Zable Stadium is the main football and track and field venue at William & Mary. Before its dedication as Zable Stadium in 1990, it was known as Cary Field, Cary Field Stadium, or unofficially, William & Mary Stadium. It is located between the Cohen Career Center and the Alumni House, alongside the Jimmye Laycock Football Center.
Cary Field, now the location of Zable Stadium, was so named to honor T. Archibald Cary of Richmond, Virginia, a member of the Board of Visitors, and his father John B. Cary. The new enclosed field was constructed from 1907 to 1909, and completed in time for the baseball season in 1909. In 1909, Cary had donated a total of $2665 to the effort. About $170 was appropriated to paint and stain the grandstand and fence of the newly named Athletic Field that same year. In 2021, the Board of Visitors, as part of a comprehensive review of building names on campus, determined that the honorific for Cary Field shall henceforth be for T.A. Cary alone.
The stadium was built in 1935. The Board of Visitors approved the present name at their November 2, 1990, meeting. In 1996, the north gate facing Richmond Road was named the John Harvard Randolph '64 Alumni Gate.
The stadium is named after Walter J. Zable, class of 1937, president and chief executive officer of the Cubic Corporation, and his wife, Betty C. Zable, class of 1940. Walter Zable was a track and football star during his time at William & Mary.
In 2021 "the arcade at Cary Field, the arched walkway on the northside of Zable stadium, will be named the Arthur A. Matsu Arcade, after the College’s first Asian American student. Art Matsu ’27 played four sports at the College, including football, at which he excelled. After he was a quarterback for the College, he became the first alumnus of the College to play in the NFL. He later coached football at Rutgers University." For more information, go to the news story, W&M campus structures named for trailblazing alumni
]]>Blow Memorial Hall was constructed between 1923 and 1925 following a gift to William & Mary from Mrs. Adele Matthiessen Blow in memory of her husband, Captain George Preston Blow, U.S. Navy. The building was referred to as Blow Gym at this time.
While Captain Blow did not attended William & Mary, his father, grandfather, and other family members were alumni, and his grandfather also served on the Board of Visitors. Dramatic growth of the student body during the 1920s and 1930s had made more and larger athletic facilities a necessity soon after the completion of the Blow Gym in 1925. Originally T-shaped, it was substantially enlarged by the addition of a south wing in 1940. Blow Gym remained the home of men’s basketball until William & Mary Hall hosted its first games in December 1970. From the 1970s until the opening of the Recreation Center, Blow Gym continued to serve as a much-needed recreation center for students, faculty and staff.
In 1991, Blow Gymnasium was renovated and converted from a physical education building into a complex for classrooms and offices and was rededicated as Blow Memorial Hall. Blow Hall is home to a number of offices and departments including the Roy R. Charles Center, Sharpe Community Scholars Program, and the Office of the Registrar. These offices moved to Blow after the School of Business moved to new quarters upon the opening of Alan B. Miller Hall in 2009.
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