The Daily Universe celebrates 50 years

From expansion of Cougar Stadium to the construction of the tallest building in Provo, new buildings rose across campus during the 1980s.

BYU's tallest structure, the Spencer W. Kimball Tower, was officially begun in the late '70s but was actually dedicated in 1980. The SWKT housed the colleges of Nursing, Psychology, and Family, Home and Social Sciences.

BYU President Dallin H. Oaks was quoted as saying the new building's name was appropriate because of President Kimball's dedication to the family.

The 176-foot-tall building, with 11 of 12 stories above ground, was opened for classes in fall 1980-81.

In the fall of that year, N. Eldon Tanner, second counselor in the First Presidency of the LDS Church, set off explosive charges that marked the groundbreaking for the new Tanner Building that would house the School of Management.

BYU President Jeffrey R Holland said on the occasion that there were scores of people who contributed and planned for the construction of the building. He added that President Tanner has been an example of successful administration and leadership.

William G. Dyer, dean of the School of Management, said this building is necessary since the campus could no longer accommodate its size. "We now have more than 4,000 graduate and undergraduate students in our program," he said.

The Tanner Building, housing The Marriott School of Business, is a seven-story, 120,000-square-foot, granite structure. Its Web site claims 3,000 students are enrolled in the school's graduate and undergraduate programs.

The Wall Street Journal for a second year listed the Marriott School's MBA program in the Top 10 among regional programs. The school ranked sixth in 2005 and fifth in 2004. BYU moved up among schools listed for excellence in accountancy to fourth and retained its second-place standing, behind Yale, as the best place to hire graduates with high ethical standards.

The Caroline Harman Building and the adjoining Conference Center were both begun in the 1970s but dedicated for use in 1982. The Harman building was made possible through donations by L.H. "Pete" Harman, co-founder of the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise.

The Harman building is the headquarters for the Department of Continuing Education.

Additionally, plans were begun for the construction of a single facility to replace BYU's 16 foreign-language houses. The Foreign Language Center, now called the Foreign Language Student Residence, was finished in the mid-1980s. It provided a unique opportunity for students to enhance and refine language skills. The on-campus complex consists of 25 apartments for men and women learning nine different languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, plus intensive American Sign Language during spring and summer terms.

Several proposals for expansion of Cougar Stadium were put forward in the early 1980s.

Interest in expanding the stadium came shortly after the Cougars took the Western Athletic Conference two years in a row and gained national attention. The average attendance (for the five home games) during the late '70s was 35,357, with a record attendance at 40,236 in a game against Utah.

The original Cougar Stadium, renamed after head football coach LaVell Edwards retired, was built in 1964 with a seating capacity of 45,000 (including temporary bleachers placed at each of the end zones). Original expansion plans called for an increase in the number of seats to 55,000, including end-zone bleachers. It was expanded in 1982 to seat 65,000 and included 42 ticket gates.

The expansion added stands to the north and south end zones, lowered the field 8 feet and removed the track surrounding the field (which hosted the 1967 and 1975 NCAA Track and Field Championships).

According to the BYU Cougar Web site, a crowd of 64,253 gathered for BYU's first game in the expanded stadium on Sept. 25, 1982, and was reported to be "the largest gathering ever in Utah history."



Copyright Brigham Young University 1 Dec 2005