John F. Kennedy Stadium is a 12,000-seat lighted stadium located at Central High School in

Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonn ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...

. The stadium is designed for use for

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 ...

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 ...

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

games and

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

meets. The stadium was built along with the current high school, which was completed in 1964, and named for President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

. In addition to being home to the CHS Hilltoppers, it was home to the

University of Bridgeport The University of Bridgeport (UB) is a private university in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The university is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. In 2021, the university was purchased by Goodwin University; it retain its own ...

's football program until it was disbanded in 1975. The final game of the minor league

Atlantic Coast Football League The Atlantic Coast Football League (ACFL) was a professional american football minor league that operated from 1962 to 1973. Until 1969, many of its franchises had working agreements with NFL and AFL teams to serve as farm clubs. The league paid ...

was held at the stadium, when the New England Colonials defeated the Bridgeport Jets by 41–17 in the ACFL championship game. A total of 10,176 fans attended the contest on November 23, 1973—ten years and a day after President Kennedy died, in a stadium named after him.In recent years, the stadium served as the site of the Eastern Marching Band Association and Musical Arts Conference marching band field show finals in early November. In 2001, the stadium was the host to the first Major League Lacrosse championship weekend. In 2001, the stadium was the host to the first Major League Lacrosse championship weekend.

Lacrosse

References

{{FCIAC Bridgeport Purple Knights football College football venues American football venues in Connecticut Athletics (track and field) venues in Connecticut Soccer venues in Connecticut Lacrosse venues in Connecticut Sports venues in Bridgeport, Connecticut 1964 establishments in Connecticut

Lacrosse

See also

References