The Graveyard's official name is Rogan Field, which in 1935 became the home football stadium for the San Saba Armadillos. Yes, it once was a cemetery. Yes, not all the graves were removed before it was converted into a football stadium.

The graveyard-turned-football-stadium received national attention in 1990 with an article in Sports Illustrated. Regionally, Fox Sports Net did a television piece in 2004, and information about Rogan Field is available on the Internet.

There are no tangible markings around Rogan Field informing the public of the stadium's unique history - at least not since Brad McCoy's tenure as head coach from 1990-94. The legend of The Graveyard is as real as the wall of trees that have lined each end of Rogan Field since anyone can remember.

James Harkey, a member of the first San Saba team to play at Rogan Field in 1935, helped move tombstones from the cemetery during its conversion to a football stadium.

''There were a lot of people buried there,'' said Harkey, now 85. ''When we started playing there, we didn't think about the graves underneath us. We just needed a place to play. We were just interested in playing football.''

The Armadillos' previous home field had been on the infield of a horseracing track at the fairgrounds just north of town.

In the early 1960s, San Saba players digging water ditches underneath the home bleachers unearthed three tombstones. Around 1990, McCoy said pieces of old tombstones were dug up when a new field house was being constructed.

More recently, Clawson said some bones were dug up when a new watering system was being installed.

''They may have been animal bones, we're not sure,'' Clawson said. ''But given all the graveyard stories, it sounds better to say they were human.''

Last spring, the Graveyard won a statewide, Texas government-sponsored contest encouraging students to learn more about their local history. Tara Henry, a senior student, compiled a power point presentation about how a graveyard became the football stadium. It won for best use of images.

Henry's interest in Rogan Field's history was easy to figure. Her father, John Henry, who played from 1980-82, still is San Saba's career rushing leader. A younger brother, also named John Henry, is the Armadillos' starting quarterback.

Unexplained events

Unusual happenings during high school football games - things forgotten in other towns after the Saturday morning coffee-shop sessions - become part of the enduring legend when they occur at Rogan Field.

''Sometimes a player from the other team will break into the open field, but he'll trip and fall for no apparent reason. We'll just laugh about it,'' said Ronnie Schulze, a San Saba assistant football coach for 30 years.

Legend has it those players who fell were tackled by ghostly arms and hands reaching up from their graves to help their hometown boys.

''Sometimes we'll beat a team at home that we shouldn't beat. We'll just look at each other and grin about it,'' Schulze said.

Never was that more evident than in 1993, when San Saba upset Goldthwaite 13-6 in a district game at The Graveyard. State-ranked Goldthwaite recovered to win the Class 2A state championship. San Saba finished 6-4 and missed the playoffs.

Go figure.

During the early 1990s, Goldthwaite won two state championships, but the Eagles lost four straight times at The Graveyard.

''A time or two in the locker room before the game, we burned candles and hung a plastic chicken with a rope to escape the curse of The Graveyard,'' said Tim Spradley, an assistant coach at Goldthwaite since 1985.

Which is exactly what McCoy was hoping to accomplish when he began hyping The Graveyard legend during his tenure as San Saba's head coach from 1990-94.

''If we could get the other team thinking about anything other than the game, we felt that was to our advantage,'' said McCoy, now head coach at Graham. ''Our kids started believing in to, too. In that '93 Goldthwaite game, they had a receiver running wide open. It would have been a touchdown, but he dropped the ball. Our kids were saying, 'That was The Graveyard helping us there.' ''

With help from a woodshop class, McCoy in 1992 approved the hanging of a wooden sign over the entrance to Rogan Field that read: ''Welcome to The Graveyard.''

The sign didn't hang there long. The First United Methodist Church is across the street from the Rogan Field entrance, as is the back of First Baptist Church.

''Some of the church people thought it was inappropriate and disrespectful to have the sign over the entrance,'' McCoy said. ''So we moved it over the visiting team's locker room (underneath the bleachers). It was where the other team could see it, but not the general public.''

The sign disappeared altogether in 1993 - rumored stolen by Goldthwaite students during the week of their annual grudge match. Sign or no sign, the legend of The Graveyard continued.

McCoy's graveyard ploy worked for him. He compiled a 38-13-1 record in five seasons as the Armadillos' head coach. In the 11 seasons since McCoy left, the Armadillos are 29-82.

Ironically, McCoy had to return to The Graveyard as Jim Ned's head coach in 2003 and '04. He found himself downplaying to his Jim Ned players - including his quarterback and son, Colt McCoy, now the starting quarterback for the University of Texas - the legend he spent five years playing up to his San Saba players.