That the Washington Redskins lost before a record crowd was inconsequential. The 36,767 fans left happy after seeing the next big thing in local sports.
“It was big time. It was incredible,” Washington sports publicist Charlie Brotman said of the Redskins’ new home in 1961, then named D.C. Stadium. “Griffith Stadium in its time was terrific. It was intimate like a mom and pop store, but RFK was the 21st century.”
RFK Stadium celebrates its 50th anniversary Saturday. Now the home of D.C. United, a college football bowl game and assorted events, the heart of Washington sports and concerts for the past half century is a nostalgic reminder of when baseball was No. 1 and the Redskins were champions.
The white seat where Frank Howard belted a home run into the center-field upper-deck remains. So do the dugouts from the Washington Nationals’ habitation from 2005 to 2008. The place needs plenty of tender-loving care, but it’s beloved by a generation or two of Washingtonians even though it was nearly abandoned in 1996 when the Redskins left for FedEx Field.
D.C. Stadium — renamed Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in 1969, a year after the slaying of the one-time U.S. senator and attorney general and brother of President John F. Kennedy — was the first of 11 cookie-cutter circular stadiums that spread from Philadelphia to Oakland. It was meant for baseball and football even though for NFL games it had temporary stands along one sideline that bounced with hysterical fans when the Redskins scored.
Since RFK was owned by the federal government, the Redskins were forced to integrate in exchange for the stadium’s use. Owner George Preston Marshall didn’t want to offend his southern fans, but eventually Bobby Mitchell finished his Hall of Fame career in Washington.
The Redskins opened the venue because the Senators had just finished their season and fled to Minnesota to become the Twins. By spring, an expansion team arrived, and it stayed for 10 seasons before becoming the Texas Rangers. Indeed, the final game of 1971 ended with a Senators forfeit when fans stormed the field with one out remaining and carried away first base.
The Senators were more beloved than the Redskins for much of the 1960s, though neither posted a winning season until 1969, when Ted Williams arrived to manage the Senators and Vince Lombardi became the Redskins’ coach. It was a grand year at RFK for fans not used to either team winning for nearly two decades. It didn’t last long. Lombardi died the next year, and the Senators soon left, but the Redskins filled RFK during the 1980s and early 1990s with three title teams in baseball’s absence.
It all started with the Redskins losing to the rival New York Giants 24-21. Sam Huff, a Hall of Fame linebacker then with New York and later Washington, remembered the crowd being quite different than those in New York.
“If the president went to RFK Stadium, he was the attraction. But in New York it was Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Y.A. Tittle,” Huff said. “You can’t name Washington players from the 1950s. Here it’s government and politicians. In New York, it was the Yankees and Giants.”
Redskins fans nearly destroyed RFK following the 1996 finale, taking seats and turf because they believed the stadium was closing. Yet 15 years later it probably still has 15 more years remaining before the Redskins’ possible return to the site.
After all, it’s hard to stop the heart of Washington sports.
Examiner columnist Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more on Twitter @Snide_Remarks or email [email protected].
