1978 Dickinson 35 Weehauken 7. On a muddy field someone decided to drive a tractor across before the game. We were pissed at the resulting ravine. I must admit to missing the tackle on their only score
Favorite NJHSFB Stadium?
- Thread starter Chickadee34
- Start date
I grew up in Elizabeth. Not just the parochials. Money was flowing to get kids to those schools as well. Every year some kid would arrive from elsewhere and was a stud.
My two favorites were places where I only played once: Hinchliffe Stadium and Clifton Stadium.
Clifton actually was nice, but my mother was an alum so I had heard about it my entire life and it occupied an elevated stature in my mind. It was only a scrimmage, but I really felt like I was someplace, especially as a freshman.
We scrimmaged Kennedy when I was a junior, and that was my first time inside Hinchliffe, which was another place I regarded as a big deal. When I was a kid, The (Paterson) News used to devote huge space to the Kennedy-Eastside game every thanksgiving, complete with the all-time history, year-by-year scores, and all that. When I was like 10, it was a dream to actually play at that place! I had a more realistic view of it by the time I actually did, but it was still cool to soak in the history of the building, which I knew pretty well.
Clifton actually was nice, but my mother was an alum so I had heard about it my entire life and it occupied an elevated stature in my mind. It was only a scrimmage, but I really felt like I was someplace, especially as a freshman.
We scrimmaged Kennedy when I was a junior, and that was my first time inside Hinchliffe, which was another place I regarded as a big deal. When I was a kid, The (Paterson) News used to devote huge space to the Kennedy-Eastside game every thanksgiving, complete with the all-time history, year-by-year scores, and all that. When I was like 10, it was a dream to actually play at that place! I had a more realistic view of it by the time I actually did, but it was still cool to soak in the history of the building, which I knew pretty well.
I remember walking onto the field at Vineland.. and coach saying "nice field... lets make it yours". I was a soph benchwarmer.. but the other guys made good on that. The stands were concrete and you could sense the history.. the grass was perfect.. now it's field turf I think.
Hamilton Field Dover.
Though the program has suffered recently, Friday Nights were a great atmosphere back in the day. Marching band playing Eye of the Tiger always gets you pumped up.
Loved the scared look of suburban moms having to visit the "rough" part of Morris County lol. (I'll admit the barbed wire fence around the complex helped that tough image along a bit )
Field is right downtown on 46. Can see the lights for like a mile in either direction. So close PATs could go into the highway.
Its been upgraded to turf, new bleachers and they replaced the century old cinder track. Still a nice small town facility.
Though the program has suffered recently, Friday Nights were a great atmosphere back in the day. Marching band playing Eye of the Tiger always gets you pumped up.
Loved the scared look of suburban moms having to visit the "rough" part of Morris County lol. (I'll admit the barbed wire fence around the complex helped that tough image along a bit )
Field is right downtown on 46. Can see the lights for like a mile in either direction. So close PATs could go into the highway.
Its been upgraded to turf, new bleachers and they replaced the century old cinder track. Still a nice small town facility.
Denny Stadium gets my vote. I sat on the bench there and watched Theismann and Pearson. And John Scarzinski, who later played for Penn State. And then there was Kenny and Roger Jackson...Kenny being among the best I've ever seen. And Donnie Heilman and Keith Hudak and Joe Susan. And lots of other excellent players that never made it to college. Somewhere on that field I lost my high school class ring.
it's been a while since I've been back there, but they used to pack that place even for Pop Warner games. I hear it's not the same these days.
How about Manasquan for the Worst field ?
The 1/5 mile cinder track cuts off the back corners of the end zones.
The field is used for practice and games V, JV and Frosh, Band Practice and Sunday Pop Warner multiple games. By mid season there is no grass between the hash marks.
Bleachers are wood rotted...
The 1/5 mile cinder track cuts off the back corners of the end zones.
The field is used for practice and games V, JV and Frosh, Band Practice and Sunday Pop Warner multiple games. By mid season there is no grass between the hash marks.
Bleachers are wood rotted...
People voted the referendum down in 2012 I believe. They had the variance for remodeling the field/track/lighting. It IS shame the facilities are horrible.
Something that I thought was pretty uplifting- they actually just completed a full-scale renovation of Ironbound Stadium in Newark (East Side). This stadium was condemned in the late 80's due to contamination and basically left to rot for decades. My Dad worked 'Down Neck' at PVSC for 31 years before retiring in 2011 and I remember driving by this stadium numerous times over the years. The last time I saw it it looked like this:
Today:
Joe P.
Today:
Joe P.
Gittone Stadium in Vineland was built by the WPA and dedicated October 1938. When I saw Rutgers Stadium the first time Freshman year, It felt like Gittone Stadium built into the side of a hill.
How about making a GoFundMe for that field and sending the link all the Jets and Giants contacts you can find
Paterson Kennedy in the 70s takes worse field title. Broken glass everywhere
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Nutley vs Westfield (73 maybe) was standing room only all the way out to the street supposedly 12k.
#1vs2 in the state played to a 0-0 tie Westfield with a goal line stand as time ran out. Nutley ran a qb sneak 1 ref signalled td but got over ruled
Albert Smith suddenly went from Rahway to Union. In hoops Derrick McGhee goes to Elizabeth from Linden.
Two stadiums I played HS football and baseball were old Newark Schools Stadium and Union City's Roosevelt Stadium back in the 80s. Schools stadium was the only stadium in the last years of the Newark City League while Ironbound was condemned and Untermann Field was being rebuilt. Playing football there was great. You walk onto the field from the locker rooms and it was like a gladiator arena. You can see the history of the place on the field or in the stands when watching other HS games or the old Pride Bowl, an old charity game between Division 3 teams like Montclair, Kean, Wagner, etc. Playing baseball there must've been like playing in the Polo Grounds with hitting 200 foot home runs down the lines. Just hated it as a catcher when I had to chase wild pitches to the wall 100 feet behind home plate.
Same thing with old Roosevelt Stadium with their Detroit Tigers Dugouts. Missed a homerun when it curved before the fouls pole. It bounced off an aluminum bench and it echoed for like 10 seconds. Too bad there was no way to hit it over the left field wall 500 or whatever feet away.
Also played baseball at Miller Stadium in West New York when Memorial was #1 in the state (and got drubbed 21-0 in 5 innings). That was a wierd stadium as it looked like the stadium curved around behind home plate and stopped at the third base side so that the football field could fit there. Missed another home run when I hit the scoreboard, the only thing above the wall, and bounced back for a double. Wanted to try to hit the apartment buildings behind the 30 foot fence but struck out lol.
Same thing with old Roosevelt Stadium with their Detroit Tigers Dugouts. Missed a homerun when it curved before the fouls pole. It bounced off an aluminum bench and it echoed for like 10 seconds. Too bad there was no way to hit it over the left field wall 500 or whatever feet away.
Also played baseball at Miller Stadium in West New York when Memorial was #1 in the state (and got drubbed 21-0 in 5 innings). That was a wierd stadium as it looked like the stadium curved around behind home plate and stopped at the third base side so that the football field could fit there. Missed another home run when I hit the scoreboard, the only thing above the wall, and bounced back for a double. Wanted to try to hit the apartment buildings behind the 30 foot fence but struck out lol.
Schools Stadium in Newark also very nice:
Need to update to turf as the field was always mud in the mid 90’s when we played there. Used to love coming in and beating them ever other year
Derrick was a grade behind me. Great player and went on to VCU. I don't believe he went to Linden, but his junior year transferred from St. Mary's when Benny Candelino became coach and brought his brother Anthony as well. Chris Gatling was from Irvington but his dad worked at EHS. They finally got EHS a Union County Tournament title and Luther Wright transferred in later. It wasn't just basketball but all sports.
Yeah McGhee never went to LHS. He wanted to go someplace where he could play as a freshman and Linden was already well-stacked with a team built around Corey Floyd Sr. whose son is now of course a star soph at Roselle Catholic. I went to Linden High school with a couple of McGhee's older siblings. I think Alcides Catanho and Lester Ayala might have been legit Elizabeth. They had another guy who played with Luther who was around 6'5 and was a beast but his name escapes me. He was their bell cow whenever Luther was off the court.
If only the BOE had taken care of the old stadium the same way they take care of this one. Too bad Shabazz Stadium is already in disrepair and it's barely 20 years old.Schools Stadium in Newark also very nice:
Zap, before moving to Bloomfield, I lived in East Orange. It was always a dilemma in our house on which game to attend on Thanksgiving. EO-Barringer or Bloomfield-Montclair. Glad we decided on Bloomfield-Montclair in '73. I know you played in it, best HS game I've ever seen.
Amazing that someone can take a thread about HS football stadiums and make it Political.
The last time I looked it was OVER $30,000 per pupil K -12 to educate at Asbury Park.
I have always said close all those schools and bus/train them all to Deal, St Rose, CBA, RBC Wall, Neptune, Monmouth Regional, name some more. It's not a huge census.
I have always said close all those schools and bus/train them all to Deal, St Rose, CBA, RBC Wall, Neptune, Monmouth Regional, name some more. It's not a huge census.
I remember playing at Kearny in the early 90's. Their field was on a hill and sloped downward on the visitors' side.Belleville (also used to be two big sets of wooden/ metal bleachers on the visitors' side until about 1999/2000):
Kearny:
Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson (first place I ever played on AstroTurf; really hope the planned renovation happens):
Joe P.
I remember that too. Our field (Belleville) was graded towards the sidelines but dipped in the middle, leading to us having quasi-lakes on the field for days after rainstorms.
Joe P.
I heard there’s some kind of water spring under Belleville’s stadium, used to have ice skating there before stadium was built.
Also typical Belleville- when they did the renovation they had to remove all the field soil and install new upgraded soil. Heard the trucks drove around the corner and put same soil back !
Also typical Belleville- when they did the renovation they had to remove all the field soil and install new upgraded soil. Heard the trucks drove around the corner and put same soil back !
The current BHS and Stadium complex is built over a bog/ marsh, and I believe the issue may be they didn't use enough fill on the initial build at the stadium, which caused shifting in the land. When they originally redid the stadium in 2001-2002, they raised the field level I believe 5 or so feet and had the option to put FieldTurf in then but turned it down for whatever reason...by 2008 the field reverted back to its mud pit quagmire state, with the field status at the '08 Belleville-Nutley Thanksgiving Day game (it's on YouTube) reportedly embarrassing town officials to the point where they pushed the turf renovation through (especially since the Oval has been done by that point and in the week leading up to the game, which was rainy, people were talking about potentially moving the game to the Oval due to field conditions but Belleville of course turned that down).
Joe P.
Joe P.
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pretty sure Deal sends their kids to Ocean Township High School(where i went).. and i know for a fact that the BOE doesn't want the riff-raff from asbury.. they are a racist bunch and require multiple cops at the school at all times.. daily fights.. guns, drugs, knives.. hell about 10 years ago some kid set another's hair on fire