Martin Stadium holds a special place in the hearts of WSU students, alumni and fans. Back in 1987, WSU alumni Valorie Fisher and former coug Rick Reams took it to the next level and got married inside the stadium.

Even though both Fisher and Reams attended WSU, they did not meet until their late 20s, when they were both working on campus. Fisher said she worked in purchasing while Reams worked in the Central Stores department.

Reams said he was a warehouse superviser and purchased a lot of different materials, which required him to drop off items to the purchasing office, where he would run into Fisher.

Fisher said it took a while for them to hit it off, but she eventually made the first move and asked him out. For their first date, she said they went to the Chinese Village in Moscow, which does not exist anymore.

Reams said he was extremely nervous on their first date.

“I didn’t want to appear piggish, so I didn’t eat a whole lot of the time,” he said. “I did go later and eat to satiate my hunger.”

It took a couple of dates before they became official, Fisher said. They got married in 1987, two years after they started dating.

When the couple got engaged, they started looking around for venues to host the ceremony. Reams said it did not take long to decide to have their wedding on the 50-yard-line at Martin Stadium.

Fisher said they knew they wanted to have their wedding outside, and she did not want to get married in a park where children would be running around in the same place.

“I was just laying there one Saturday morning and was like, ‘we could get married in the stadium,’” she said.

The couple had connections and were able to get their wedding spot easily. They just had to sign a form saying they were not going to wreck anything in the stadium, Fisher said. They made mock tickets they sent out with their invitations, and guests had to show them to get in, just like at a real football game.

Reams said the guests lined up on both sides of the tunnel, the couple came out of it and everyone followed the two down to midfield.

“We had a fairly interesting group of attendance for the wedding,” he said.

They had some family show up, and Reams said teammates from his recreational softball team came dressed up in their uniforms.

Fisher said Reams’ softball team was sponsored by Pelican Pizza, which is now Birch and Barley, and the restaurant let the couple have their reception there.

The couple is now retired, and they are the proud parents of a WSU alumna. Their daughter attended WSU as well and got a degree in anthropology.

Fisher and Reams said some of their favorite memories of visiting their daughter were during family weekends, where they would attend the football games on the field they were married on.