The football stadium at Hines and Hampton, the home of Republic’s most enduring football memories, was torn down in January 2018. Here are some of the memories you shared about the place.
Winning COC championships!!
I remember growing up on that field watching and working Relay for Life’s event back when it was big.
Running track for gym class, walking the track during football games, hanging out under the bleachers, track and field day and high school graduation! Going to miss seeing it. It’d be great if the track stayed. The students can still use it for gym.
All the games I played on this field, the smell of the fresh cut grass as we ran drills, hanging out with my friends and family. There’s to many great memories to list
First time we took our kiddos to a HS football game was here. It was so cold! But it was so much fun going as a family!
Many early band practices and band performances. Also having graduation on that field.
Watching my brother, Kevin Lazer de LaSalle, play football..he’s the reason I love the sport to this day! All the band practices..and moving my family back to Republic and the joy that filled me when I got to watch all 3 of my boys play youth football on that field.
I remember being homecoming candidate my sophomore year, countless Friday Night Lights with my friends, and a billion more awesome memories.
First Republic lacrosse game in 2006. We lost to Glendale 2-3. Dave Corner had the first goal.
Did punt pass n kick there in the 70s
Watching my Son Kevin La salle play football & my Daughter Tara , she was in flags in the band , was a wonderful time.
My heart breaks. So many days practicing with the band. Recess. Field days. Walking and talking with friends trying to figure out the world of teen life. So much of my life was on that field.
Being dominate in football during the late 70s and 80s. Along with freezing in my Pom Pon uniform. Lol
My sons,Brian Messier and Dusty Messier to Grandsons Blake Messier and Bryce Messier to Nephews Andy Crouch and Chad Crouch and Billy Fleetwood. 1985-2015.And youth league!!! Making memories 🏈🏈🏈
Friday night football, cheerleading, track and field days, band, PE, Relay for Life……
So many memories here…watched my cousin Chris White play alot of football and my sister Amy Cavazos (Sickman) cheer on the squad, while most of the time me and my parents sat in the bleachers, I can hear my dad yelling at the Tigers for some reason or another. Lots of memories with old friends walking around the track because back then we where the cool kids….or playing on what used to be the play ground (now a parking lot) over by price elementary witch used to be the old middle school…thanks for such great memories RepMo.
I remember in 8th grade Advanced Arts class getting to create the design for the broadcast booth. Before it was painted all black, for the longest time it had tiger paw prints around the top, and I remember our class going out there to paint the booth. Everytime I’d come back to Republic and pass by, I would tell someone I got to come up with the design and help paint it. I also remember getting the privilege of running stairs up the stands for football, and getting to carry linemen on my back up them during piggy back drills…those weren’t so fun haha.
I remember painting those bleachers… ALL of them, when my mom Sherry Blackwell was Booster Club President. Also painting the bathrooms… and deciding that spending a lot of time in that small space with no ventilation and heavy paint fumes wasn’t the best idea!
Walking the track at football games – and of course too many track/basketball/volleyball practice runs around that red gravel track to forget! And the egg drop in junior high science Joyce Chastain 🥚😊
Watching all our boys playing youth ball.
Lots of memories here! I thought I had more pics, but I don’t. These are the only 2 I could find and they don’t actually show the field. But, they are from Football Homecoming 1987, so you know they were taken there. One is not good, but I thought I would share it anyway.
Got to watch all of the great games, Clint and all the other great players played in the 80s and early nineties.
The walk from the high school to the stadium.
Too many to list. But the most iconic game in my opinion at the stadium was the 7-0 Saturday afternoon victory over the Rusty Medearis led Ozark Tigers in October, 1988. Jeremy Deerwester leaped over the line for the only TD. The stands only sat 1500, but there were at least 5000 fans there. People were 6-7 deep all around the track. The atmosphere was electric. I’ve never been to a high school game since that matched the atmosphere of that one. I’d LOVE to see that game on film.
It always gave me chills when I hear the football team walking from the High School (which is now the middle school) back in the late 70s snd and early 80s for their games. Enjoyed those memories.
Reading all of these great memories is flooding my mind with my own.
I remember running track here, watching countless football games of upperclassmen, the guys in my class and my son playing youth football here.
As our parents told us, enjoy every second, time goes fast. Time has gone fast and it makes me sad. One thing that really made me sad was my mom making me play in the band. If you remember my band days, you may recall I rocked the cymbals, woodblock and triangle on that field!
As time has moved forward, I am now sad I didn’t want to play in the band. I’d give anything to go back and possibly be a rockstar today!
Enjoy your youth kids, you will be 50 before you know it. The City will first take out the pool and then your childhood football stadium. But, good things are happening in our little town.
Two highlights for me were Homecoming 1978–getting to ride around the track in a black Corvette as a queen candidate; then in May 1979, 40 years ago, our class graduated outside in the stadium. I will miss seeing it when my family visits Republic this summer.
Six years of band field practice at 6 a.m. Playing “Three Blind Mice”, “Another One Bites the Dust”, “Eye of the Tiger” cheering “Hefty! Hefty! Hefty! Wimpy! Wimpy! Wimpy!” among many other snarks in the stands during football games.
From the very first football game I ever attended in the late 70’s, to growing up going every Friday night in the Fall during the 1980’s. This place was where I fell in love with football and where I got to play for the first team I ever rooted for, the Republic Tigers.
I can’t count the number of laps I ran around that track. When I am on the treadmill doing a long run, I can still close my eyes and picture that loop in my head.
Many years and hours at this track doing Relay for Life.
My favorite memories of this stadium go from Elementary school all the way to graduation. From the unforgettable track and field day we’d have every year before school got out to Friday night lights. I know it’s time to move on, but that stadium will always hold a place in my heart.
I remember having track and field day there almost every year growing up. I remember having to drop an egg from the bleachers and having to construct something to protect it. I always had fun there, very sad to see it go.
Lots of fond memories including cheerleading while Ozark kids threw pumpkins at us and bashed in pumpkins with their heads. That was a serious homecoming game.
My heart is sad to see this place go, but my band memories of Friday Night Lights is with me always. Taunting songs, chants, and in general celebrating our youth and a period of football domination.
Graduated in 1991 so played 1989, 1990. My best memories were how the stadium was filled to capacity every Friday night, brought in extra bleachers, and standing room only for every game. We just don’t see that much in this day and age.
We were so happy when it was done! My Freshman year we had no track. We just had a cow path to run on. When we got the new stadium and track we dominated Track Meets, that was 1975 we were COC Track and Field Champs winning the COC championship meet.
1995. Scoring 3 touchdowns in the last 3 minutes against Branson. Kory Stout option to the left for the 2 point conversion and the win, 36-35.
The thing that I connect to as a former Republic athlete the most, was the countless hours spent alone running bleachers, sprinting the track, jumping in the pits trying to become the best I could be! When you spend time alone in a gym or in a Stadium, you form a relationship with it and it becomes a part of what you become. It is sad that it is coming down, but it will live, always, inside those that connected with it.
As a kid, watching the ‘88 Tigers vs Ozark on a Saturday. We beat them 7-0, and it was one of the best defensive football games I’d ever seen.
I remember when I was little, having to bundle up in warm clothes and blanket to having to bring an umbrella and poncho. Watching my big brother play football was one of my favorite memories when I was little! My whole family would be there huddled together cheering Kurtis on. Some good memories on those bleachers!!
Some of the earliest dates with my bride of 28 years were circling the game on the track, sometimes with her riding on my shoulders… I also remember fondly being extremely unsportsmanlike toward Ozark and Willard. 🙂
My Dad was the head coach during the late 70s & early 80s! I remember joyful victories and devastating losses. It’s part of my childhood that I hold dear decades later living a long way from Republic, MO in another state. Go Tigers!