Georgia football played its first game on January 30, 1892 against Mercer. The new team needed a place to host their first game. Head coach and founder of both Georgia football and baseball teams, Dr. Charles Herty chose the marching field in the center of campus.
Landscaping began in 1891 and the field opened later that year, just a few months before Georgia’s first football game. Herty continued making improvements to the field well after he gave up coaching the team, including installing bleachers in 1897.
The field opened as the Alumni Athletic Field, but the school renamed the field in Herty’s honor soon after.