. P.C. Emmons announced a partnership with the Works Progress Administration, a federal work-relief program, to build bleachers made of reinforced concrete and brick for Mishawaka High’s football field. Engineer Charles Cole of South Bend was hired to make the designs, which initially called for construction of stands on the west side of the field only. By July, President Franklin Roosevelt had approved $58,895 for the Mishawaka High concrete bleachers, which would be 300’ long and 44’ wide at the base and have a seating capacity of more than 4,000 persons. The school board would provide $11,410 to help fund the project.

Because the new stands would not be completed before the 1938 football season began, the existing wooden bleachers would be moved to the east side of the field for use that fall. 

Construction began on August 10 as a dozen W.P.A. workers started digging at the worksite. Beginning at the north end, forms were set up for the first of six sections before the end of September, and concrete was poured during the second week of October. Crews were able to form and pour a section per week, resulting in the bleachers’ rapid progress southward.

On November 18, Mishawaka school officials announced that the W.P.A. would also build bleachers on the east side of the field for a cost of $70,305. The federal government would cover most of this expense, and the school system would contribute $11,400.

The east bleachers were 20 yards longer than their western counterpart and had eight sections but were four rows shorter. Plans called for the east stands to be finished before the first home game, ensuring that Mishawaka would begin the 1939 campaign in what the Tribune predicted would be “one of the finest prep football stadiums in the state.” Construction began on April 26. 

When the Mishawaka Lions Club toured the site on May 4, athletic director Frank Steele proudly explained that the stadium would have a seating capacity of 8,000 and that temporary bleachers in the end zones could add another 1,500.

For the home opener against Mooseheart (Illinois) Academy on September 8, the Cavemen were an underdog to the Red Ramblers. Approximately 4,500 fans were present to witness both teams struggle mightily on offense, and the game ended in an unusual 0-0 tie.

Mishawaka High School Stadium, as it was now called, saw the hosts drop a 6-0 decision to Gary Tolleston the next week. Home victories did eventually come, though. The Cavemen defeated Goshen, Elkhart, and Clinton before the season finale against Riley on November 10.

The Riley contest included an impressive pregame dedication of the new stadium. Some 6,500 people watched a fireworks display spell out “Dedicating M.H.S. Stadium” to start the event. One hundred fifty alumni who were football lettermen paraded into the stadium behind the marching band, the American flag was raised near the south end zone, and the Mishawaka and Riley bands together played “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Supt. Emmons; A.P. Crabtree, the state W.P.A. educational supervisor; and Charles Bingham, school board president, all spoke, and a letter of greetings from Arthur Trester, commissioner of the Indiana High School Athletic Association, was read. At halftime, both schools’ bands performed.

There was also a football game. Mishawaka won, 3-0, which the Mishawaka Enterprise described as “the crowning touch to a successful program.”

Steele Stadium Celebrates 100th Anniversary, Part 2
by Peter J. De Kever

Part 1 looked at the origins of what is now Steele Stadium, some of the early teams to play there, and construction of the Works Progress Administration’s concrete bleachers.

Tupper Field

In 1941, Mishawaka High School Stadium became Tupper Field. Two weeks before William Tupper retired from the school board on August 1, his fellow members honored him and his 22 years of service by voting to change the facility’s name. Tupper had been on the school board when the stadium was being built, and he assisted in its planning, “not knowing that some day it was to bear his name,” stated the South Bend Tribune.

The official renaming ceremony took place at the Goshen game on October 3. Director Max Kraning’s marching band provided music for the event, Supt. Emmons summarized Tupper’s contributions to the school system, and Fred Hums, the school board president, formally announced the facility’s new name. Principal Russell Myers gave William Tupper a lifetime pass to events at the field, and Tupper stated his gratitude for being honored. The Maroons christened Tupper Field with a 13-0 victory that evening.

Mishawaka High’s football stadium would be Tupper Field for 39 years, and that name was to be forever linked to the many historic athletic contests and other events that occurred there during that era.

Track and Field

School Field, Mishawaka High School Stadium, and Tupper Field were most associated with Cavemen football, but the facility also was the setting for the Mishawaka High boys track and field team’s glory years.

The Maroon thinlies won 11 consecutive sectional titles between 1931-1941 and 15 sectionals from 1931-1949. The Mishawaka track hosted the sectional from 1932-1936 and 1940-1949. During the Cavemen’s track and field dynasty, Mishawaka teams placed in the top ten at the state meet eight times, including third in 1936, and in the top 20 fifteen times. Maroon tracksters also won seven individual state titles in that era. These great teams and outstanding athletes all practiced and competed at Mishawaka’s historic athletic venue.

1950

The 1950 Mishawaka High football team, coached by Gene Dykstra, was the school’s greatest between the 1935 N.I.H.S.C. champs and the 1974 state runner-up team.

On October 20, 1950, possibly an all-time record crowd of 10,000 people watched Mishawaka and Elkhart play scoreless ball through three quarters. The Maroons finally got two touchdown runs, but Elkhart could only muster a late score. The hosts were victorious, 13-6.

Mishawaka went on to finish 9-1, won the Northern Indiana High School Conference championship playoff, and claimed the school’s fifth mythical state championship.

Rockets and Bears

A nearly forgotten chapter in Tupper Field’s history is that professional football teams played pre-season exhibition games there from 1948-1951. These games were sponsored by the Mishawaka Lions Club, and proceeds benefited its charity fund.

On August 13, 1948, the Chicago Rockets of the All-America Football Conference held an intersquad game at Mishawaka High as a crowd of 6,000 watched. Headlining the players who took the field that evening was Angelo Bertelli, the 1943 Heisman Trophy winner from Notre Dame. 

The next year, the Chicago Bears played an intersquad game at Tupper Field on August 16. Advertisements for the game touted the match-up of Johnny Lujack and Sid Luckman. Lujack, another former Fighting Irish player, had won the Heisman Trophy in 1947, and Luckman had been an All-American at Columbia. Mishawaka fans, though, were even more excited about watching two of their own: halfback and kicker George Gulyanics and rookie Joe Gall. Eight thousand fans saw Gulyanics boot a 70-yard punt and make several key runs. Among the other N.F.L. luminaries on the field that evening were future Hall of Famers George Blanda, a quarterback, and Bears coach George Halas.

The Chicago Bears returned to Tupper Field for a similar event on August 15, 1950. Lujack, Luckman, Blanda, and Gulyanics were again on the roster. A preview article in the Tribune noted that Halas would not be coaching but would instead “be in the neutral corner masterminding the whole situation.” In front of 8,000 fans, the paper stated, “Mishawaka’s George Gulyanics acquitted himself well in his line-smashing assignments for the Orange.” 

On August 18, 1951, George Halas’s Bears played another intersquad exhibition game at Tupper Field before a full house. Gulyanics, still a kicker but also now shifted to fullback, was again on the Chicagoans’ roster and carried five times for 31 yards, punted four times, and caught two passes. 

Seventy-five years later, it is extraordinary to consider that these Heisman Trophy winners, great college and pro players, future NFL Hall of Famers, and Coach George Halas all briefly plied their trade on the sacred ground of Tupper Field as sold-out crowds of Mishawakans and South Benders watched and cheered. 

Cavemen in the 1970s

From 1972-1977, the Mishawaka Cavemen were among the elite high school football teams in Indiana, and Tupper Field was the scene for some of the greatest games in program history. 

Under Coach Bill Doba, Mishawaka was 7-2 in the 1972 regular season, won the Northern Indiana Conference, and defeated Hammond Morton, the Lakeshore Conference champion, in a come-from-behind road playoff game. 

Of the games played at Tupper Field that season, the win against Penn on September 8 has lived large in many fans’ memories. The Kingsmen got on the board early, but Mishawaka soon responded with a touchdown of its own. The Cavemen scored at will from then on, leading 28-6 at the half and adding five touchdowns in the second half. The lopsided win, 60-6, was the pinnacle of Mishawaka's early dominance over Penn and one of the largest margins of victory in Tupper Field history. 

In 1973, Doba’s team was even better, finishing with a 9-1 record, but the one loss, at home to eventual state champion South Bend Washington, kept Mishawaka out of the inaugural four-team Class AAA state playoffs.

The Cavemen, though, did beat another state champion that season: Mishawaka Marian. This contest, played at Tupper Field on September 7, proved to be the highlight of Mishawaka’s campaign. Marian took the early lead and was threatening again in the second quarter when Mishawaka stopped the Knights on the 1-yard line. The Cavemen then went 99 yards for a touchdown. Marian retook the lead early in the fourth quarter, and Mishawaka answered with a touchdown and a 2-point conversion. The Knights tied the game at 15 with 1:25 remaining, but the Cavemen moved quickly down the field to the end zone, making the final score 22-15. Marian later won the Class A state title.

Mishawaka’s rise to football prominence in the 1970s reached its climax in 1974. The Cavemen were 9-1 in the regular season and earned a berth in the Class AAA state playoffs. Mishawaka hosted Portage as 9,000 fans filled every seat at Tupper Field. After a scoreless first quarter, the Cavemen had three consecutive scoring drives and held a 21-6 lead at the half. Mishawaka scored again in the third quarter, and the Indians answered with two touchdowns. But it was not enough. The Cavemen's 28-21 playoff win advanced them to the Class AAA state championship game.

The victory over Portage is the only time Mishawaka has won a home playoff state semi-final or semi-state game, making this the most significant victory in the 100-year history of games that the Cavemen have played at the stadium.

In 1975 and 1976, Mishawaka missed the playoffs, but it was back with a vengeance in 1977 under Coach Jim Miller. The Cavemen were 10-0 in the regular season and won the N.I.C. title.

Two wins at Tupper Field from 1977 stand out. 

On August 26, the Cavemen hosted South Bend St. Joseph’s. After the Indians scored first, Mishawaka tied the game midway through the second quarter. Another touchdown gave the Cavemen the lead, but St. Joseph’s made it 14-14 just before halftime. The Indians extended their lead to 27-14, but Mishawaka got within six just before the third quarter expired. With 2:15 left in the game, the Cavemen tied the game at 27 and then kicked the game-winning extra point.

On October 28, over 9,000 fans watched Mishawaka battle South Bend Washington, another unbeaten team, in the regular season finale. Mishawaka struck first and then built a 14-0 lead, but the Panthers rallied with two touchdowns. Washington’s failed two-point attempt maintained the Cavemen's slim lead, which they added to with another touchdown. Mishawaka was victorious, 21-13, that night, but the Cavemen lost a heartbreaking rematch with the Panthers, 21-14, at Tupper Field the following week in the first round of the playoffs.

Steele Stadium Celebrates 100th Anniversary, Part 3
by Peter J. De Kever

Part 2 talked about naming Mishawaka High’s athletic facility Tupper Field, professional football exhibition games held there, and great Cavemen teams of the 1970s.

Marian

When Mishawaka Marian opened its doors in 1964, the school did not have its own football field for home games. Instead, it played most games on the road and some contests at Tupper Field.     

Nonetheless, Marian became a state power in football under Bob Otolski, its first head coach. In the program’s first eight years, Otolski’s Knights posted three 10-0 seasons (1967, 1969, and 1970), finished in the top ten in the state rankings five times, won four Northern Indiana Valley Conference titles, and amassed a 63-10-1 record. Had there been a state playoff in those years, one can only imagine how many state championships Marian would have won.

Before the 1973 season, Otoloski left to become an assistant coach at Indiana University, and Mike Hecklinski was hired to lead the Knights into the first season of the playoff era. In addition to the road loss to Mishawaka, Marian played one other home game at Tupper Field in the 1973 regular season: a 35-7 victory over Wes-Del. 

The Knights, with a 8-2 record, earned a spot in the Class A playoffs, which consisted of just four teams statewide. In its semi-final on November 10, Marian hosted unbeaten Woodlan at Tupper Field. South Bend Washington and Hammond Gavit had played the first-ever I.H.S.A.A. playoff game on November 9, and the other five semi-finals in the three classes were held simultaneously the next evening. In 53 seasons of the state playoffs, thousands of post-season games have occurred in Indiana. It is fitting that Mishawaka High’s historic field holds the distinction of hosting one of the first six playoff contests.

The Knights thoroughly outclassed the Warriors, leading 21-0 at halftime and winning 42-0. A week later, Marian won the state title by defeating Clarksville Providence on the Pioneers’ home field.

The Knights failed to make the playoffs in 1974 but bounced back with an 11-0 season and Class AA state championship in 1975. Both of Marian’s playoff wins that year were on the road.

In 1976, the Knights may have been even better. After a 9-0 regular season, Marian had all three of its playoff games—including the state championship contest—at Tupper Field. 

In the first round on November 5, the Knights crushed Plymouth, 34-0, to earn the team’s 22nd consecutive victory, which was the state’s longest active winning streak. 

The following week, McCutcheon gave Marian everything it could handle. After a scoreless first quarter, the Mavericks took a 7-0 lead and were ahead, 7-6, at halftime. Neither team could score in the third quarter. The Knights finally got on the board with 2:52 to play and held on for the semi-final win, 14-7. 

On November 19, Tupper Field was the site for the Class AA state title game, which pitted Marian against undefeated Jasper. Watching the game were 4,000 fans, including 1,500 Wildcat supporters who had made the 270-mile trip to Mishawaka. The Knights were dominant, scoring three touchdowns in the first half to lead 18-0. Marian added two more touchdowns and point-after conversions in the third quarter and were ahead 34-0 going into the final stanza. Jasper’s only score came with :51 to play. The Knights, 34-7 winners, were soon celebrating their third state championship in four seasons and their 24th straight victory.

Considering that it was for a state championship, Marian’s win over Jasper must rank as one of the biggest games ever played at Mishawaka High’s stadium, just behind the Cavemen’s Class AAA victory over Portage. Knights fans would understandably vote for the 1976 state title contest as the stadium’s greatest game.

Marian’s state championships in 1975 and 1976 were not in the state’s biggest class, AAA, but those Knights teams—especially the 1976 edition-- may well have been the best in the state, regardless of enrollment. In the final A.P. all-class poll, the 1975 Knights were ranked #3, and the 1976 team finished #2. In both of those years’ playoffs, the teams ranked ahead of Marian (Penn and Richmond in 1975 and Valparaiso in 1976) lost in the playoffs while the Knights remained undefeated. 

Steele Stadium

The year 1980 was significant for changes to Mishawaka’s football stadium and for the Cavemen’s successes on the gridiron.    

A renovation project added an all-weather track, new light poles behind the bleachers, and a replacement for the original press box. 

The school board voted to rename the facility Frank M. Steele Stadium in honor of the former coach, who had a 47-23-9 record in nine seasons at Mishawaka.

For the dedication ceremony during the Elkhart Memorial game on August 29, Coach Steele was joined by 50 of his former players. He was given a plaque, and a public reception was held in the school cafeteria after the game.

Coach Jim Miller’s Cavemen had a 10-0 record in the 1980 regular season and entered the playoffs ranked #1 in the state. Three of Mishawaka’s biggest home wins occurred during that campaign. On September 26, a crowd of 7,000 watched as the Cavemen got a battle from Penn but held on for a 35-32 triumph, their last win against the Kingsmen until 2009. On October 10, #1 Mishawaka survived a strong challenge from unbeaten Elkhart Central. Three quarters of stout defense had kept either team from scoring, but then Mishawaka made the game’s only touchdown and won, 7-0. In the first round of the Class AAA playoffs on October 31, Mishawaka led Lafayette Jefferson, 21-0, after the third quarter. The Broncos got on the board early in the fourth period, but the Cavemen answered with another touchdown. Mishawaka prevailed, 28-7, and earned the team’s first post-season victory since 1974.

1988-1991

Following the 1984 season, the I.H.S.A.A. revised the playoff format so that every team could participate in a single-elimination tourney, replacing the complicated points-based formula used in the early years and then a cluster system in 1983 and 1984.

Mishawaka, coached by Al Smith, experienced a brief burst of playoff success, winning sectionals in 1988, 1990, and 1991. 

The 1990 Class 5A sectional championship game against Valparaiso was played at Steele Stadium on November 2. The Cavemen trailed at halftime, 7-0, and tied the game in the third quarter. The Vikings retook the lead in the final period, but Mishawaka responded with a touchdown and then won the game, 16-14, on a 36-yard field goal that sailed through the north end zone’s uprights.

In 1991, Mishawaka won the sectional with victories over Portage and Valparaiso and then returned to Steele Stadium for the regional championship game against Crown Point. The Cavemen led 7-0 at the intermission, but the Bulldogs tied the game late in the third quarter. Mishawaka retook the lead and then held on for the dramatic win, 14-7. It would be the Cavemen’s last post-season title until 2009.

2009-2012

After 28 years of frustrating losses against Penn, good finally triumphed over evil on October 2, 2009. The #1-ranked Kingsmen came to Steele Stadium hoping to continue a 35-game winning streak over Mishawaka. Coach Bart Curtis’s Cavemen got on the board first, Penn reclaimed the lead, and Mishawaka answered, taking a 14-10 lead into halftime. The Cavemen added two more touchdowns in the second half and stifled Penn’s offense to finish out the 26-10 upset. 

Five weeks later, the teams had a rematch in the 5A sectional championship game at Steele Stadium. Mishawaka surged to a 17-0 lead, but Penn answered with a touchdown before halftime and two more in the third quarter. With just under five minutes to go in the game, Mishawaka got the ball back and soon found the end zone on a 50-yard run. After the Kingsmen missed a field goal with :42 remaining, the Cavemen were celebrating the 24-21 win and another sectional title.

In 2010, Mishawaka extended the winning streak over Penn to three with a regular season victory at Freed Field. In the 5A sectional championship game played at Steele Stadium on November 5, both teams were scoreless in the first half, and the Kingsmen took the lead in the third quarter. The Cavemen tied the game, 7-7, with 5.6 seconds remaining in regulation and won in overtime, 14-7.

Mishawaka moved to Class 4A in 2012, won the sectional, and hosted Hammond Morton in the regional title game on November 9. The Cavemen built an 18-7 lead before halftime and added three more touchdowns in the second half. After the 39-7 regional victory, Mishawaka won a thriller at Concord to earn a trip to the state title game. 

2018

Another round of substantial upgrades to Steele Stadium occurred in 2017-18, including new light poles, a state-of-the-art track surface, a free-standing video scoreboard, and an expanded Alumni Plaza. 

These improvements were perfectly timed to be part of the backdrop as Coach Keith Kinder’s team had an outstanding season. The Cavemen won the 4A sectional and then played Lowell at home on November 9. With snow covering the field and snowflakes swirling under the lights, Steele Stadium looked like a snow globe. Mishawaka took a 7-0 lead into halftime. After a Red Devils touchdown in the third quarter, the Cavemen answered with another scoring drive. Lowell tied the game, 14-14, early in the final period, but Mishawaka put two more touchdowns on the board and won, 28-14. The following week, the Cavemen fell to visiting Bishop Dwenger in the semi-state.

FieldTurf

The most noticeable transformation at Steele Stadium since the addition of the W.P.A. bleachers occurred in the spring and summer of 2024 with the installation of artificial FieldTurf. 

School City of Mishawaka spent $1.5 million to replace the natural grass at Mishawaka High’s field in hopes of promoting player safety, reducing maintenance costs, and ensuring an ideal and consistent playing surface throughout the season. Wear and tear from practices and games caused the natural grass field to deteriorate, leaving large bare patches as the season progressed. FieldTurf was expected to allow the freshmen and junior varsity football teams and the Marching Cavemen to practice more often on the field because there would no longer be a need to reduce damage to the grass. The attractive FieldTurf surface included painted end zones with Mishawaka and Cavemen and a large M at midfield.

The benefits of FieldTurf seemed to be realized immediately in Mishawaka’s home opener against Penn on August 30. The Cavemen took an early lead and were ahead 20-7 at halftime. Mishawaka held the Kingsmen scoreless in the second half and added another touchdown in the fourth quarter to win, 27-7. Later that season, Mishawaka won the 4A sectional and then hosted New Prairie for the regional title game on November 15. The Cavemen scored 14 points in the first quarter and led 21-0 at the intermission. The Cougars got on the board in the third quarter, but it was not enough. Mishawaka won, 21-7, and celebrated the FieldTurf’s first post-season title. In the following week’s semi-state at Steele Stadium, the Cavemen lost to East Noble, 18-13, coming heartbreakingly close to a berth in the state championship game.

For 100 years, Mishawaka High’s football field and track have witnessed great athletes and notable coaches, glorious wins and painful losses, and evolving facilities and changing names. When Mishawaka hosts NorthWood on September 18, 1926 for the centennial anniversary game of Steele Stadium, the teams and their fans will be enjoying a field and a stadium that have a rich history with more chapters waiting to be written.

Drone photos courtesy of Matt Rendall & The Mishawaka Network.