Phillips Field was a medium-sized stadium (maximum capacity approximately 20,000) located on the west bank of the Hillsborough River across from

downtown Tampa Downtown Tampa is the central business district of Tampa, Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States, and the chief financial district of the Tampa Bay Area. It is second only to Westshore, Tampa, Westshore regarding employment in the area. Compani ...

, immediately adjacent to the

University of Tampa The University of Tampa (UTampa, UT or Tampa U) is a private university in Tampa, Florida. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. UTampa offers more than 200 programs of study, including 19 master's degrees and a br ...

. It opened on October 4, 1937 and was the home field of the University of Tampa Spartans football program from 1937 to 1967. The facility was named for local businessman I. W. Phillips, who donated the land to the school so that the Spartans would not have to share nearby

Plant Field Plant Field was the first major athletic multi-purpose stadium in Tampa, Florida. It was built in 1899 by Henry B. Plant on the grounds of his Tampa Bay Hotel to host various events and activities for guests, and it consisted of a large field ri ...

, which was often unavailable due to its use for many different sports and community events.

Overview

Though it was expressly built for Spartans football, Phillips Field nevertheless played host to other

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

contests. It was the site of the

Cigar Bowl The Cigar Bowl was a post-season college football bowl game held in Tampa, Florida that featured teams from smaller college programs. There were nine editions of the bowl, which was usually played on or around New Year's Day each season from 1946 ...

, the area's first college

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

, which was played from 1946 to 1954. The

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the College sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville, Florida, Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni an ...

scheduled several home games at the facility during the 1930s and 1940s, and the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats also played several home games there in the 1950s and 1960s. Phillips Field 1947 game

At the high school level, Middleton High School and Blake High School, two segregated local schools, shared Phillips Field for home games and ended their seasons there with a well-attended rivalry game. Hillsborough High School and Plant High School also played their annual rivalry at the site because neither schools' regular stadium could accommodate the large crowds that attended the game. At the professional level, Phillips Field was used by various local semi-pro football squads and hosted

barnstorming Barnstorming was a form of entertainment in which stunt pilots performed tricks individually or in groups that were called flying circuses. Devised to "impress people with the skill of pilots and the sturdiness of planes," it became popular in t ...

and other exhibition games, including several

NFL preseason The National Football League preseason is the period each year during which NFL teams play several not-for-the-record exhibition games before the actual "regular" season starts. Beginning with the featured Pro Football Hall of Fame game in earl ...

contests in the mid-1960s that helped Tampa earn an eventual expansion franchise. Besides football, the field hosted

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of Auto racing, automobile racing run on oval track racing, oval tracks and road courses. It originally used Production vehicle, production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifical ...

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matches, and other sporting and community activities, though most such events were held at nearby Plant Field, which boasted a much larger playing surface. When

Tampa Stadium Tampa Stadium (nicknamed The Big Sombrero and briefly known as Houlihan's Stadium) was a large open-air stadium (maximum capacity about 74,000) located in Tampa, Florida, which opened in 1967 and was significantly expanded in 1974–75. The fac ...

was completed in 1967, the University of Tampa acquired Plant Field from the city of Tampa and Phillips Field fell into disuse. The land was sold and the stadium razed in the early 1970s, and Tampa Preparatory School and Julian Lane Park were built at its former location.

References

{{University of Tampa College football venues in Florida Tampa Spartans football 1950s in Florida 1940s in Florida History of Tampa, Florida Demolished sports venues in Florida 1937 establishments in Florida Sports venues completed in 1937 Defunct college football venues