Football: Paterson Giants/Paterson Nighthawks
In a stadium first on October 23, 1932, the Paterson Giants faced the National Football League's Portsmouth Spartans (later to become the Detroit Lions) on the new hometown field. Hometowners were so proud to see an NFL team in Paterson that before the game they even marched the Spartans, banners flying, for the full mile from their downtown digs at the local Y to the stadium on the Heights! Maybe the home-team went a little too soft; the Spartans went on to win 6-0--with the big advantage of future Hall-of-Famer Earl "Dutch" Clark playing on their squad.
In another first on September 17, 1933 (which also happened to be Hinchliffe Stadium's first anniversary), the Paterson Nighthawks hosted the New York Football Giants. Within the next two stellar consecutive weekends (September 24/ October 1) they welcomed two more notable football squads, first the Brooklyn Dodgers and then the Philadelphia Eagles, to Paterson's proud new stadium.