An anonymous donor’s million-dollar gift will provide a new playing surface for Hamilton football and lacrosse teams this fall.

The college will replace the natural grass at Steuben Field with an artificial-grass surface before the September 26 home football opener against Amherst.

The balance of the project’s $1.35 million price tag is being donated by Hamilton alumni – primarily former members of football and lacrosse teams – as well as parents of current student-athletes.

The field also will be used for intramurals competition and will help reduce the number of evening and late-night practices at the school.

“This is a major and necessary upgrade that was first identified years ago,” said Athletics Director Jon Hind. “The need became more acute last fall when it almost became necessary to move a football game because of unplayable and unsafe field conditions.”

The lead gift to upgrade the Steuben Field playing surface is the third million-dollar commitment announced by Hamilton in the past three weeks. The first two, from an anonymous donor and from Board Chair A. G. Lafley, will establish endowed funds for student scholarship aid.

The wave of million-dollar gifts to Hamilton is important symbolically and for the impact they will have on campus, said Joseph R. Urgo, acting Hamilton president and dean of faculty.

“These gifts will fund important needs for our students,” he said, “but they also signal that Hamilton, through the support of its alumni, parents and friends, is continuing to invest in its students and programs, even during this difficult economy. Our objective is to emerge from this recession as an even stronger college able to meet the needs of an increasingly talented, capable and diverse student body.”