Aztec Bowl was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

stadium (a

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

project) on the

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

campus in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

History

Aztec Bowl hosted the

Aztecs The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...

team until they moved to

San Diego Stadium San Diego Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium on the West Coast of the United States, west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. The stadium opened in 1967 as San Diego Stadium and was known as Jack Murphy Stadium from 1981 to 199 ...

in 1967. The stadium held 12,592 people at its peak and cost $500,000 to build. It was dedicated on October 3, 1936, before 7,500 people, after being completed earlier that year. The stadium was initially supposed to be expanded to 45,000 seats but was expanded only once, in 1948. The Aztec football team now plays at Snapdragon Stadium with their opening home game played on September 3, 2022.

Current use

Currently

Viejas Arena Viejas Arena (formerly Cox Arena) is the home stadium of the San Diego State Aztecs men's and women's basketball teams. It is located on the San Diego State University (SDSU) campus in San Diego, California. Viejas Arena opened in July 1997 an ...

(formerly Cox Arena), the school's basketball arena, sits on the site of the stadium.

National Register of Historic Places

Aztec Bowl is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

: The old concrete bleachers of the football stadium were not demolished when the new arena was built.

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

, then the

President of the United States of America The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

, gave the graduation commencement address at San Diego State University on June 6, 1963.San Diego State University, Library & Information Access, "President John F. Kennedy's 1963 Commencement Speech at San Diego State (video and audio archive)
/ref> . In commemoration, the arena was built on top of the steps from which people listened to President Kennedy. The bleachers can be clearly seen from the arena's parking lot on the outside and in the storage areas under the arena seats on the inside of the arena. A request was made to remove the stadium from the National Register of Historic Places, and was removed on May 30, 2012.

References

External links

Venue information
{{National Register of Historic Places Defunct college football venues San Diego State Aztecs football venues Sports venues in San Diego American football venues in California Works Progress Administration in California University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in California Demolished sports venues in California Sports venues completed in 1936 1936 establishments in California North American Soccer League (1968–1984) stadiums National Register of Historic Places in San Diego County, California Sports venues on the National Register of Historic Places in California Former National Register of Historic Places in California

History

Current use

National Register of Historic Places

See also

References

External links