More than football cleats have tramped the turf at the University of Akron's Rubber Bowl over the last six-plus decades. The high-stepping shoes of marching bands also have taken the field, game after game.  Akron Zips band members — ''Ohio's Pride'' — said goodbye to the Rubber Bowl on Thursday night at the finale of the Depression-era stadium.  Band members — recalling the heavy rain of Sept. 13 and the 2005 Thanksgiving Day game played in a blizzard — were thankful for a cool, clear night.  Some band members used their ponchos to cover up the old bleachers — a source of wood and fiberglass splinters.

As a large crowd streamed into the stadium, trombonist Todd Painter, 21, like other band members, was feeling nostalgia and a bit of relief.  ''There's so much history to this place,'' Painter said during the band's pregame warm-up.  ''You think of how many band members have been here,'' he said. ''And we're the last University of Akron band to play here.''

Next year, the band — and the team — will play at the new InfoCision Stadium.  Zach Miller, 21, who plays sousaphone, said the move ''hasn't kicked in yet.'' The Rubber Bowl, he said, ''just feels more homey.''  But echoing other students, he said the new on-campus stadium ''is going to bring in a lot more fans. Students will have more opportunity to go.''  The band numbered fewer than 50 members when UA played its first game Oct. 4, 1940, at the concrete-and-bleacher bowl about six miles from campus.

On Thursday, 170 members took the field for a nostalgic half-time show: a reprise of a late 1970s performance for a Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. promotional film, Something Called Pride.  The music? The 1967 Fifth Dimension hit Up, Up and Away. The formation? A Goodyear blimp.  ''It is the Rubber Bowl,'' said percussionist Clay Chabola, 20. Watching the promotional film has become a ritual part of annual band camp, said Jonathan Helmick, 25, a graduate assistant who helped teach band members the Thursday half-time show.  ''The tape got so old and worn we had to transfer it to DVD,'' said Brett Tomko, 23, a student who spent four years in the band. He now records the band's performances.

Familiar faces

Sitting in the bleachers was Karin Jackoboice, wife of Richard Jackoboice, longtime director of UA bands who died in 2006.  Richard Jackoboice came to UA in 1967, the day after it became a state school. He promised then-UA President Norm Auburn a 100-piece band, which he delivered in his first year. He then nearly doubled the membership the second year.  Like band members, Bob Jorgensen, director of UA bands since 1987, had mixed emotions before the game. Jorgensen is glad the six-mile bus trips to the stadium will be a thing of the past.  ''We've never had the traditional march through campus to the stadium,'' he said, because of the distance to the Rubber Bowl.  Another advantage is that band members won't have to transport instruments. 'We won't have to unload the trucks!'' said Chabola.  But Jorgensen and students agreed that ''The Bowl'' has its attractions.

For one, good acoustics. The Rubber Bowl ''is scooped out of the side of a hill'' and sound fills the area, Chabola said.  Erin Kessler, 20, who plays the bass drum, said she'll miss getting a tan on sunny days. ''No matter where you were during the day at the Rubber Bow, there's no shade — I'd get a great tan.''