Although they appear on the Hinchliffe roster from 1934, it was really the 1936 season that began the Paterson Panthers' love-affair with Hinchliffe Stadium and vice versa.
Joining the newly-formed American Professional Football Association (APFA) that year, they ruled here for the next half-decade, racking up no less than eleven shutouts in 1937. It was the Panthers who drew the Brooklyn Eagles to town on September 24, 1939. Future Hall-of-Fame great Vince Lombardi- although he appears not to have actually played-was on the Eagles roster for this game, which Paterson won 17-6.
After four years of down-time during World War II, the Panthers were back from '46 into the 'fifties, now as an AFL team. In the first game of their first post-war season, September 15, 1946, Hinchliffe saw Hall-of-Famer Bill Dudley score two touchdowns and complete a touchdown pass to lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 55-0 rout of the home team. The Panthers became a farm club for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1950.