The Mount Union football stadium now bears the name of Larry Kehres alongside the Ohio historical marker that denotes it as Ohio's oldest football stadium. Mount Union athletics photo

Football has been played in this spot at Mount Union since Nov. 1, 1913. Mount Union's stadium aso hosted Ohio's first night collegiate football game. And now, future games on this spot in Alliance, Ohio, will also bear the name of Larry Kehres.

Kehres, the longtime head coach and athletic director, as well as former football player at Mount Union, led Mount Union to 11 Division III football national championships between 1993 and 2012. His teams went 332-24-3 under his leadership, a .929 winning percentage.

The recent unveiling was just part of a larger series of events for the campus and the football program. The school also dedicated the Dom and Karen Capers Football Coaching Center, which opened in 2020 and hosts coaches offices and meeting and video rooms for the team. Capers, a Mount Union alumnus and former NFL head coach and long-time assistant coach, gave $2 million dollars toward the building.

A plaza will be constructed at the south end of the football stadium called Larry and Linda Kehres Plaza, and a coaching endowment was created in Larry Kehres's name as well, to support the program by endowing coaching positions and complementary program needs, such as training or equipment expenses.

"Mount Union is forever ... Mount Union Stadium is forever. Kehres Stadium may or may not be forever," Kehres said at the stadium's dedication. "So I say this, there'll come a time when there could be a donor that would give a gift significant enough to impact the student-athletes at Mount Union. Accept it, and name the stadium after that individual. I'm probably going to be history by then.

"I don't say that to appear humble, I don't say it because I don't have gratitude for what's being done -- I say it because I mean it."

Mount Union's first scheduled game in the newly renamed stadium is scheduled for Sept. 3, against Defiance.