Name Game The back stories behind some of W&L's outdoor athletic spaces.
ALSTON PARKER WATT FIELD
Watt Field is named for Alston Parker Watt ’89, a two-sport letter winner in swimming and diving and lacrosse. Watt, executive director of the Williams Family Foundation of Georgia, was a member of the first coeducational class at W&L and the first undergraduate woman to serve on the Washington and Lee Board of Trustees, from 2003-2011.
Watt Field, consisting of bluegrass natural athletic turf and completed in 2003 for $1.5 million, is home to the men’s and women’s soccer teams and women’s lacrosse team.
FUGE FIELD
Fuge Field, an artificial turf field, was constructed in summer 2015 as an alternative practice and recreation field for the university. The current field sits on the site of the old Liberty Hall Fields, which served as the home for W&L’s soccer and women’s lacrosse teams for several decades.
Fuge Field is named for former W&L football and lacrosse player C. Douglas Fuge ’77 in recognition of his generous support of the Wilson Field renovations. Fuge was drawn to Washington and Lee in part by its successful Division I lacrosse program. He added to it, becoming an honorable mention All-American in 1977. Fuge began his career at Dillon Rad & Co. and moved on to a successful career with Goldman Sachs & Co. in 1984. He has served W&L on the Williams School Advisory Board and the Board of Trustees.
OUTDOOR TENNIS COURTS
The men’s and women’s tennis teams play a majority of their matches on the university’s 14 outdoor courts (upper and lower), and the courts have hosted numerous conferences and national tournaments, including the 1985, ’88 and ’97 NCAA Division III Men’s Tennis Championships and the 1998 NCAA Division III Women’s Tennis Championships.
The lower courts, which were renovated and renamed the William C. Washburn Tennis Courts after the university’s first women’s tennis coach, consist of six courts and a storage building with restroom facilities. In addition to coaching the men’s (1959-64) and women’s (1986-88) tennis teams, Washburn, Class of 1940, served as W&L Alumni executive secretary from 1958-83 and associate director of development from 1983-88.
RICHARD L. DUCHOSSOIS OUTDOOR ATHLETIC COMPLEX
In 2008, Washington and Lee University named its outdoor athletic complex (comprised of Wilson Field, the fields for soccer, field hockey and baseball and the cross country course as well as the outdoor tennis courts and the indoor tennis center) in honor of Richard L. Duchossois ’44, founder and chairman of Duchossois Industries Inc., and chairman emeritus of Arlington Park Race Course, in recognition of his support of the university.
In addition to the outdoor complex, two other athletic facilities bear the Duchossois name. The Duchossois Tennis Center opened in January 1997 and features four indoor courts and a spectator gallery and has hosted numerous conferences and national tournaments. The Richard L. Duchossois Athletic and Recreation Center, which includes a restoration of the existing Doremus Gymnasium, encompasses 165,489 square feet and houses a fitness center, expanded golf practice facilities and locker rooms, offices for coaches and athletics staff and a showcase for the Athletics Hall of Fame.
CAP’N DICK SMITH FIELD
The updated Cap’n Dick Smith Field was completed in spring 1999 for $1.8 million (the stadium replaced the former Smith Field located on the current site of Watt Field). The baseball stadium includes permanent seating for 350 spectators and features two enclosed bullpens, a 2,340-square-foot building with two indoor hitting cages and a state-of-the-art public address/sound system.
Richard A. “Cap’n Dick” Smith, Class of 1913, was a standout second baseman and captain of the team as well as a member of the football team while a student at W&L. He became athletics director in 1921 and remained in that post until his retirement in 1954. He also coached the baseball team for 30 years and saw several players go on to play professionally. Under Smith, W&L developed one of the most comprehensive intercollegiate and intramural athletic programs in the Southern Conference; he was inducted into W&L’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.
WILSON FIELD
Wilson Field, home to Washington and Lee University’s football, men’s lacrosse and track & field programs, is named in honor of William L. Wilson, W&L’s 13th president. Before coming to Lexington, serving from February 1897 until his death in 1900, Wilson was a congressman and postmaster general for the Grover Cleveland administration.
Since the initial field was built on its current site in the 1900s, Wilson Field has received numerous upgrades. In addition to the latest FieldTurf replacement this summer, a prior $15.5 million project featured new home and visitor stands and a seating capacity of approximately 4,000 people. The facility also boasts a state-of-the-art press box, scoreboard, sound system, lights for night games and practices and an expanded track.
This article first appeared in the Summer 2024 issue of W&L: The Washington and Lee Magazine.
