Despite its stellar baseball history, it's probably safely say that no football, no Hinchliffe Stadium as we know it! It was back in 1930, when the city faced the prospect of having no fit place to stage the famous Thanksgiving clash of its two arch-rival high-school teams-Central (later Kennedy) and Eastside-that Paterson's City fathers bit the bullet and assembled a usable field out of several parcels of available land near the Great Falls. On that cold yet auspicious November day in 1930 the future stadium became a certainty as the two teams played to a crowd of some 12,000 people, who stood through the game in the bitter cold, absolutely without stands!
Almost as soon as local athletes dug their cleats into the new stadium turf in '32, Hinchliffe was declared season home to no less than three professional football teams: the Silk City Bears, the Paterson Giants, and the Paterson Nighthawks. It began hosting the Paterson Panthers in 1934, entering a long and brilliant relationship that-except for a wartime break-lasted into the 1950s.
Many a hometown dream of fame and fortune on the pro gridiron has been nurtured at Hinchliffe. Star footballer Rick Cesares (Eastside) became a running back for the Chicago Bears in the 1950s. Even Larry Doby, the great American League baseball player, was better known among hometowners for his football prowess before he was scouted by Newark Eagles baseball in 1942.