Temple Stadium

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Temple Stadium was a stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It hosted the Temple University Owls football team until they moved to Veterans Stadium in 1978. The off-campus stadium, located at the corner of Pickering Avenue and East Vernon Road, held 34,200 people at its peak and was opened in 1928. Temple Stadium was horseshoe-shaped, with the open end facing west-northwest, and built into a natural bowl. It was also known as Owl Stadium and Beury Stadium, named for the school president responsible for its construction. Prior to the building of the stadium, Vernon Park, the park that the stadium was built at, was the home for several years.

There were at least two instances where the Philadelphia Eagles used the stadium for a home site: On Tuesday, November 6, 1934, the Eagles played the Cincinnati Reds, winning 64-0, and on Friday, September 13, 1935 against the Pittsburgh Pirates (the Eagles lost their first game of a dismal 2-9 season, 17-7).[1] The Reds game was historical for several reasons: it was the first time in NFL history that a team scored ten touchdowns in one game; it is still the most lopsided game in NFL history; and it was also the last game ever played by the Reds, who had found out the day before that their team was being disbanded and replaced in the league by the St. Louis Gunners (who, themselves, would only last three games).

The grounds of the old stadium were maintained for several years after Temple's move to the Vet, but the stands were eventually razed, leaving only the natural bowl. The area used as a parking lot and intramural field north of the bowl is now home to the Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church's "East" church, completed in 2006. (This is the church's second link to Temple athletics: prior to the building of this church, the church held several larger services in the Liacouras Center.)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Philadelphia's Pro Football Stadiums
Preceded by
Vernon Park
Home of the Temple Owls
1928 – 1975
Succeeded by
Veterans Stadium