With training camp in full swing, I wanted to look back at a time when the Magnolia State proudly welcomed the New Orleans Saints, hosting their summer preparations in the heart of Mississippi pine country. Long before the Saints had a state-of-the-art indoor practice facility in Metairie, and decades before training camp became a corporate-sponsored fan fest, the early Saints sweated through two-a-days in the piney woods of South Mississippi.
From 1971 through 1973, the Saints held training camp on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg — a brief but significant chapter in team history that paired an upstart NFL franchise with a college town best known for its Golden Eagles and pine trees. These three summers helped shape the early Saints and gave local fans a rare front-row seat to professional football in its rawest form.
Dorm Life at Vann Hall
According to the team’s official media guides from those years, players stayed in Vann Hall, a modest athletic dormitory located in the center of campus. The building — typically home to Southern Miss athletes during the school year — was converted into temporary housing for the Saints each summer. Players shared small dorm rooms, endured cafeteria food at the training table, and held film sessions in converted classrooms.
While many assumed the Saints practiced inside Faulkner Field (now Carlisle-Faulkner Field at M.M. Roberts Stadium), sources and firsthand accounts suggest otherwise. Though the stadium may have hosted team scrimmages or photo ops, daily practices were primarily held on the grass practice fields just east of the stadium, in what was then a wide-open expanse used by both the football and baseball programs. Local newspapers recalls drills being held on an old baseball field behind the athletic complex.
Archie Manning, who arrived in Hattiesburg as a rookie in 1971, later reflected that the team “shared practice space, the weight room, and training table with the Southern Miss players,” especially in the final week of camp when the college team returned to campus. At times, Saints and Golden Eagles practiced back-to-back or side-by-side, a far cry from the tightly controlled pro facilities of today.
1971: Mississippi Welcomes the NFL
The move to Hattiesburg in 1971 marked a new chapter for the Saints, who had previously trained in places like San Diego and Bowling Green, Ohio. The move coincided with one of the most pivotal moments in franchise history: the arrival of Archie Manning, the No. 2 overall pick out of Ole Miss. Manning, a native Mississippian, instantly gave the team regional credibility — and gave Hattiesburg its most famous summer tenant since Elvis passed through town in the 1950s.
Practices were open to the public. Curious locals would line the chain-link fences or sit on the hoods of their cars along the practice field perimeter, watching Archie throw passes in the sweltering July heat. A few lucky fans walked away with autographs or a sweaty towel.
That same camp included players like punter Julian Fagan, another Mississippi native from nearby Laurel, and veteran receiver Danny Abramowicz, who served as an early mentor to the young quarterback. The Saints would finish the season with a 4-8-2, their fifth straight losing season.
(An Aerial view of the Southern Miss campus as it looked in the 70’s. The Saints practiced at the baseball field north of the The Rock and the fields to the east)
1972: Year Two in the Pine Belt
The Saints returned to Southern Miss in 1972 for their second summer in Hattiesburg. The setup was identical: lodging in Vann Hall, practices east of the stadium, and scrimmages occasionally bleeding into the old baseball diamond, Joe Park Park.
Local media coverage of camp increased. The Hattiesburg American regularly published photos and updates on camp battles, focusing on Manning’s progress and the Saints’ search for consistency under head coach J.D. Roberts. Despite the NFL label, it was a gritty, no-frills camp — players taped ankles in makeshift training rooms and lifted weights in facilities shared with college athletes.
Still, fan turnout remained strong, and the community embraced the Saints as honorary Golden Eagles.
(Saints quarterback Archie Manning, wide receiver Danny Abramowicz and guard Jake Kupp at Saints Training Camp in 1971. Jake Kupp, is notably the grandfather for current Rams receiver Cooper Kupp.)
That summer, under head coach J.D. Roberts, the Saints focused on building around their young signal-caller and making improvements in special teams and defense. Despite the modest facilities, the team appreciated the intimacy and isolation that Southern Miss provided. However, the Saints would finish the 1972 season with a dismal 2-11-1 record.
1973: One Last Hurrah in Hub City
By 1973, the Saints had established a rhythm in Hattiesburg. Vann Hall remained their dormitory home, and their practices again unfolded on the east side practice fields, some of which doubled as student recreational areas during the regular school year. That year marked the final Saints training camp in Hattiesburg.
The football facilities had seen minimal upgrades by that point, and with NFL standards rising, whispers began about moving camp to more modern accommodations. Still, the fans turned out. Local kids got autographs, Southern Miss athletes mingled with pros, and Archie Manning was a fan favorite as usual. The Saints would finish the season a little better, but still finish 5-9, the Saints 8th straight losing season.
After three straight losing seasons training in Hattiesburg the Saints shifted camp to Vero Beach, Florida, for 1974, ending a short but memorable residency in Mississippi.
Legacy in the Pine Belt
For three humid summers, the New Orleans Saints brought pro football to a college town tucked between pine trees and railroad tracks. It wasn’t glamorous. There were no fan fests, no social media livestreams, and no air-conditioned locker rooms.
But it was football at its most basic. Just men in pads, dorm bunk beds, and a quarterback from Drew, Mississippi, beginning the Manning Family legacy.
Though the Saints packed up and left Hattiesburg after the summer of 1973, little remains to mark their time in the Hub City. The grassy fields east of the stadium where players once ran drills have since given way to Scianna Hall, a modern academic building. The old baseball diamond that doubled as a training ground is now the site of the football team’s practice field. And Vann Hall, the dormitory that housed Archie Manning and his teammates, was torn down years ago, replaced by newer, more advanced student housing. The physical traces may be gone, but for those who remember, those summers still echo through campus like distant footsteps on a practice field.
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