By the late 1940s, Clemmons High School had earned a reputation for athletic excellence. The 1948 and 1949 football and baseball teams, nicknamed the Blues, brought unprecedented attention to the school, sparking the need for a proper sports facility. Leading the charge, Dennis Brewer (Class of 1928) chaired a community project to build a new athletic complex featuring a football field, baseball diamond, stadium grandstand, perimeter fencing, and outdoor lighting. The total cost was estimated at $30,000 - a significant sum at the time. William Neal Reynolds, owner of the nearby Tanglewood estate and a devoted supporter of Clemmons athletics, generously pledged $15,000, with the remainder raised through a $6,000 contribution from Forsyth County and $9,000 generated by the community through creative fundraisers such as chicken pie suppers and donkey baseball games.

When completed, the complex became only the second outdoor lighted sports facility in Forsyth County, second only to Southside Park—home of the St. Louis Cardinals’ Single-A baseball team. The football field was laid out diagonally across the baseball outfield, and temporary stands were set up each fall to accommodate crowds. The facility officially debuted on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1949, when the Clemmons Blues football team hosted Waldo High School, the 1948 Florida State Champions. In honor of this achievement and the community spirit behind it, the road next to the complex—Howard Street—was fittingly renamed Stadium Drive.