Old Yankee Stadium and Football History

May 5, 1922 - Construction begins on Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. The original Yankee Stadium hosted 185 collegiate football games, beginning with Syracuse's 3-0 victory over Pittsburgh on October 20, 1923. Here are ten notable gridiron games that MLB.com shares with us played at the original House that Ruth Built:

10.  Last Gridiron Game: Sept. 12, 1987, was the final football game ever played at the old Yankee Stadium. The game had Central State University of Ohio edging out Grambling University, 37-21. Grambling coach Eddie Robinson was still on the sideline for this one and showed disappointment in the loss.

9. Last Gotham Bowl: Before the Pin Stripe Bowl there used to be another Holiday Bowl game played in the Big Apple, the Gotham Bowl. Nebraska defeated Miami, 36-34, on Dec. 15, 1962, in the final edition of this Bowl, as MVP George Mira tossed for 321 yards and two scores. The turnout of fans was so poor due to a 14-degree temperature at kick-off as only 6,166 attended Yankee Stadium.

8. Kicking Kramer: Green Bay's Guard Jerry Kramer knocked through three field goals to lead the Packers to a 16-7 win over the Giants in what proved to be Yankee Stadium's final NFL Championship Game on Dec. 30, 1962.

7. Tarnished Granite: We talked back on April 24 in the Ed Franco bio that another member of the famed Fordham’s Seven Blocks of Granite was future Hall of Fame coach Vince Lombardi. In the 1936 season, Lombardi endured what he proclaimed as "the most devastating loss of my life." The Rams needed one win for a Rose Bowl berth, but alas they fell to New York University, 7-6, on a muddy Yankee Stadium field on Thanksgiving Day, dropping from No. 3 to No. 15 in the final AP rankings.

6. Tittle Meant Title: In 1961 the Giants acquired quarterback Y.A. Tittle from the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for guard Lou Cordileone. Tittle who led the G-men to three straight Eastern Division Title lofted seven touchdown passes to lead the Giants to a 49-34 victory over the Washington Redskins on October 28, 1962.

5. Ice Ice Baby: At the 1956 NFL championship game The New York Giants stomped the Chicago Bears, 47-7, on Dec. 30, 1956, to compliment their first season as using Yankee Stadium as their home field. The game is famous for being played on an icy field in which the Giants wore sneakers instead of cleats, reminiscent of 22 years earlier when those same NY Giants also wore tennis shoes to play on an icy Polo Grounds turf in what famously became known as "The Sneakers Game."

4. Summerall’s boot: Pat Summerall’s voice had spent many Sundays echoing through all of our living rooms but it was Summerall's 49-yard field goal as a player for New York in a swirling snowstorm on Dec. 14, 1958, that gave the Giants a 13-10 win over the Cleveland Browns to force a playoff for the NFL East crown. He missed a 31 yarder earlier but made up for it with this clutch kick! The following week, New York defeated Cleveland, 10-0, to advance to the 1958 NFL Championship Game.

3. What a tackle!: Second-ranked Notre Dame and top-ranked Army played perhaps the most thrilling contest of their historic rivalry on Nov. 9, 1946, at Yankee Stadium, a 0-0 tie made legendary by John Lujack's well-chronicled saving tackle of Army’s star running back “Mr. Inside“ Doc Blanchard late in the game.

2. The Gipper Game: George "The Gipper" Gipp was a first-team All-American at Notre Dame before dying at the age of 25 of deadly throat infection just days after leading Notre Dame to a win over Northwestern. Allegedly while on his hospital bed, he received a visit from coach Knute Rockne.  Some time in the future at halftime of a scoreless game, Rockne found the opportunity to use the wishes of his dying player as an inspirational speech and urged his squad to win it for Gipp, inspiring the Irish to a 12-6 win at Yankee Stadium over Army.

1. Greatest game: The NFL Championship Game on Dec. 28, 1958, between the New York Giants and Baltimore Colts was the first NFL game to go into sudden death overtime. The Colts won, 23-17, in what is widely-regarded as "The Greatest Game Ever Played." A national television audience saw Colts receiver Raymond Berry catch 12 passes which set a championship game record, for 178 yards and a score in a game that signaled the beginning of the NFL's surge in popularity.

1. Greatest game: The NFL Championship Game on Dec. 28, 1958, between the New York Giants and Baltimore Colts was the first NFL game to go into sudden death overtime. The Colts won, 23-17, in what is widely-regarded as "The Greatest Game Ever Played." A national television audience saw Colts receiver Raymond Berry catch 12 passes which set a championship game record, for 178 yards and a score in a game that signaled the beginning of the NFL's surge in popularity.