KERMIT A. JOHNSON FIELD PHOTO GALLERY

The University of Montevallo baseball team has called Kermit A. Johnson Field their home since becoming an intercollegiate athletic program in 1958. The facility has gone through major renovations over the past few years. Prior to the start of the 2004 season, a new backstop with netting stretched from dugout to dugout to protect fans has been installed, in addition to a new state-of-the-art scoreboard in right-center field.  Changes in the spring of 2005 included the installation of brick walls lining the left and right field lines from the dugouts to the outfield corners, and fencing to enclose the home bullpen area.

The newest addition to the facility is the construction of a new grandstand seating area and new press facility behind home plate. The grandstand includes 144 permanent chair-back seats and additional bleacher seating on two wings for a capacity of approximately 450. The grandstand also includes a wheelchair access ramp on the first base side. The large press box contains phone lines for home and visiting radio as well as wireless internet access. The project received a significant financial contribution of $ 25,000 from Woodgrain Millwork Inc., who has a distribution center in Montevallo. Additional individuals and corporations provided financial support for the construction of the seating and press box, completed in April 2007.

Since 1958, the Montevallo Falcons have called Johnson Field home. Located just off the main campus in what was previously a farm and cotton field, Johnson Field is a picturesque facility, rising above Shoal Creek, and facing the scenic UM campus.

This "Home of the Falcons" was the first facility to see intercollegiate athletics at UM after the school admitted male students in 1956. The Falcons lost their inaugural game, 23-1 to Howard College (now Samford University), but have since built a reputation for playing aggressive and entertaining baseball at home.

The field was named in honor of former UM President Kermit Johnson, who served 10 years as the school's president, and was dedicated on April 6, 1981. Johnson became the 10th president of the University of Montevallo in 1968, coming to UM from the Jefferson County Board of Education, where he had been superintendent since 1959. Born in Boaz, Johnson attended Jacksonville State Teachers College (now Jacksonville State University). He went from earning $ 75 a month in his first teaching job, to becoming one of the most respected names in Alabama Higher Education.

Previous additions to Johnson Field was the installation of permanent lights in 1981.A multi-purpose building, built in 1981, and dedicated in honor of former Falcon player Ernest E. "Billy" Cotton in 1983, was removed in the fall of 2006.

The dimensions of Johnson Field are 325 down the left field line, 350 to left and right center fields, 380 to center field, and 330 down the right field line.