From its opening in 1922 until 1967 it was the home field of the Kansas State Wildcats football team, prior to the opening of Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium (known as KSU Stadium from 1968 to 2005).

The stadium was built and named in tribute to Kansas State students who died in World War I.

[4] A pre-World War II record crowd of 17,545 attended the Wildcats' game against #6 Oklahoma on November 11, 1939.

[5] After the war there were a handful of games where attendance exceeded 20,000, including a crowd of 23,822 to watch #18 Kansas State play #9 Oklahoma in 1953.

The first night college football game at Memorial Stadium was played on September 20, 1947.