As of Friday, anyone driving down I-15 through Mission Valley could see some of the Murph still standing.
It’s not a lot. It’s much closer to being gone forever.
“It’s the memories that are there that we feel are being taken away,” Albert Valdivia said.
Valdivia stood near Friars Road and looked at the old stadium that went by so many names: San Diego Stadium, Jack Murphy Stadium, Qualcomm Stadium. The Q. Even SDCCU Stadium.
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“I remember looking up and just seeing how big it was,” Valdivia said.
Valdivia played in the stadium at a CIF championship football game in 1994.
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“I went to Castle Park High School," Valdivia said. "Go, Trojans!”
The Trojans won.
“That was every high school football player’s dream in San Diego, was to play here,” Valdiviasaid.
As Valdivia watched massive machines slowly pick apart the old stadium, his employees and contractors were building a new stadium for San Diego State University.
“You’re starting to see the structure rise out of the ground,” Valdivia said, pointing toward the foundation of Aztec Stadium.
Valdivia is a vice-president at Clark Construction, which is taking down the old and building the new.
“This stadium is just going to blow people’s socks off when they come here for the first time,” Valdivia said, smiling.
Valdivia said he understood the significance of what Clark and San Diego State were building.
“I honestly feel like it’s just a sense of responsibility,” Valdivia said. “It’s for the future of San Diego.”
Valdivia said the project is on schedule. The old stadium should be gone within the next few weeks, and, he said, the new Aztec Stadium will be ready for events in 2022.
