The first professional football game in the Tampa bay area was between the Chicago Bears and the Tampa Cardinals. The game was played at Plant Field on January 1, 1926. The Bears were led by rookie Harold “Red” Grange and the Cardinals were a pickup team put together by Jim Thorpe. The game itself was billed as a clash of old vs. new, with Grange, the rising star, taking on Thorpe, the aging legend.  Read about Red Grange and more about this game.

Plant Field was the first large spectator sports facility in the area. It was built in 1889 by Henry B. Plant across the Hillsborough River from Tampa as part of his Tampa Bay Hotel resort. As the only facility of its kind in Central Florida, Plant Field hosted a wide variety of events, including auto and horse racing; pro, college, and high school football; and large political events. It was also the long-time location of the Florida State Fair, and the route of the Gasparilla parade would end on Plant Field's track while the fair was in session.
 

	Red Grange and his "Chicago Bears" pose at Plant Field the day before the game. Tampa Beach was a grand development planned for the area at the southeast end of the 22nd St. Causeway, at the entry to McKay Bay, that never panned out. The crash of the land boom in the late 1920s put an end to the Tampa Beach plans.
See also:  Red Grange Busted in Temple Terrace

	Jan. 2, 1926 article in the Milwaukee Sentinel
THIS ARTICLE PUT THE ATTENDANCE AT ABOUT 7,000 This was a very long article - see the entire article click it.  Then click the new image again to see it full size.
Mr. Grange attracted quite a bit of attention while in town.  Here he is getting a speeding ticket in Temple Terrace.  He was at the Temple Terrace Country Club on January 3, 1926, for an event to kick off the winter golf season. The match featured British Open champ Jim Barnes paired with future U.S. Open winner Johnny Farrell against Gordon Gibbons, the amateur champion of Florida, and Lawrence Sherill, the amateur champion of Tampa. After leaving the Temple Terrace Country Club, a Packard automobile driven by Grange exceeded the posted speed limit while en route to an orange grove. A motorcycle cop pulled over the luxury vehicle, whose occupants included Barnes and Farrell, as well as Olympic silver medal-winning swimmer Helen Wainwright, and the owner of the vehicle, Joe Mickler. A photographer who had just finished snapping photos of the athletes came upon the scene and took one final image for posterity. Grange would leave Tampa with more than just a traffic ticket, however, as he also purchased $15,000 worth of property on the Forest Hills Golf and Country Club, the present-day site of the Babe Zaharias Country Club. Helen Wainwright participated in one of the many promotions for D.P. Davis in 1926. She also bought property on Davis Islands. Davis created a carnival-like atmosphere around his land sales, sponsoring boat races around the Islands and along Bayshore Boulevard, airplane exhibitions with stunt flyers, sports celebrities such as Olympic swimmer Helen Wainwright, who swam around Davis Islands, plus tennis tournaments and golf lessons from tour professionals Bobby Cruickshank and Johnny Farrell.   See "D.P. Davis and his Islands" here at Tampapix.

In 1961 Mayor Julian Lane commissioned a study on the feasibility of a football stadium in Tampa. The University of South Florida was considered as a site, but the relatively new school did not want the stadium.  There was not enough support for the plan; USF was in its infancy then and Dr. John Allen (president of USF at the time) was not an athletics type guy.  He knew that if the stadium was built there, he wouldn’t have a choice but to support athletics at the school. In addition to Dr. Allen’s hesitancy, there was little public support for a tax-funded stadium. So the building of a Tampa football venue was shelved.

Tampa mayor Julian B. Lane and Dr. John Allen, USF's first President,
at the convocation ceremony for USF in 1960

The lack of a big stadium didn't stop the American Football League from coming to Tampa in 1964. In the early days of the AFL, teams from the league barnstormed the country playing exhibition games to try and help with marketing versus the more established NFL. The Buffalo Bills defeated the New York JETS** 26-13 at the University of Tampa’s Phillips Field. The main football stadium in the Tampa bay area during the 1950s, it was a 12,000 seat stadium used by the University of Tampa Spartan football team.  The small stadium was only half-filled, no doubt causing the AFL’s leaders to assume that Tampa was not too interested in their league. 

**The original source for this info (Tampa Bay sports history blogspot) had "New York Titans." Special thanks to Kenn Tomasch in Phoenix, AZ for the correction.  He contacted TampaPix on 1/18/2020 to say:  "I wanted to pass along that the Aug. 8, 1964 AFL exhibition game at Phillips Field was between the Buffalo Bills and New York JETS, not Titans. The Titans had become the Jets before the 1963 season."

And reports differ as to the size of the crowd at the Jan. 1, 1926 game at Plant Field between the Chicago Bears and "Tampa Cardinals." The Milwaukee Journal article you reference says 10,000, but the Tampa Tribune story from the next day says 7,000. (That's attached.) Again, love the site. Just wanted to pass those two things along. Best regards, Kenn Tomasch Phoenix, Ariz.

Located on the banks of the Hillsborough River, Phillips Field served as the home for the University of Tampa's football team from 1936 to 1967.  The stadium was named after local businessman Isham Whitfield Phillips, whose family donated the land to the University of Tampa for construction of the field.  It enabled the Spartans to have their own stadium and not have to schedule their games around various events at Plant Field.  The stadium also served as the site for the annual Thanksgiving Day high school football game between Hillsborough and Plant, as well as the Cigar Bowl, a postseason college football game held from 1947-54. Phillips Field also hosted an American Football League exhibition game in August 1964 between the Buffalo Bills and New York Titans.
 

Hillsborough High girls form an "H" on the field during a Thanksgiving Day game against Plant.  Robertson & Fresh photo from USF Digital Collections.

Tampa's Cigar Bowl was a post-season college football bowl game played at Phillps Field from 1947 to 1954 featuring small college teams. In some years, the game was part of a month-long "sports circus" in Tampa, with college basketball, golf, and tennis tournaments scheduled around the area along with horse racing and boxing.

The Cigar Bowl itself was sponsored by the local Egypt Temple Shrine as a fundraising event. After a few years, the limited capacity of Phillips Field (20,000 with temporary bleachers) and the rising cost of hosting the game caused the organization to rethink its sponsorship.

The Shriners discontinued support in 1955, and the bowl folded. There were several attempts to revive the game as a major bowl in subsequent years, but the lack of a larger venue made drawing top college teams impossible.
 

By the 1960s, however, most major college programs began refusing to travel to Tampa because of the small capacity of Phillips Field.  The construction of Tampa Stadium in 1968 marked the end of the road for the venerable old field. Today, the former site of Phillips Field is used as an athletic field on the campus of the Tampa Preparatory School.

Employees of Red Wing Carriers gather at their bus in front of the Tampa Terrace Hotel on Florida Avenue, downtown, before heading to Phillips Field for the Jan. 1, 1950 Cigar Bowl game.

To add insult to injury, the Dolphins were housed in a hotel next door to the old Aquatarium where the players were kept awake all hours of the night by barking seals. You'd think the Dolphins would have felt right at home, but they fled the bay area after less than a month and didn’t come back again until years later.

All these bad experiences could be traced to the fact that the Tampa lacked a first rate stadium.

St. Pete Beach Aquatarium photo courtesy of Thomas Kaspar
Circa early 1970s

Before he became Florida Speaker of the House, Terrell Sessums read the study from 1961 realized that some of the issues that made a stadium unfeasible were less burdensome with a piece of property already owned by the city. Sessums reviewed the studies and projections, including the number of games that would be needed to be played to pay for a stadium.  He found that the city held title to a large piece of federal surplus property along Dale Mabry Highway.  The city had bought the 720 acre parcel from the federal government in 1949 with the idea of eventually building a community sports complex. At the time, the city was only using a small portion of it for the Cincinnati Reds spring training operation, known as Redsland.

It also occurred to Sessums that the Florida Legislature could transfer title for the land from the city/county to another entity without cost, and that the city could create an authority called the Tampa Sports Authority, that could receive title for this land.

Florida governor Hayden Burns holding the Daytona 500 Governor's Cup Trophy, 1966

Though Sessums was a relative newcomer to Tallahassee, he knew how to play the political game of hardball. Not being a supporter of the governor, Sessums was not intimidated and stood toe to toe with the executive office. “I talked to one of the governor’s floor leaders in the House and told him I had a dilemma. I told him the governor was thinking of vetoing the bill and that in some ways I would love for him to veto it because in the forthcoming election we could really clean his clock in our part of the state because it was a popular piece of legislation.”

On May 28, 1965 Florida governor Haydon Burns signed the bill into law. With the ability to sell bonds and a piece of property for a stadium, the Tampa Sports Authority set about the process of constructing Tampa Stadium.

The architectural firm of William Watson and Company designed Tampa Stadium. The company chose to base their design of the stadium on the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee. Ground was broken on Tampa Stadium in October of 1966 on the large grassy lot along Dale Mabry Highway next to Al Lopez Field, the then-home of the Tampa Tarpons Florida State League baseball team and the spring training site of the Cincinnati Reds. Ample parking was available in large lots surrounding the stadium, as well as at nearby Horizon Park (now Al Lopez Park) and Jesuit High School.

Tampa Stadium construction, Jan. 1967
Al Lopez field and Himes Ave. in the background

Ten years earlier, this site was considered as the new location of the Florida State Fair.

Architect's rendering of plan for Tampa Stadium

The Liberty Bowl in Memphis, TN

Tampa Stadium was part of a vanguard of the way sports venues would be built in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Aluminum bleachers rather than wood were used to house a capacity crowd of 46,477 on the permanent, sideline bleachers, and were arranged on a single tier, so that every seat had a direct and unobstructed view of the action. The original stadium capacity could be increased to 51,000 with temporary end zone bleachers, which were often used in the later years before the expansion. 

This design allowed for the same number of seats as a double-decker stadium without the need for support columns inside the seating area that could block the view of the field. Although the 1960’s version of the stadium had the familiar triple-decker press box and two extremely high and unbroken grandstands along both sidelines, it lacked the enclosed end zones--it was possible to see the field of play from outside the stadium, a quaint quirk that would not exist for long.

Spartans and Volunteers christen Tampa Stadium, 11/4/67. The property seen here above the stadium is now the site of the NY Yankees' Legends Field.

On November 4, 1967, the stadium hosted its first sporting event when the "Tampa U" Spartans hosted the University of Tennessee Volunteers. The Spartans lost that game, a 38-0 shellacking by the more nationally regarded University of Tennessee Volunteers.  The fans in the stands may not have liked the result of the game, but the stadium itself was a big hit.

The University of Tampa agreed to play as many as seven games a year at the stadium. The Spartans would later enjoy much success in their new home, moving up to Division I football in 1971. 

In later years, attendance at the Tampa U games did not meet expectations and university president B.D. Owens said the school would face bankruptcy if it continued to subsidize the sport.  At the end of the 1974 season, UT shut down its football program.

Tampa Spartans Football History

Hoping to attract an NFL expansion team, community leaders arranged for several exhibition games in Tampa Stadium in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  Beginning in 1968, the stadium played host to three pro football exhibition games.  The Washington Redskins and Atlanta Falcons came to Tampa Stadium for the first time in August.  Billed as the NFL Suncoast Classic with proceeds going to the Tampa Jaycees, the game drew a near-sellout crowd.  More than 42,000 spectators watched the Redskins defeat the Falcons 16-14.

Read more about this game      Aug 12, 1968 Traffic Tie-Up Too Terrifying

The initial game was such a success that Marcum promoted several more games at Tampa Stadium with furniture magnate Harry Mangurian as a financial backer.  In all, eleven more games were held in the following seasons with similarly enthusiastic crowds, including the Baltimore Colts playing three of their “home” games here in 1972.

As 1969 began, Tampa Stadium had just completed its first full year of operation. The stadium played host that previous year to high school and college football games, and hosted an NFL exhibition game as well.

NFL FOOTBALL AT TAMPA STADIUM

Two more exhibition games were played in 1969 – and a regular-season AFL game between the Miami Dolphins and Boston Patriots in November 1969.   All were well-attended affairs--averaging 35,214 fans per game--with only the AFL contest drawing fewer than 30,000.   Between 1968 and 1971, teams such as the Minnesota Vikings, Boston Patriots, Miami Dolphins, Cleveland Browns, New York Jets, and San Francisco 49ers played August exhibitions at Tampa Stadium. All the games played to either sell-outs or near capacity crowds with a 1971 contest featuring Joe Namath and the New York Jets setting an attendance record of 51,214.

Aug 2 1969, 40,000 Expected For Dolphins vs Vikings (names other games scheduled)

Nov. 20 1969 Dolphins Seek To Snap Trend

Feb 5, 1970 Tampa Businessmen Make Bid For Patriots

Feb 20, 1970 Pats Turn Down Rent-Free Tampa Stadium

The games, organized by local promoter and Tampa Jaycees president Bill Marcum, were showcases intended to highlight the viability of the Tampa Bay area as a pro market. Healthy attendance figures were obviously a source of pride, and Marcum hoped San Francisco and Cleveland would help fill Tampa Stadium’s benches.  The two franchises were originally members of the All-American Pro Football Conference from 1946-49 before being absorbed by the NFL in 1950.

Under third-year coach Dick Nolan, the 49ers were thought of as somewhat of an up-and-coming team. The Browns, meanwhile, were one of the most-successful franchises in football, winning NFL titles in 1950, 1954, 1955, and 1964. In fact, the team had only one losing season in its entire history, going 5-7 in 1956.

The contest had local interest as well. The 49ers had two starters with Tampa roots – center Forest Blue of Chamberlain High School and defensive tackle Earl Edwards of Blake High School – while the Browns featured another Chamberlain product and Florida State University standout, tight end Chip Glass.

The game’s biggest draw was University of Florida product and 1966 Heisman Trophy winner Steve Spurrier. The 49ers drafted him in the first round of the 1967 entry draft, but Spurrier spent the majority of his time as the punter and second-string quarterback behind John Brodie. The game in Tampa would mark Spurrier’s first time playing in Florida as a pro. Spurrier would once again serve as Brodie’s backup, but split equal time throughout the contest.

Despite a heavy pregame rain and horrendous traffic jams on Dale Mabry Highway and Himes Avenue, a near-record crowd of 41,851 fans made it into the stadium.

An accident at 6 p.m. on the Interstate 4 (now I-275 South) exit ramp at Dale Mabry involved police officers on their way to help control traffic and contributed to the massive gridlock, so many motorists simply decided to park by the interstate and walk to the Stadium.

Anyone who came to see Spurrier play was not disappointed. After sitting out the first half, Spurrier played throughout the entire second half of the game, completing 12 of 19 passes for 175 yards--a performance which should have won the game for them.  But his offense committed critical turnovers – a fumble by Bill Tucker, and interceptions from Spurrier and running back Larry Schrieber ended three potential scoring drives.

The Tucker fumble came at the worst time, as the 49ers were driving down the field with time running out and trailing 17-10. On fourth-and-seven at the Cleveland 17, Spurrier found Tucker for a nine-yard gain – good enough for the first down – but Cleveland forced a fumble and recovered the ball at the seven yard line, effectively ending the game.

Marcum, meanwhile, lamented the loss in revenue due to the inclement pregame weather and parking problems outside the stadium. “We’d have sold out, “Marcum said afterward, “if only it hadn’t rained.”

Stadium director Joe Zalupski was in charge of managing Tampa Stadium during these events and recalls the summers of 1968 to 1972 as being a very busy time. “We hosted more pre-season NFL games than any other site in the United States except those that already had a franchise.”

Zalupski further explained that the pre-season games were proof of Tampa’s emergence as a national city. “The economic evolution of Tampa had begun. We were rising as a television market. Growth occurred by leaps and bounds.”

What made Tampa so popular a pre-season site were not only the sell-out crowds but also the quality of the stadium. Tampa Stadium received rave reviews about the playing surface. Players loved the Bermuda grass surface during a time when most facilities were installing rock-hard Astro-Turf and owners loved the drainage system that kept the field dry and protected their expensive investments.  See Success At The Grass Roots Level about Pursley, the turf at Tampa Stadium.

Joe Zalupski said the man most responsible for the playing surface’s popularity was Tampa Stadium superintendent Dave Ritchie. “Dave was my superintendent and first hire in 1966,” Zalupski recalled. “He was probably as important to me and the stadium as anybody as both a friend and technician. He had a pride about himself and the field was important to him.”

Sep 5, 1970 Dolphins Risk Perfect Mark Tonight (vs. Redskins)

Dec 2, 1970 Marcum lands Jets vs. Lions game for upcoming pre-season

Aug 5, 1971 Too Late - Jets Lions Game a Sell Out

For Tampa football fans, the game was the sixth in a series of exhibition games from 1968-1975 designed to highlight the area’s viability as a market for professional football. Unlike most years when the stadium played host to two games, this would be the only game scheduled at Tampa Stadium during the 1971 exhibition season.

Photo at left, taken on August 7, 1971, shows a then-record crowd of 51,214 at Tampa Stadium for a National Football League exhibition game between the New York Jets and Detroit Lions. Notice the temporary bleachers set up in the end zones.

**Some accounts say Namath was injured while trying to tackle a Detroit Lions player who had intercepted his pass.

The pre-season sell-outs and stadium quality so impressed one NFL owner that Tampa almost found itself with a team in the early 1970’s. Carroll Rosenbloom became very interested in Tampa and once tried to move the Colts to Tampa.  NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle told him that was not going to happen, but Rosenbloom still scheduled all of Baltimore’s 1972 exhibition games at Tampa Stadium. Before the season, Rosenbloom pulled the trade that gave him the Los Angeles Rams and Robert Irsay the Colts. 

That year, Irsay, a native of Chicago, bought the Los Angeles Rams for $19 million and promptly traded the rights to the team to Carroll Rosenbloom for his franchise, the Baltimore Colts. So Irsay owned the Colts when the team came to Tampa.

Irsay went on to move the Colts to Indianapolis in March 1984 in a wildly unpopular move, with ownership of the franchise switching to son Jim in 1997 after Robert's death.

Upper left, Carroll Rosenbloom
Lower right, Robert Irsay on the hotseat after moving the Colts to Indianapolis.  Oval inset shows a Colts moving van leaving Baltimore under cover of night while snowing.

Jan 11, 1972 Colts Tickets Moving

Jan 27 1972 Pros Set In Tampa?

Mar 29 1972 Colts Official Pre Season Schedule

Aug 4, 1972 Veteran Redskins Test Colts Tonight

Aug 5, 1972 Washington Spoils Colts Tampa Debut

Aug 10, 1972 Colts Cheated Tampans

Aug 22, 1972 Tampa pro fans get a quick education

Sep 2 1972 Colts Summer Ends Sourly in loss to Lions, 24 - 17

Baltimore Colts star quarterback John Unitas

Aug 23 1974 Bubba Smith Sues Tampa Sports Authority for Negligence Causing 2-year old injury

Dec 3 1974 Dismissal of Bubba Smith Injury Suit Denied

Feb 1 1978 Jury Still Out on Bubba Smith

Feb 2 1978 Bubba Smith Case Declared A Mistrial

Feb 6 1979 Jury Picked in Bubba Smith Retrial

Feb 13, 1979 Defense Rests in Bubba Smith Trial

Feb 14, 1979 Jury Shuts Out Bubba in Damage Suit

Aug 4, 2011 Football Legend Bubba Smith Dies at 66

Phillips field's Turkey Day high school football tradition continued at Tampa Stadium with Plant High School vs. Hillsborough High School.

Ticket courtesy of Jesse Baron

Sideline view of marching band and cheerleaders, Thanksgiving Day, 1972.

A nice view of Tampa Stadium in the early 1970s looking southwest across Himes Ave. at the east stands.
The traffic signal at left is the intersection of Himes and Buffalo Avenue, and beyond that, Al Lopez baseball stadium.
Photo provided by Glenn Bomke

Tampa Stadium hosted two pre-season games in 1973 with the New York Jets against the San Francisco 49ers and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Aug. 11, 1973 - York Jets coach Weeb Ewbank announced that holdouts Emerson Boozer and Winston Hill will not be on the team for tonight's exhibition game against the San Francisco 49ers.

Jets Victors, 34-14, On 49er Turnovers
Namath Looks Sharp Jets Rout 49ers, 34-14, With 3 Key Players Out

With their 34-14 preseason victory over the San Francisco 49ers here last night, the New York Jets, who once equalized the entire American Football League with the older National League on the strength of one victory, equalized their chances against the New York Giants, their opponents next Sunday.

Sept 6, 1973 Tickets Remaining of Eagles Jets Game

Sep 7, 1973 Jets Eagles go with regulars
 

July 25, 1973 ad in St. Pete Evening Independent

With expansion now a certainty, the job of winning a franchise for Tampa Bay fell on the shoulders of Leonard Levy. A printer by trade, Levy was also a major supporter of football in the state of Florida. “Sports has always been my avocation, printing is how I made my living,” Levy admitted recently. “I’m a Florida Gator. I’m probably a bigger college football fan than a pro football fan. I’ve missed only eight Gator games in Gainesville in forty-five years.”

While he may have been a Gator at heart, Levy was also a member of the Tampa Sports Authority and as of the early 1970’s he was named Chairman of Tampa’s NFL Task Force Committee. Before Levy could persuade the NFL to expand to Tampa, he needed to make sure that he had all the local support he could muster. To do this Levy knew that he needed to make it clear that it was not just the city of Tampa that was petitioning for a franchise, but the entire Tampa bay area. “Tampa by itself could not have supported a franchise, let’s be honest,” Levy said. “It might today but not back then. The market area of Tampa and St. Petersburg was certainly big enough though. Tampa Bay is a body of water that separates the two counties, but we felt using the name Tampa Bay would solidify the area.”

Leonard Levy

Networking such as this, plus the exposure Tampa had received as the host of multiple pre-season games made the job Levy had of selling the community a little bit easier. After years of meeting one-on-one with all 26 owners, Pete Rozelle and civic leaders, Leonard Levy boarded a plane and flew to New York in April of 1974. The NFL was prepared to announce the awarding of the league’s 27th franchise. Tampa Bay was in close competition with Seattle, Phoenix and Honolulu. 

See several articles in this newspaper

At precisely 5 p.m. on April 24, 1974, Pete Rozelle walked into Suite 404 of the Drake Hotel, sat down in a straight chair, shook hands with a New Jersey writer, and three minutes later told the 31 people there: "The National Football League today voted to expand to Tampa, Florida, and to at least one other city to be chosen later this year. The teams are to be ready for the 1976 season.  The franchises will cost $16 million each."  And with that, Tampa was to be the NFL’s 27th franchise. The newspapers of the day reported that Leonard Levy exclaimed, “Godamighty, Godamighty!” upon hearing the announcement. Mr. Levy recollects a calmer acceptance of the news, although he is still proud of that moment. “We felt like we were in good shape so it wasn’t a total shock when it was announced.”

 

After Rozelle announced Tampa as the winner, he said, ‘We have Leonard Levy here, let me get Leonard up front.’  "That is one of those memories you won’t ever forget" said Levy.   "I’m a small-town guy and I walked up to the front of that room with all the cameras snapping, that was quite an experience for me. I’ve got a picture of me in my office with Pete Rozelle shaking my hand.”

McCloskey only owned the franchise for a short time. So short in fact, that he didn’t last long enough to see the team christened the Buccaneers. When McCloskey left the team was still referred to as the Tampa Bay franchise. The reasons for McCloskey’s decision to abandon ownership came down to one thing: money. With the nation in the grips of a recession in 1974, McCloskey was fearful that owning a start-up franchise would eat away at too much of his capital. It was also rumored that McCloskey was afraid that his soon to be ex-wife would end up with half the franchise after a date in court.

Jacksonville tax attorney Hugh Culverhouse popped up with his checkbook and paid the 16 million dollars to become majority owner. Culverhouse would own the team until his death in the mid 1990’s. Culverhouse’s trust owned and operated the franchise for a short period of time until Malcolm Glazer purchased the team in 1995 for 192 million dollars.

NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle, Hugh Culverhouse and Bill Marcum

Apr 25, 1974 Welcome to the NFL Tampa Bay

Apr 25, 1974 42,000 due capacity for Tampa Stadium

Feb 17, 1975 Tampa's Team: the Buccaneers

Jul 1 1975 Stadium Expansion Moves Closer to Reality

Orange, red and white have been selected as the club’s official colors. Orange was a natural choice because of the area’s citrus industry and the warmth of Florida’s sunshine. Red, too, is warm and lively. In heraldry, it is symbolic of courage and fortitude in battle.

The Buccaneers will wear predominately white uniforms with orange and red striping and numerals.

The logo, designed by award-winning Tampa Tribune artist-cartoonist Lamar Sparkman depicts a handsome Buccaneer, wearing a rakish plumed hat, boldly winking and clenching a dagger between his teeth.

Artist Sparkman admitted that he sought a corsair of the cut of Errol Flynn, Jean LaFitte, or Musketeer D’Artagnon

Before the newly-named Buccaneers arrived, Tampa Stadium underwent an extensive expansion project throughout 1975. Over 27,000 seats were added by completely enclosing the previously open end zones, making the facility one of the largest venues in the NFL.  The construction was barely finished by the time of the Bucs' first pre-season home game. 

 
View from the press box, 1976
Photos courtesy of Ian Morris' Tampa Bay Rowdies Appreciation Blog

Farrukh Quraishi of the Tampa Bay Rowdies NASL Soccer team poses with a fan during a Rowdies Fannie's Day at Tampa Stadium in 1976.  At the top can be seen construction in progress to enclose the space below the pressbox and the upper rows of bleachers.

The Tampa Bay Rowdies were Tampa Stadium's first professional tenant.  They opened their inaugural outdoor soccer season on Saturday night, April 26, 1975 at Tampa Stadium against the Rochester Lancers. 

The opening kick off culminated nearly a year of building the franchise from scratch.  It began with the North American Soccer League awarding a franchise to millionaire George Strawbridge, who also owned a large portion of the NHL Buffalo Sabres.  General Manager Beau Rogers was lured away from a similar position in Philadelphia. Eddie Firmani, a South African who starred in the English and Italian Leagues, was hired as head coach.  At the time, he was 41 and still a capable player--his name was even on the playing roster.  Clyde Best, the Rowdies English League First-Division superstar missed the game due to starting in the English league's FA Cup finals with his team, West Ham United.  The Rowdies lineup was described as "speed, finesse and scoring power up front and hard-nosed rough'em up defense at the other.  Left-footer Doug Wark, newly-arrived Derek Smethurst, and Bernard "Dancing Shoes" Hartze made up the front line attack.  The midfielders and defenders were led by stubby John "The Bull" Boyle, rookies Randy Garber, Farrukh Quraishi, and John Blueum had English stalwarts John Sissons, Malcolm Linton and teenager Michael "The Computer" Connell for company defending, and goalkeeper Scotsman Mike Hewitt.

Rowdies captain John Boyle brings home the NASL Soccer Bowl trophy, Tampa International Airport, Aug. 25, 1975.  See more photos here at Tampapix

The Rowdies won their only outdoor championship in San Jose, CA against the Portland Timber during the team's first season in 1975. They played their home games in Tampa Stadium until the North American Soccer League disbanded in 1984.

Apr 26 1975 Rookie Rowdies Set For Tonight's Kickoff vs. Rochester Lancers

The star-studded NY Cosmos were arch-rivals of the Rowdies.  In June 1976 the Rowdies demolished the NY Cosmos 5 -1, in front of 42,611 Tampa Stadium Fannies and a National television audience.

45,288 Fannies packed Tampa Stadium on May 29, 1977 to watch the Rowdies trounce the Cosmos, who were led by superstar Pele, 4 -2 and spoil German league superstar Franz Beckenbauer's debut.  It was a sweet day in Tampa Bay Rowdies history.  Two goals from Steve Wegerle, one from Rodney Marsh, and one from Ian Anderson.

On June 14, 1980, the Rowdies defeated the Cosmos at Tampa Stadium, 4-3 in a "shootout" tiebreaker, the NASL's answer to FIFA's penalty kicks tiebreaker.  54,247 fans filled Tampa Stadium to make it the largest crowd to attend a soccer match here.  See newspaper articles, starting from top of page.

Professional cheerleader Crazy George rousing the crowd to frenzy, May 29, 1977
 

Pele takes a flying leap at the Rowdies' goal as goalie Paul Hammond, #6 Mike Connell and #13 Stewart Jump defend.

May 29, 1977 final score.  Note water tank at Himes Ave. and Cherry St. at lower right and Al Lopez Field lights at lower left.

May 29, 1977 - Winger Steve Wegerle (bottom of photo) watches his shot blow by Cosmos goalkeeper Shep Messing as Franz Beckenbauer #6 helplessly looks on.

May 29, 1977 - A portion of the crowd of 45,288 Fannies

Rowdies cheerleaders, "Wowdies", at Tampa Stadium for Fannie's Day, 1976

Above photo taken from across Himes at Ivy St. Photo at below taken from the ferris wheel shows Al Lopez Field in the background.

See 1976 newspaper article "State Fair Move Has Its Benefits"

Tampa Stadium marquee at Dale Mabry Hwy. behind the west stands, 1976

MORE STADIUM RENOVATION

Tampa Stadium's last major renovation took place in the early 1980s in preparation for hosting its first Super Bowl.  The stadium's press boxes were updated and the skybox structure on the East Stands was greatly enlarged by adding more suites to each end.  This configuration gave the facility its maximum seating capacity of 74,301.

Sept. 4, 1976 pre-season game program between the Bucs and the Bengals shows view of Tampa Stadium on Aug. 21, 1976 for Bucs vs. Dolphins pre-season game.

Aug 20, 1976 Tampa Stadium

This late 1970s aerial view of Tampa Stadium shows proximity to Tampa International Airport.  At the lower left corner can be seen part of the parking lot for the Tampa Bay Center mall.  Horizon Park (now Al Lopez Park) is seen at the lower right.  The developed area between Dale Mabry Hwy and the airport is the subdivision known as Drew Park and was formerly Drew Army Air Field in the 1940s.  Old Tampa Bay is at the top of the photo, with the Howard Frankland bridge at upper left and Courtney Campbell Causeway at upper right.

SUPER BOWL XVIII (18)

On June 3, 1981, the NFL awarded Tampa Stadium its first Super Bowl: Super Bowl XVIII (18) which was held on January 22, 1984.  During the Super Bowl balloting, Tampa beat Dallas, Detroit, Miami, New Orleans and Pasadena.

The pre-game show featured the marching bands of Florida State Univ. and Univ. of Florida and a fly over by MacDill AFB.   Barry Manilow sang the National Anthem and the coin toss was done by Bronko Nagurski.  The halftime show featured the University of Florida and Florida State University Bands and a Disney Salute to Superstars of Silver Screen.  A capacity crowd saw the Los Angeles Raiders beat the Washington Redskins, 38 - 9.

Jan 18, 1984 Tampa Bay Grows Up To Super Bowl XVIII and
How Super Bowl XVIII Made Its Way To Tampa Bay

Jan 23, 1984 First Quarter Super Big Play Began The Raiders Victory Roll

TAMPA BAY BANDITS
Between 1983 and 1985, the Tampa Bay Bandits, one of the twelve original USFL franchises, were the stadium's third professional tenant. The Bandits enjoyed strong ticket sales and fan support, and were one of the few USFL teams to stay in their original city and stadium for the league's three seasons.

USF BULLS
The University of South Florida Bulls football team played its initial season at the stadium in 1997, becoming the stadium's second and final collegiate tenant. The Bulls played the final football game at the stadium on September 12, 1998, defeating Valparaiso 51-0 before moving to Raymond James Stadium for their next home game on October 3, 1998.

TAMPA BAY MUTINY
Major League Soccer placed one of its original teams in Tampa in 1996. The Tampa Bay Mutiny were the stadium's fourth and final professional tenant. The Mutiny used the stadium as their home field for their first three seasons, and moved to Raymond James Stadium in 1999. They hosted the last sporting event at the stadium on September 13, 1998, when they defeated the New York MetroStars 2-1 in front of 27,957 fans.

Between 1977 and 1979, the Can-Am Bowl (a college all-star game) was played in the stadium. From 1986 to 1998, college football's Hall of Fame Bowl (later known as the Outback Bowl) was held there on New Year's Day. From the January 1999 contest on, the Outback Bowl has been played at Raymond James Stadium.

Burt Reynolds was co-owner of the Bandits, along with John Bassett, hence the team name from "Smokey and the Bandits."

Lights Go Out One Last Time at Houlihan's Stadium

THE END OF TAMPA / HOULIHAN'S STADIUM

Upon buying the Buccaneers in 1995, new owner Malcolm Glazer declared that he might move the franchise to another city unless a new stadium was built at taxpayer's expense. To accommodate these demands, the community raised the local sales tax and built Raymond James Stadium just south of Tampa Stadium in 1997-98.

Demolition proceeded soon after the Tampa Bay Mutiny's final home game in September 1998. Wrecking balls and long reach excavators were used for much of the process. Crews first smashed lower sections of the north end zone seats and worked their way up. Then the crane moved counter-clockwise around the stadium, leaving the final blows for luxury boxes on the east side. The last portion of the stadium (the east side luxury boxes built for the stadium's first Super Bowl), was imploded on April 11, 1999. The land was then cleared and converted into a parking lot. Chunks of the stadium including sections of the bleachers were sold off as souvenirs.

Wrecking Ball Tips Its Hat to Big Sombrero     Adios, Big Sombrero

   
Photo from TBT "A History of Implosions in Tampa Bay" (AREA)
Most remember it fondly as the Big Sombrero, the site of many a futile Bucs game in the old Creamsicle orange uniforms. Once Raymond James Stadium was built next door, this one had to go, and deconstruction began in January 1999. In the end, it was the luxury suites, at upper left of the aerial photo, that succumbed to the explosive charges.

Photo from TBT "A History of Implosions in Tampa Bay" (AREA)
 

   
 Implosion photo by Steve Tamargo, obstructions digitally removed for display here.