War Memorial Stadium, colloquially known as The Rockpile, was an outdoor

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 ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

and

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

. Opened in 1937 as Roesch Memorial Stadium, the venue was later known as Grover Cleveland Stadium and Civic Stadium. The stadium was home to the

Canisius Golden Griffins The Canisius College Golden Griffins are composed of 16 teams representing Canisius College in intercollegiate athletics. These teams include men's and women's basketball, cross country, track, lacrosse, soccer, and swimming and diving. Men's spor ...

(

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

), Buffalo Indians-Tigers (

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division ...

( AAFC),

Buffalo Bulls The Buffalo Bulls are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University at Buffalo (UB) in Buffalo, New York. The Bulls compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level as a member of Mid-A ...

(

/ NFL),

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen F ...

( IL), Buffalo White Eagles ( ECPSL), Buffalo Blazers ( NSL),

( EL/ AA) and

(

). It also had a

race track A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also use ...

and hosted several

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...

events. The venue was demolished in 1989 and replaced with the Johnnie B. Wiley Amateur Athletic Sports Pavilion, which retains entrances from the original stadium.

History

Planning and construction

Roesch Memorial Stadium was built on the East Side of Buffalo for $3 million as 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 in 1937. It was built on a large, rectangular block that had once housed the Prospect Reservoir.

Opening and reception

The 36,500-seat venue was primarily used for college

when it opened on October 16, 1937, with the

Tulane Green Wave The Tulane Green Wave are the athletic teams that represent Tulane University, located in New Orleans, Louisiana. Tulane competes in NCAA Division I as a member of the American Athletic Conference (The American). There are 14 Green Wave intercol ...

defeating the

Colgate Raiders The Colgate Raiders are the athletic teams that represent Colgate University. The teams include men and women's basketball, cross country, ice hockey, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, swimming & diving, track and field and tennis. Men's sports include g ...

7–6 in the inaugural game. The venue's name was changed to

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

Stadium in 1937 and then to Civic Stadium in 1938. The Buffalo Indians-Tigers became the venue's first professional football team in 1940.

Alterations

A quarter mile cinder oval

was added to the interior perimeter of the venue in 1940 for

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

. Both

midget car racing Midget cars, also speedcars in Australia, is a class of racing cars. The cars are very small with a very high power-to-weight ratio and typically use four cylinder engines. They originated in the United States in the 1930s and are raced on mos ...

and

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It or ...

were popular at the venue, attracting

events in 1956 and 1958. Due to the small size of the track, drivers were forced to leave the venue to make

pit stops In motorsports, a pit stop is a pause for refuelling, new tyres, repairs, mechanical adjustments, a driver change, as a penalty, or any combination of the above. These stops occur in an area called the pits, most commonly accessed via a pit lan ...

at nearby Masten Armory. Fans were also forbidden from sitting in the first five rows of the venue for safety reasons. Buffalo was awarded an expansion franchise by the

Continental League The Continental League of Professional Baseball Clubs (known as the Continental League or CL) was a proposed third major league for baseball in the United States and Canada. The league was announced in 1959 and scheduled to begin play in the 19 ...

of Major League Baseball in January 1960, and made plans to play at the venue beginning with the 1961 season. However, the league folded before the season began. The

remained in the

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ( ...

and began play at the newly renamed War Memorial Stadium in 1961, as their previous home of Offermann Stadium had already been slated for demolition. The venue's race track was removed in 1960 so that the stadium could accommodate both baseball and football for the Buffalo Bisons and

. The stadium's baseball diamond had an unorthodox southeast alignment (home plate to center field). The east-west alignment of the football field was also unorthodox, running along the third base line. The stadium was expanded to hold 46,306 fans in 1965. Nashville Sounds at Buffalo Bisons, War Memorial Stadium, Buffalo, NY, 1987

Nashville Sounds at Buffalo Bisons, War Memorial Stadium, Buffalo, NY, 1987

The venue was poorly maintained, lending to its nickname of "The Rockpile". Brock Yates of ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence tw ...

'' jokingly wrote in 1969 that the stadium, "looks as if whatever war it was a memorial to had been fought within its confines." While the Buffalo Bills were popular and regularly filled the venue, the Buffalo Bisons struggled to attract crowds. The Bisons moved mid-season in 1970 and became the

Winnipeg Whips The Winnipeg Whips were a professional Triple-A minor league baseball team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada that played in the International League from 1970 to 1971. The team was affiliated with the Montreal Expos of Major League Baseball ...

. The stadium was deemed unsuitable for

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

play after the

AFL–NFL merger The AFL–NFL merger was the merger of the two major professional American football leagues in the United States at the time: the National Football League (NFL) and the American Football League (AFL). It paved the way for the combined league, w ...

, as it sat fewer than the combined league's 50,000 seat requirement for venues and could was unable to be expanded.

Rich Stadium Highmark Stadium is a stadium in Orchard Park, New York, in the Southtowns of the Buffalo metropolitan area. The stadium opened in 1973 as Rich Stadium and is the home venue of the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). It was kno ...

was constructed for the Bills in suburban Orchard Park, where the team moved after the 1972 season. The venue sat vacant until 1976 when the Buffalo Blazers of the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

began play. A new

franchise was founded in 1979 that returned baseball to the venue. That same year,

Canisius College Canisius College is a private Jesuit college in Buffalo, New York. It was founded in 1870 by Jesuits from Germany and is named after St. Peter Canisius. Canisius offers more than 100 undergraduate majors and minors, and around 34 master' ...

signed a 10-year agreement to use the venue for its college events. ''

The Natural ''The Natural'' is a 1952 novel about baseball by Bernard Malamud, and is his debut novel. The story follows Roy Hobbs, a baseball prodigy whose career is sidetracked after being shot by a woman whose motivation remains mysterious. The story mo ...

'' was filmed at the venue in 1983.

Closing and demolition

The Bisons moved to newly constructed Pilot Field following the 1987 season. The final event at the venue saw the Akron Zips defeat the

11–2 on May 6, 1989. Canisius moved its football and baseball teams to the newly built Demske Sports Complex. War Memorial Stadium was demolished in 1989 and replaced with the Johnnie B. Wiley Amateur Athletic Sports Pavilion, a high school athletic field. Built in 1992 for $6.8 million, the complex incorporates the original entrances from War Memorial Stadium. It was previously home to the Buffalo Gladiators, an amateur football team. The original

flag pole A flagpole, flagmast, flagstaff, or staff is a pole designed to support a flag. If it is taller than can be easily reached to raise the flag, a cord is used, looping around a pulley at the top of the pole with the ends tied at the bottom. The fla ...

from center field at War Memorial Stadium was preserved and installed at Pilot Field in July 1990, where it stands to this day.

Notable events

Football

A preseason neutral site

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a c ...

game between the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Tim Hortons Fie ...

and the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the CFL East Division, East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based i ...

took place at the venue on August 11, 1951. Hamilton defeated Toronto by a score of 17–11. The venue was host to the

Coaches All-America Game The Coaches All-America Game was a postseason college football all-star game that served as the concluding game of the college football season, held from 1961 to 1976. The all-star game was sponsored by the American Football Coaches Association (A ...

from 1961 to 1965. Originally called the Graduation Bowl in its inaugural year, the game was an exhibition between the best college seniors in America who were turning professional. The stadium hosted three postseason

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

games: * 1963 AFL Eastern Division playoff:

Boston Patriots Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

defeated the

26–8 on December 28, 1963 *

1964 AFL Championship Game The 1964 AFL Championship Game was the American Football League's fifth championship game, played at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo, New York, on Saturday, December 26. The Buffalo Bills (12–2) of the Eastern Division hosted the defending ...

defeated the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

20–7 on December 26, 1964 *

1966 AFL Championship Game The 1966 AFL Championship Game was the seventh American Football League's championship game, played at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo, New York, on January 1, 1967. It matched the Western Division champion Kansas City Chiefs (11–2–1) an ...

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The t ...

defeated the

31–7 on January 1, 1967

Baseball

The stadium hosted two

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

exhibitions: *

All-Stars defeated the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...

5–0 on August 19, 1963 *

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central division. Since , they have ...

and

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

played to an 8–8 tie on April 5, 1987 A touring Old-Timers' Game staged Buffalo's Grand Old Game at the venue on June 23, 1984. The American League All-Stars defeated the National League All-Stars 6–1.

NASCAR

The stadium hosted two

events: * NASCAR Convertible Division event on July 7, 1956 won by

Joe Weatherly Joseph Herbert Weatherly (May 29, 1922 – January 19, 1964) was an American stock car racing driver. Weatherly was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2009 after winning NASCAR's Grand National Series championships ...

NASCAR Grand National The name NASCAR Grand National Series refers to former names of the following NASCAR series: *National-level stock car series: **NASCAR Cup Series (known as NASCAR Grand National Series between 1950 to 1970, then the NASCAR Winston Cup Grand Nation ...

event on July 19, 1958 won by Jim Reed

References

External links

Johnnie B. Wiley Amateur Athletic Sports PavilionA Visual Tour of the Ol' Rockpile
on Baseball Parks of the Minor Leagues {{navboxes, list= {{AFL III {{Defunct NFL stadiums {{Buffalo Bills {{Buffalo Bisons {{Canisius Golden Griffins football navbox {{NASCAR Cup Series racetracks 1937 establishments in New York (state) 1989 disestablishments in New York (state) American Football League venues American Football League (1940) venues American football venues in New York (state) Baseball venues in New York (state) Buffalo Bills stadiums Buildings and structures demolished in 1989 Canisius Golden Griffins baseball Canisius Golden Griffins football Defunct American football venues in the United States Defunct baseball venues in the United States Defunct college baseball venues in the United States Defunct college football venues Defunct minor league baseball venues Defunct National Football League venues Defunct soccer venues in the United States Demolished sports venues in New York (state) High school baseball venues in the United States High school football venues in the United States NASCAR tracks Soccer venues in New York (state) Sports venues completed in 1937 Sports venues demolished in 1989 Sports venues in Buffalo, New York Works Progress Administration in New York (state)

History

Planning and construction

Opening and reception

Alterations

Closing and demolition

Notable events

Football

Baseball

NASCAR

See also

References

External links