Perkins Stadium at a Glance
Address: 910 W. Schwager Dr., Whitewater, WI 53190
Seating Capacity: 13,500
Opened: 1970
Named After: Forrest Perkins
The Warhawk gridiron may have changed over the last 50 years, but the tradition has remained the same. Forrest Perkins was the driving force behind the funding and construction of a new stadium to be built on the north end of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater campus that would hold 11,000 people. In 1970, after seven years of work, Perkins' vision came to life as UW-Whitewater hosted its first game at Warhawk Stadium.
In 1996, Warhawk Stadium was renamed for long-time coach Forrest Perkins, but the gridiron itself remained the same until 2008. The summer of 2008 brought numerous updates to Perkins Stadium, including new landscaping, branding and other updates.
An archway designating the facility as the "Kachel Family Sports Complex" welcomes fans into Perkins Stadium at the entrance. Ten Stagg Bowl banners hang on the west wall of the football service building along the walkway to the home stands. Additional banners were added to the north end of the service building facing the field that sports the Warhawk along with UW-Whitewater Athletics' motto "Powered by Tradition" and the years UW-W has won the Stagg Bowl. Splitting the press box above the stands is another banner proudly displaying the number of conference championships won by the Warhawks - a conference-record 37. Black rubber matting was added to the bench areas and lines the field along with landscaping improvements on each end of the stadium. On the north end, below the scoreboard, a purple "W" made of concrete is outlined with white rocks. On the south end, a greenery area hold nine flagpoles that display national championship years and Warhawk heads on game day.
The press box sits above the home crowd and includes two boxes for team spotters, five suite areas providing seats for over 50 fans, and seven boxes for media outlets and gameday personnel. Pictures of the Warhawk football All-Americans line the hallways and stairwells of the press box. The lower are of the press box, directly behind the home stands, holds five concession areas. A large banner caresses the south wall of the concession area sporting a graphic of Whitewater's national players of the year.
The playing field itself also changed in 2008, moving from a natural grass surface to FieldTurf. Both endzones are marked in purple with white block lettering. The north end reads WHITEWATER while the south end WARHAWKS as a large Warhawk head faces the home crowd on the 50-yard line.
Updates to seating on the home and visiting stands increased the capacity to 13,500 making Perkins Stadium the largest in Division III. A state-of-the-art Daktronics video board accompanies the scoreboard. The facility's sound system was upgraded in 2013.
In 2018, thanks to generous donations from a number of alumni and supporters, an
upgrade to the football services building was completed. The Warhawks' locker room was expanded and renovated, and a sports medicine room was upgraded with assistance from Mercyhealth. The facility was also rebranded to include an All-American display, a "Warhawks in the Pros" wall, and other displays.
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