Countdown to Cortaca: Bombers in the Bronx, Part 2

By Kerry C. Regan, February 23, 2022

Cortaca builds on legacy of big-time football at Yankee Stadium.

Image of a Football field, with Ithaca, Cortland, and Cortaca logos

(Image by Justin Lutes)

From November 10-13, 2022, Ithaca College will be hosting a weekend-long “IC in the City” experience in New York City for alumni and current students, faculty, and staff. The centerpiece of this event, the 63rd annual Cortaca Jug football game between Ithaca College and SUNY Cortland, will take place on November 12 at Yankee Stadium. To highlight this amazing opportunity, we will be publishing a year-long series titled “Countdown to Cortaca: Bombers in the Bronx,” highlighting the entire weekend.

In the second installment, we’re highlighting Yankee Stadium’s storied history hosting non-baseball events, in particular college football.

Picture of the Gipper plaque on Ruppert Plaza

This plaque, located on Ruppert Plaza in between Heritage Field and the rest of Macombs Dam Park. (Image credit: Tdorante10/Wikimedia Commons)

On November 10, 1928, in the hallowed halls of Yankee Stadium, Notre Dame head football coach Knute Rockne made what became football’s most celebrated locker room speech urging the Fighting Irish to “win one for the Gipper.”

It was one of the most iconic moments in the history of college football, but it’s just one of the many memorable gridiron moments in the stadium’s history. While Yankee Stadium is internationally known as the home of its perennial champion namesake baseball team, its history hosting football is one that many football-only facilities would envy.

Now, almost 94 years to the day after Rockne’s words galvanized a locker room, Ithaca College will add to the stadium’s storied football legacy when they play SUNY Cortland in the 63rd annual Cortaca Jug game.

It’s not going to be exactly the same, of course. The Gipper speech was delivered in old Yankee Stadium. The Cortaca Jug will be played in the new Yankee Stadium, which replaced the original in 2009.

But even if it’s moved a few feet away, it’s still Yankee Stadium, and over the years, it hosted a wide range of memorable and historic athletic, cultural and entertainment events.

“We designed the new stadium with all the modern amenities to better accommodate non-baseball events, and we’ve had a lot of success bringing them back.”

Mark Holtzman, vice president of non-baseball sports events, New York Yankees

“But In the old stadium’s last 10 years or so, a lot of the non-baseball events went away,” said Mark Holtzman, vice president of non-baseball sports events for the New York Yankees. “We designed the new stadium with all the modern amenities to better accommodate non-baseball events, and we’ve had a lot of success bringing them back.”

A High Standard

The old Yankee Stadium opened on April 18, 1923, with March King John Philip Sousa and his band performing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and Babe Ruth hitting a three-run homer to lead the Yankees to a 4-1 win over the Boston Red Sox. These icons established a high standard that has lived on not only in baseball, but in other events as well.

The first Opening Day at Yankee Stadium, in 1923, was a celebratory affair

(Photo from Wikimedia Commons)

For its first 50-plus years, Yankee Stadium was a prime boxing venue, hosting 30 championship bouts, including the politically charged win by U.S. heavyweight Joe Louis over Germany’s Max Schmeling in 1938, when Adolph Hitler had publicly berated Louis. The old stadium’s last fight was in 1976 when Muhammad Ali defeated Ken Norton.

Old Yankee Stadium was also home to two professional soccer teams, the Generals (1967-1968) and the Cosmos (1971-1976), and hosted more than a dozen international friendlies featuring players like Pelé, then considered the world’s greatest player.

The stadium’s largest crowd ever—123,707—was for the 1958 Jehovah’s Witnesses convention, an annual event from 1950 through the late 1980s. Three papal Masses also were celebrated there: by Paul VI (1965), John Paul II (1980) and Benedict (2008).

A Home for Football

Image of the official program from the 1923 Syracuse-Pitt Game

The first ever college football game at Yankee Stadium had an Upstate feel, as Syracuse University took on the University of Pittsburgh.

The stadium’s first football game was played in its very first autumn, 1923, when Syracuse University beat the University of Pittsburgh 3-0. Six professional football teams called the old stadium home. Four named the Yankees played in the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s—one of those teams also playing a season as the Americans—and one named the Yanks played in 1950 and 1951. Finally, the New York Giants of the modern NFL called the stadium home from 1956 to 1973.

In 1958, Yankee Stadium hosted what a generation called “The Greatest Game Ever Played,” the NFL championship game, won in overtime by the Baltimore Colts over the Giants, 23-17. The game is often cited as the turning point in elevating the sport’s popularity to rival that of baseball.

College football also flourished. The Army-Notre Dame rivalry game was played there 21 times, including the year of the famous Gipper speech, echoing Notre Dame great George Gipp’s deathbed wishes. New York University played 96 games there—the most of any school—and nearby Fordham University played 19. The stadium hosted one bowl game, the short-lived Gotham Bowl in 1962, and an annual game between historically Black colleges from 1971 to 1987. The old stadium’s last football game was in that series, with Central State University of Ohio beating Grambling State University of Louisiana by a score of 37-21.

Rekindling the Football Tradition

The new stadium puts baseball first but is designed for multi-purpose use. The building itself is about 63 percent larger than the previous stadium, with a 31,000-square-foot Great Hall, a 7,000-square-foot banquet and conference center, and nearly 1,400 high-definition video monitors, ensuring fans never miss any on-field action.

One result: The pause on non-baseball of events has been lifted. New York University has been holding its commencement at the new stadium since it opened. Boxing returned in 2010 with a super-welterweight bout. Since 2015, the stadium has once again been home to a soccer team, the New York City FC, 2021 champions of Major League Soccer. Well-received concerts have featured the likes of Paul McCartney, JAY-Z/Justin Timberlake and Garth Brooks. The National Hockey League even staged a series of outdoor games there in 2014.

And then there’s football. Unlike many baseball stadiums, this one easily accommodates a full-size football field with plenty of room beyond the four corners of the end zones for running out touchdown attempts. And unlike in the old days, the infield dirt gets sodded for football.

Overhead shot of the field during the 2010 Pinstripe Bowl

The inaugural Pinstripe Bowl in 2010 featured a reminder of Yankee Stadium’s college football roots when Syracuse University took the field, this time against Kansas State University.

(Photo courtesy of the New York Yankees)

Because football field preparations take about a week—and because the season overlaps with baseball—Holtzman’s team targets just two football games a year. One is the New Era Pinstripe Bowl, initiated in 2010, currently featuring top Division I schools from the Atlantic Coast and Big Ten Conferences.

The second game is Holtzman’s team’s choice. “We talk to people, like athletic directors, and obviously it has to be something that makes sense here,” Holtzman said. “New York is a big professional sports town. Not every college game will work.”

Adding to the Rich History

Among those Holtzman talks to: Mark Hudak ’90, a captain and center on IC’s 1988 Stagg Bowl team and chairman of the New York Chapter of the National Football Foundation. “I’ve known him for a while. He’s a great guy. We started talking about the Yankees doing an Ithaca College game.” While the new stadium had never hosted a Division III football game, the success of the 2019 Cortaca Jug game at MetLife Stadium spoke volumes.

An NCAA Division III single-game record of 45,161 fans attended the 2019 Cortaca Jug at MetLife Stadium.

(Photo by: David Sarnevitz)

“The Yankees know great sporting events when they see them,” Holtzman said.  “And this game will add to the rich history and tradition at Yankee Stadium— two New York schools playing in the world’s most famous stadium in New York! It doesn’t get any better. We believe it will sell out.”

“Ithaca College joining the ranks of some outstanding programs who have played there is just another reason why the Bomber football tradition is among the strongest in college football, regardless of division.”

Michael Toerper, Ithaca College head football coach

The Bronx Bombers, as the Yankees are known, have won 27 World Series championships at Yankee Stadium, and the Brown Bomber, Joe Louis, defended his heavyweight championship there. Now it’s time for the Ithaca College Bombers to make their Yankee Stadium statement.

“Having attended the 2016 Pinstripe Bowl to cheer on my alma mater [the University of Pittsburgh] I can say that Yankee Stadium is a great place to host and attend a football game,” said Ithaca College head football coach Michael Toerper. “Ithaca College joining the ranks of some outstanding programs who have played there is just another reason why the Bomber football tradition is among the strongest in college football, regardless of division.”

Stay in the Loop

Planning and preparation continue for IC in the City and Cortaca Jug 2022. For more information and to learn about opportunities for alumni, students, faculty, staff, and IC community members, please visit the “IC in the City” homepage.