The Bucknell University Stadium Commission was formed in 1923 after the Board of Trustees authorized a campaign to raise $500,000.00 for the building of a stadium on the campus of Bucknell University. John T. Shirley, a matriculate of the Class of 1909, was named commissioner of the campaign and was placed in charge of an Executive Stadium Committee. In addition to Shirley, the Executive Stadium Committee membership included Charles P. Vaughn, Emory W. Hunt, Professor Ephraim E. Heim, Russ H. Kress, the Honorable John W. Davis, Oliver J. Decker, George W. Cockill and Robert W. Thompson. The campaign was organized in locations where large numbers of Bucknellians resided. Centers of campaign activity included Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania, New York, Philadelphia, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. By March 1924, subscriptions totaled $430,087.00 and ground was broken on March 17, 1924. The stadium was completed and dedicated in October of 1924.