Frank Youell Field was a football stadium on the west coast of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, located in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. It was the home of the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League for four seasons, from

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

through 1965. The stadium was a temporary home while

Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Oakland Coliseum, currently branded as RingCentral Coliseum, is a stadium in Oakland, California. It is part of the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Complex, with the adjacent Oakland Arena, near Interstate 880. The Coliseum is the home ba ...

was being built; it seated 22,000 and cost $400,000 to build. The facility was named for Francis J. Youell (1883–1967), an Oakland

undertaker A funeral director, also known as an undertaker (British English) or mortician (American English), is a professional involved in the business of funeral rites. These tasks often entail the embalming and burial or cremation of the dead, as ...

, owner of the Chapel of the Oaks, Oakland City Councilman, and sports booster. It was located at 900 Fallon Street, on the grounds of what is now part of

Laney College Laney College is a public community college in Oakland, California. Laney is the largest of the four colleges of the Peralta Community College District which serves northern Alameda County. Laney College is named after Joseph Clarence Laney. Th ...

, next to the channel which connects

Lake Merritt Lake Merritt is a large tidal lagoon in the center of Oakland, California, just east of Downtown. It is surrounded by parkland and city neighborhoods. It is historically significant as the United States' first official wildlife refuge, designate ...

to the

Oakland Estuary The Oakland Estuary is the strait in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, separating the cities of Oakland and Alameda and the Alameda Island from the East Bay mainland. On its western end, it connects to San Francisco Bay proper, while it ...

and adjacent to the

Nimitz Freeway Nimitz may refer to: People * Chester W. Nimitz (1885–1966), fleet admiral of the United States Navy * Chester Nimitz Jr. (1915–2002), an American officer and submarine commander * Jack Nimitz (1930–2009), American musician Named for Fl ...

. The site was formerly part of the "Auditorium Village Housing Project", one of several temporary housing tracts built by the federal government in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

for the thousands of workers who poured into the region during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

to work in war industries, especially, in shipyards such as the

Kaiser Shipyards The Kaiser Shipyards were seven major shipbuilding yards located on the United States west coast during World War II. Kaiser ranked 20th among U.S. corporations in the value of wartime production contracts. The shipyards were owned by the Kaise ...

. During their first two seasons, the Raiders played their home games in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, at

Kezar Stadium Kezar Stadium is an outdoor athletics stadium in San Francisco, California, located adjacent to Kezar Pavilion in the southeastern corner of Golden Gate Park. It is the former home of the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders (first AFL s ...

(

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Jan ...

) and

Candlestick Park Candlestick Park was an outdoor stadium on the West Coast of the United States, located in San Francisco's Bayview Heights area. The stadium was originally the home of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants, who played there from 1960 ...

(1960,

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (K ...

). They played their first regular season game at Frank Youell Field in

on September 9 against the New York Titans and the Raiders lost, 28–17, the first of thirteen consecutive losses that season. The final game at the stadium in December 1965 was also against New York, renamed the Jets, and the Raiders won, 24–14. Frank Youell Field remained in operation for several years and hosted some

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

games after the Raiders moved into the Coliseum in 1966; it was demolished in 1969 to make way for extra parking for Laney College.

References

External links

Ballparks.com
– Football – Frank Youell Field Buildings and structures in Oakland, California Sports venues demolished in 1969 1969 disestablishments in California History of Oakland, California Sports venues in Oakland, California American Football League venues Oakland Raiders stadiums Demolished sports venues in California 1962 establishments in California Sports venues completed in 1962 High school football venues in California {{AlamedaCountyCA-struct-stub