Leander ISD's A.C. Bible Memorial Stadium is the second-largest high school stadium in Central Texas (to Austin's Toney Burger Center), with a capacity of 12,000. Named in memory of a longtime LISD figure in 1998, the stadium has a storied past. It now occupies its second site, carries its third name, and has been the home field for five different high school teams over the last half-century.

Built originally in west Texas in 1947 as a reward for the Odessa High Bronchos' winning of the state championship the year before, the facility surrounded the same football playing field just north of Odessa that is now occupied by Ratliff Stadium. This facility was called Barrett Stadium in those days.The Bronchos had the venue to themselves for over a decade, but Ector County ISD expansion in the early 1960s would bring a new tenant to Barrett Stadium.

The new school would quickly overshadow its cross-town rival, and from the early 'sixties onward, Barrett Stadium would be most widely known as the fearsome home field of one of America's most storied high school football programs: the magical Mojo, the Panthers of Odessa Permian. Titanic clashes in a tough district nicknamed "The Little Southwest Conference" were played out on the floor of this stadium, including some historic wars between heated rivals Permian and Midland Lee. Several more state championship banners - all won by Permian - were hung in the stadium throughout the sixties and seventies.

Ector County ISD decided to expand their seating capacity in 1981 and Barrett Stadium was dismantled and stored as the district built the new, 19,302-seat Ratliff Stadium in its place.

In 1985, prodigious growth in Leander ISD required the building of a larger athletic stadium than the tiny bleachers out on the side of the original Leander High School (now Leander Middle School). When the new Leander High campus was built on its current site, LISD purchased the components of Barrett Stadium from Odessa and transported the disassembled facility to central Texas aboard 57 tractor-trailer rigs.

The stadium was reassembled on the site it now occupies, straddling the municipal border of the cities of Leander and Cedar Park. It was named "Lion Stadium" and carried that name for as long as Leander ISD operated only the single high school, from the stadium's resurrection in 1985 through 1997.

As originally rebuilt here, the stadium consisted of wooden seats and floors, and encompassed a grass playing field. During a Leander / Round Rock game in 1997 which your author was broadcasting on the radio, a Round Rock drill team member standing on her bench seat on the visitor's side broke through the aging wood and fell several feet to the ground beneath the stadium, breaking a leg. This accident spotlighted the need for modernization. All wood throughout the stadium, including walkway ramps up to the entry portals, was replaced with aluminum.

In 1998, with the building of new Cedar Park High, it was realized that sharing the facility between two schools would rapidly wear out the natural grass field. New Astroturf was procured and finally installed prior to the 2000 season. Also in 1998, the stadium's and scoreboard's blue and red color scheme was replaced with a more neutral black and white and gray, in order not to favor one school over the other. For the same reason, the name was changed from Lion Stadium to the current A.C. Bible Memorial.

Bible is also the tallest high school stadium in central Texas. Access to the underside of the press box is via seven flights of switchback stairs under the stadium. To facilitate low-row fans seeing over the track and the players on the sideline, row 1 is elevated a full 10 feet off the ground. The 45th row of seats is fully 40 feet above the parking lot, and the top level of the press box is 60 feet in the air, as high as a six-story building.

Prior to the 2003 season, a new building was constructed on the southeast end of the playing field (not shown in the picture above) for housing "home" locker rooms for Cedar Park and Vista Ridge when they play at the facility. Leander continues to use their existing locker room up the hill behind the northwest end zone.

No matter the disputed outsome of the “friendly” argument between Cedar Park and Leander partisans, both sides would agree that this stadium has become the House of Champions.

Cedar Park won unbeaten outright titles in 2001 (17-4A) and 2004 (15-5A), and Leander shared co-championships in 2001, 2002, and 2003, and won 15-5A outright in 2005. Thus, A.C. Bible has been the home field for six district championship football teams in the last five seasons. The last year neither of its tenants won a district title (or a share of one) was 2000- half a decade ago and counting.

Situated at the edge of the Texas Hill Country, A.C. Bible Memorial Stadium continues to be a tremendous Friday night venue for the National Sport of Texas.