[2] It was renamed in November 1944 in honor of Charles Colfax Hughes, the first superintendent of the Sacramento City Unified School District, who died a month earlier.

Mike Keller served as General Manager,[8] while Special Projects was led by Jack Youngblood, who also partnered with Joe Starkey and Ronnie Lott on the Surge radio broadcasts KRAK.

The Surge won the game, 21–17, behind quarterback David Archer's MVP performance (22 completions of 33 attempts for 286 yards, two touchdowns and one interception).

It was also the site of the third Division I-AA championship game in 1980, in which Boise State defeated defending champion Eastern Kentucky with a late touchdown in the fog on December 20.

It was the host of the famous "mud bowl" in 2000, where wind and rain was so strong that a UC Davis punt actually flew backwards during the game.

[12] The Sacramento Solons, a Triple-A Minor League Baseball team affiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers played three seasons in Hughes Stadium from 1974 to 1976.

Hughes Stadium was the site of the AAU National Championships in 1968; on the evening of June 20, Jim Hines, Ronnie Ray Smith, and Charlie Greene all bettered the world record (hand timed) of ten seconds in the 100 metres (and several others were very close),[13][14][15] and is famous amongst track and field historians as the "Night of Speed.

[19] Hughes Stadium was one of the regular sites that would host the California Interscholastic Federation State Track and Field Championships on a rotational basis.

The Sacramento Pop Festival was held at Hughes in 1967 on Sunday, October 15, headlined by Jefferson Airplane, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Strawberry Alarm Clock, and The Sunshine Company.