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Local newspapers claimed this municipal stadium was “rivaled by none, high school or college” in the state when it opened in October 1930. Laurel High School beat Gulfport High School 7–0 in the field’s first football game, played at night under lights. Now it is the oldest stadium in Mississippi and is still used by the adjacent R. H. Watkins High School. Its concrete and brick stands are set into the hillsides and face each other across a cinder track and grass football field, with coaches’ viewing stands perched high above.