Recent from talks
Downing Stadium
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Downing Stadium
Downing Stadium, previously known as Triborough Stadium and Randall's Island Stadium, was a 22,000-seat stadium on Randalls Island in New York City. It was renamed Downing Stadium in 1955 after John J. Downing, a director at the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. It was demolished in 2002 and the current Icahn Stadium was built on the site.
Built on Randalls Island in the East River as a WPA project, 15,000 attendees witnessed Jesse Owens compete at the stadium in the Men's Olympic Trials on July 11, 1936, the opening night of the new facility. Downing Stadium also hosted the Women's Olympic Trials in 1964. Later the stadium hosted the 1991 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
The stadium was also used as a filming site for a Sesame Street segment about The Flashettes girls track team. [citation needed]
Triborough Stadium served as one of two home stadiums of the second AFL team New York Yankees (along with Yankee Stadium) in 1936 and 1937. The first televised American football game was held at Triborough on September 30, 1939, as Fordham took on Waynesburg. It was for many years the home of the Stuyvesant High School Peglegs and the Cardinal Hayes High School football teams.
NYU's football team also played its last two seasons at Triborough in 1951 and 1952.
In 1966, the Continental Football League's Brooklyn Dodgers, unable to find a suitable field in Brooklyn (Ebbets Field had been torn down in 1960), played their home games at Downing. (Coincidentally, the football Dodgers wound up playing under the same lights used at Ebbets, as they had been moved to Randalls Island upon the older stadium's destruction.) The club would play only three games at Downing before the league took over the franchise and shifted their remaining home games elsewhere. Eight years later, Downing Stadium became the home of the New York Stars of the WFL; like the Dodgers, the Stars left the stadium before the season ended, shifting to Charlotte.
Randalls Island was the site of three international soccer matches: the US team played Scotland on Randalls Island on June 19, 1949, with the Scots winning, 4–0, with 17,000 in attendance; on May 27, 1964, the English squad crushed the Americans, 10–0, in front of just 5,062 fans. Another friendly match took place in 1965 between the Argentine team CA Independiente, winners of the 1965 Copa Libertadores, and Spanish giants Real Madrid, five times champion of the European Cup at the time. The teams drew 1–1 in front of 12,000 people.
A friendly held at the stadium in July 1973 between Haiti and Millonarios of Colombia was delayed for more than two hours and forty five minutes by Haitian exiles protesting against the Duvalier regime. At one point, Haitian manager Antoine Tassy took his team to the dressing room and said that they were going home. He later made a call to Haitian Football Federation president Claude Raymond who told him to resume the match, if possible. Then, Serge Charles, a high-ranking member of the Haitian delegation to the United Nations, arrived and made another call to Raymond, and the Haitians agreed to go back on the field. Police arrived and cordoned off the field.
Hub AI
Downing Stadium AI simulator
(@Downing Stadium_simulator)
Downing Stadium
Downing Stadium, previously known as Triborough Stadium and Randall's Island Stadium, was a 22,000-seat stadium on Randalls Island in New York City. It was renamed Downing Stadium in 1955 after John J. Downing, a director at the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. It was demolished in 2002 and the current Icahn Stadium was built on the site.
Built on Randalls Island in the East River as a WPA project, 15,000 attendees witnessed Jesse Owens compete at the stadium in the Men's Olympic Trials on July 11, 1936, the opening night of the new facility. Downing Stadium also hosted the Women's Olympic Trials in 1964. Later the stadium hosted the 1991 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
The stadium was also used as a filming site for a Sesame Street segment about The Flashettes girls track team. [citation needed]
Triborough Stadium served as one of two home stadiums of the second AFL team New York Yankees (along with Yankee Stadium) in 1936 and 1937. The first televised American football game was held at Triborough on September 30, 1939, as Fordham took on Waynesburg. It was for many years the home of the Stuyvesant High School Peglegs and the Cardinal Hayes High School football teams.
NYU's football team also played its last two seasons at Triborough in 1951 and 1952.
In 1966, the Continental Football League's Brooklyn Dodgers, unable to find a suitable field in Brooklyn (Ebbets Field had been torn down in 1960), played their home games at Downing. (Coincidentally, the football Dodgers wound up playing under the same lights used at Ebbets, as they had been moved to Randalls Island upon the older stadium's destruction.) The club would play only three games at Downing before the league took over the franchise and shifted their remaining home games elsewhere. Eight years later, Downing Stadium became the home of the New York Stars of the WFL; like the Dodgers, the Stars left the stadium before the season ended, shifting to Charlotte.
Randalls Island was the site of three international soccer matches: the US team played Scotland on Randalls Island on June 19, 1949, with the Scots winning, 4–0, with 17,000 in attendance; on May 27, 1964, the English squad crushed the Americans, 10–0, in front of just 5,062 fans. Another friendly match took place in 1965 between the Argentine team CA Independiente, winners of the 1965 Copa Libertadores, and Spanish giants Real Madrid, five times champion of the European Cup at the time. The teams drew 1–1 in front of 12,000 people.
A friendly held at the stadium in July 1973 between Haiti and Millonarios of Colombia was delayed for more than two hours and forty five minutes by Haitian exiles protesting against the Duvalier regime. At one point, Haitian manager Antoine Tassy took his team to the dressing room and said that they were going home. He later made a call to Haitian Football Federation president Claude Raymond who told him to resume the match, if possible. Then, Serge Charles, a high-ranking member of the Haitian delegation to the United Nations, arrived and made another call to Raymond, and the Haitians agreed to go back on the field. Police arrived and cordoned off the field.