Few stadiums have defined the old NFL quite like Buffalo's War Memorial Stadium. The simply built structure stood out with its abnormally tall poles that held the sections of roof in place all the while looking upon the battle-scarred field below.
Construction began on the site of an old reservoir on the intersection of Dodge Street and Jefferson Avenue in 1935 and opened to the public just three years later, costing President Roosevelt's WPA a cool $3 million. With a single grandstand that stretched all around the playing field, and a roof ready for Buffalo's legendary snowfalls, Charles E. Roesch Stadium soon welcomed the masses to watch football games of all levels.
It was on this field where the Canisius College Golden Griffins won five conference championships between 1939 through 1949. While the four wins the original AFL's Buffalo Indians-Tigers won in their two years of existence were forgettable, one can't help but wonder if that gave the city of Buffalo its first taste of big time football.
Along came the Bills of the AAFC who lasted all of four years, but they made the most of each of them. While the Bills were losers in their first year of existence, they managed to put together a winning season in 1947 before reaching the AAFC Championship Game in 1948. Alas, all their hard work was for naught as they were blown out 49-7 to the undefeated Cleveland Browns. After falling to the Browns again in the Divisional round in 1949, the Bills folded and were not heard from again for more than a decade.
Still, those four years meant something to what was now known as Buffalo Civic Stadium. While the Bills fought to survive, they routinely drew crowds of 30,000 and the stadium was now beginning to develop a bit of an identity. Soon, it would be locally known as "the Rockpile".
Amazingly, pro football never drew the largest crowd in the stadium's history. That honor belongs to a game between Kensington High School and Bennett High School when Kensington defeated Bennett 26-8 in front of 50,988 on October 21, 1948. there were so many people that they spilled into the aisles, making for a dangerous fire hazard.
The stadium hosted the University of Buffalo Bulls for four more years after the Bills folded and was vacant for the rest of the 1950's. But a new league was forming, one that looked like it might stay a while. Once again, the stadium welcomed the Bills, only this time they belonged to the American Football League, led by men with plans for growth and sustainability that would prove to be almost prophetic.
While the Bills were busy building pro football's most loyal following, the Bison of the AAA Independent League began to make some noise on what was now called War Memorial Stadium's field. Playing there from 1961 through 1970, the Bison were usually competitive and featured some of baseball's greatest stars of the era, including future Hall of Famers Ferguson Jenkins and Johnny Bench.
No game was ever greater at War Memorial Stadium than the 1964 AFL Championship Game. After the Chargers began the game with an 80-yard touchdown drive to take an early lead, the Bills responded by scoring the next 20 and winning their first championship. While the taste of champagne was sweet, it came with an even better aftertaste. Earlier that year, the AFL had signed a five year, $36 million broadcasting deal with NBC, instantly making their coffers credible with the old guard of the NFL. The 1964 AFL Championship Game was the last AFL game that ABC would ever broadcast.
The Bills went on to repeat as champions the next year, only this time it was in sunny San Diego, not Buffalo. Long after their glory days had concluded, the Bills had woven their team into the fabric of the community. For years, fathers would regale their sons of tall tales highlighting the exploits of players such as Daryle Lamonica, Jack Kemp, Pete Gogolak and Cookie Gilchrist, all of which happened at the aging Rockpile.
Once the Bison left for Winnipeg in 1970 and the Bills left for their own stadium in another part of town in 1972, War Memorial Stadium was vacant for four years before welcoming the NSL's Blazers in 1976 and the AA Bison in 1979. In the middle of the old stadium's brief renaissance, it was used for filming the hit baseball movie the Natural.
As the 1980's began, the stadium began to show its age as interest in the relic waned. The Blazers played there through 1980 and when the Bison left in 1987, War Memorial Stadium's days were numbered. It was demolished in May 1989. today, two walls remain from the old stadium, standing guard against the public park that now resides where championships were once won so long ago.
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