The first thing that hits you when you walk into the Hattiesburg Zoo isn’t the sound of animals. It’s the sight of two golden eagles standing right at the entrance. And honestly, that feels right. Because this isn’t just any zoo. It sits inside Kamper Park, ground that once helped shape the early days of Southern Miss Golden Eagles football and baseball. Long before the exhibits and walking paths, this was where it all began. Today, it’s Hattiesburg’s oldest park, dating back to 1908, a place that’s grown from ballfields into one of the city’s most beloved green spaces.
On Easter Sunday in 1950, Kamper Park turned a page. What had once been ballfields and open space became something new with the opening of the Hattiesburg Zoo. It started simple. Just a handful of native animals, many of them brought in by local kids. But over time, it grew into something much bigger. Today, 76 years later, the zoo has transformed into a modern wildlife destination, with expanded exhibits, stronger educational programs, and a clear focus on conservation. What began as a small community effort has evolved into one of the Pine Belt’s most important attractions, continuing to grow while staying rooted in the same community spirit that built it.
A year after its 75th anniversary, the Hattiesburg Zoo is still building on that momentum, with new exhibits, educational programs, and additions like the flamingo habitat continuing to shape the experience today.
Long before the Hattiesburg Zoo ever opened its gates, Kamper Park was already the center of sports in Hattiesburg. In the early 1900s, this was where Mississippi Normal College Normalites, what would become the Southern Miss Golden Eagles, took the field. From 1912 to 1931, the program’s earliest football teams played right here, laying the foundation for everything that followed.
Long before Pete Taylor Park or the modern era of Southern Miss baseball, the program’s earliest teams took the field right here at Kamper Park, in the 1910s and 1920s, when this space served as Hattiesburg’s central gathering ground for athletics.
The old fields would’ve stretched right through what is now the Africa Pavilion and over toward Serengeti Springs Water Park, which opened in 2024. Areas that feel a world away from football today. But a century ago, this was the heart of it all. The same ground where early Southern Miss teams once lined up is now home to giraffes Sue Ellen, Elberta, and Grace, calmly roaming where the game first took root.
Mississippi Normal College kicked off its first game at Kamper Park on October 13, 1912. And no, it wasn’t exactly a typical matchup. Their opponent? The Hattiesburg Boy Scouts. The Normalites handled business, winning 30–0 and quietly beginning what would become Southern Miss football.
In those early years, the schedule looked a lot different than it does today. The Normalites mostly faced high schools and military academies, with teams like Poplarville and Perkinston High Schools making regular trips to Kamper Park, along with the Gulf Coast Military Academy. They even lined up against schools like Seashore Campground School and Clarke College.
Then came World War I, which paused the program for two seasons. But when football returned, it came back stronger. The school began to grow, eventually becoming Mississippi State Teachers College, and with that growth came tougher competition. Soon, the program was welcoming opponents like Ole Miss Rebels football, Tulane Green Wave football, and the Mississippi A&M Maroons, the team we now know as Mississippi State Bulldogs football.
What started as games against local schools at Kamper Park was beginning to turn into something much bigger.
A who’s who of early college football figures made their way through Kamper Park during those years. Among them was Dudy Noble, a name still etched into Mississippi State baseball history today. He also coached football at Mississippi College and in 1916, Noble brought his Choctaw team to Hattiesburg and delivered a lopsided 75–0 win over the Normalites. But the story didn’t end there, he returned in 1922, this time coaching the Mississippi A&M freshmen squad, which resulted in a win for Normalites.
In 1920, the Tulane freshmen made their way to Kamper Park and left with a 19–0 win over Mississippi Normal School. Coaching Tulane that day was Clark Shaughnessy, one of the game’s true innovators and a future College Football Hall of Famer. Known for helping revolutionize offense as the inventor of T-formation, Shaughnessy would go on to coach at Stanford, Pitt, and in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams.
Alongside him was another future Hall of Famer, Germany Schultz, who served as both an assistant coach and Tulane’s athletic director at the time. Schultz would later become one of the inaugural inductees into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951, with Shaughnessy joining him years later in 1968.
One of the biggest rivals for Mississippi Normal and later State Teachers College in those early years was Mississippi College, which made several trips to Kamper Park. The Choctaws were led by George Bohler, a respected figure in the game and one of the few college coaches laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
Kamper Park also welcomed another future College Football Hall of Famer in Homer Hazel. In 1925, Hazel brought his Ole Miss freshmen squad to Hattiesburg, where they defeated State Teachers College 38–6. Long before that, Hazel had already made a name for himself as an All-American running back at Rutgers, becoming one of the sport’s early standout stars before transitioning into coaching.
For a small field tucked inside Hattiesburg, Kamper Park kept drawing some of the biggest names in the game’s early days.
From 1912 to 1931, Southern Miss football built its foundation at Kamper Park, going 37-21-8 on those early fields. Back then, getting to the game looked a little different, players and students would ride the train from campus to Kamper Park, turning game day into an event before the game even kicked off.
But as the program grew, so did the need for something bigger. By 1932, Southern Miss had outgrown Kamper Park and moved into Faulkner Field, the site that would eventually become M. M. Roberts Stadium, better known as The Rock. The move ushered in a new era with larger crowds and tougher competition, but it all traces back here.
So the next time you walk through the Hattiesburg Zoo, just remember, you’re not just visiting a zoo. You’re walking on one of college football’s original proving grounds.
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