Matt L. Stephens

matthewstephens@coloradoan.com

Hughes Stadium, who welcomed fans through her turnstiles 6.2 million times over, died late Saturday night of natural causes.

She was 48.

She was conceived by former CSU President William Morgan and Athletic Director Jim Williams to replace Colorado Field as a way to leverage Colorado State University into the Western Athletic Conference. Hughes saw her groundbreaking in 1967 and officially opened Sept. 28, 1968, when Colorado State University lost 17-12 to "Mean" Joe Greene and the North Texas State Eagles in front of 22,102 fans.

When she was young, there was nothing she loved more than football and music. She saw her first concert when The Beach Boys and Chicago played under the "A" on July 6, 1975. The Rolling Stones and The Charlie Daniels Band played there two weeks later. Bob Dylan, Elton John and Joan Baez all graced Hughes. A 1978 lawsuit put an end to rock 'n' roll concerts at Hughes, but she continued to get her music fix by hosting Colorado high school marching band competitions.

HUGHES MEMORIES: Stadium once was a rock ‘n’ roll destination

Hughes Stadium wasn't even a teenager when she went through her most rebellious period in the 1970s. It was no secret she had a drinking problem. Throughout the decade, students who sat in her stands would line the concrete wall along the field with empty liquor bottles. Her issue became so disruptive that the State Board of Agriculture held an intervention in April 1975, banning liquor and replacing it with 3.2 beer. From that point, her drinking was rarely an issue.

During her life, she saw 262 college football games, eight hall-of-fame coaches roam her sidelines, six conference championships by CSU and four Rams who became first-round NFL draft picks.

She endured the field amputation of her goal posts in 1994 and the chemical burning of her turf by Wyoming fans a decade later. But never once did she complain about the pain of vandalism or boast about her 2005 facelift.

Hughes Stadium, for 48 years, remained humble. Even as the wrinkles in her face grew plentiful and her body began to break down during her later years, she always put on a smile for six days every fall, excited to welcome another wave of fans into her loving arms.

Her legacy will live on, survived by the new on-campus Sonny Lubick Field.

While her estate decides what to do with her remains, her possessions will be sold.

WATCH: 360-degree tour of Colorado State's Hughes Stadium