Holleder Memorial Stadium was a 20,000 seat football stadium in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...

. Located on Ridgeway Avenue, at the south east corner of Mount Read Blvd., it was built in 1949 to serve as the home of

Aquinas Institute The Aquinas Institute of Rochester is a co-educational Catholic school in Rochester, New York established in 1902. Although The Aquinas Institute was founded as an all-male high school, it opened to female students in 1982. It is located within ...

football. Originally named Aquinas Memorial Stadium, it was renamed in 1974, in memory of former Aquinas and Army quarterback Don Holleder, who was killed in October, 1967, in the Battle of Ong Thanh. The first ever win for the Buffalo Bills of the American Football League was held at the stadium; on August 13, 1960, the Bills won an exhibition game against the

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. The Bills continued to host occasional exhibition games at the stadium through the 1960s. Holleder Stadium was the home pitch for professional soccer's Rochester Lancers, who played at Holleder from 1967–69 as members of the American Soccer League, and 1970–80 while in the NASL. On August 21, 1977, 20,005 people, the largest crowd to attend a Lancers game at Holleder Stadium, watched Pelé lead his Cosmos to a 2–1 victory over the hometown Lancers in the first round of the 1977 NASL playoffs. It was also the host of the first match of the

NASL Final 1970 NASL Final 1970 was the North American Soccer League's postseason championship final of the 1970 season. As no championship game was played for the 1969 season, it was the first championship game since the 1968 season. The event was contested i ...

. Holleder Stadium also hosted the Rochester Flash soccer team, who called Holleder Stadium home in 1981–82 (ASL) and 1984 (USL). The stadium was torn down in 1985, and an industrial park, named Holleder Technology Park, was built on the site. Aquinas would eventually replace the stadium in 2005 with the Wegmans Sports Complex, with a smaller capacity.

Concerts

The stadium hosted several musical concerts, including: *The Grateful Dead - September 1, 1979 *

Journey Journey or journeying may refer to: * Travel, the movement of people between distant geographical locations ** Day's journey, a measurement of distance ** Road trip, a long-distance journey on the road Animals * Journey (horse), a thoroughbred ra ...

- June 5, 1983 *

The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Polic ...

The Fixx The Fixx are a rock band from London, England, founded in 1979. The band's hits include " One Thing Leads to Another", " Saved by Zero", " Are We Ourselves?", and " Secret Separation", each of which charted in the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot ...

and

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- August 7, 1983 The Rochester Grey Knights held the Tournament of Drums(Drum and Bugle competition) annually from 1948–1968. Drum Corps Associates held the Senior Drum and Bugle Championships there in 1968-1971 and 1973–1976.DCA

References

External links

Don Holleder: College Football Hall of Famearchive.org audio of the September 1, 1979 Grateful Dead concert at Holleder Memorial Stadium
Rochester Lancers Sports in Rochester, New York Defunct American football venues in the United States Defunct soccer venues in the United States Soccer venues in New York (state) Sports venues in Rochester, New York North American Soccer League (1968–1984) stadiums High school football venues in the United States Lacrosse venues in New York (state) 1949 establishments in New York (state) 1985 disestablishments in New York (state) Sports venues completed in 1949 Sports venues demolished in 1985 2005 establishments in New York (state) Sports venues completed in 2005 {{NewYork-sports-venue-stub