October 26, 1930: The Cotton Bowl Opens

October 26, 1930: Fair Park Stadium opens in Fair Park on the east side of Dallas. In 1937, with the establishment of the city's New Year's Day "bowl game," it was renamed the Cotton Bowl.

It seated 45,000 at its opening. It was home to Southern Methodist University football from 1932 to 1978, and SMU used it for home games again from 1995 to 1999. In 1948, a second deck was added to the west side, increasing capacity to 67,000. The east side was double-decked the following year, increasing capacity to 75,504. These decks were added to respond to the demand for fans to watch SMU's Heisman Trophy-winning halfback Doak Walker, leading the Cotton Bowl to be known as "the House That Doak Built."

1949-2007 configuration

It hosted the Cotton Bowl Classic from 1937 to 2009. Two short-lived teams called the Dallas Texans used it, the NFL team of 1952 that became the Baltimore Colts the next year, and the AFL team of 1960 to 1962 that became the Kansas City Chiefs. Those Texans won the 1962 AFL Championship there.

It was the 1st home of the Dallas Cowboys, from 1960 to 1971, when Texas Stadium opened. The North American Soccer League's Dallas Tornado used it in 1967 and 1968, and the Major League Soccer team formerly known as the Dallas Burn, now just "FC Dallas," used it from 1996 to 2005.

The era of stadium rock concerts is said to have begun with The Beatles in 1964, but Elvis Presley played before 27,000 fans at the Cotton Bowl on October 11, 1956. The stadium didn't host another until July 6, 1975, the 1st of 7 it would host with The Rolling Stones. Eric Clapton, The Eagles, Aerosmith, Heart, Journey, Van Halen, U2 and Coldplay have also played there.

Today, with both the Cowboys and the Cotton Bowl Classic playing at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, the Cotton Bowl is mainly the host of 2 games: The annual Red River Rivalry between the Universities of Texas and Oklahoma every 2nd Saturday in October, during the Texas State Fair; and the State Fair Classic, held a week earlier, between historically black schools Prairie View A&M of the Houston area and Grambling State University of Louisiana. The State Fair is held in the week between these 2 games.

The Cotton Bowl used AstroTurf from 1970 to 1993, before returning to natural grass so that it could host 6 games of the 1994 World Cup, including Brazil's Quarterfinal win over the Netherlands. I will never forget New Year's Day 1985, when, in response to the previous night's rain, the grounds crew used squeegees to get the rain off the field. Boston College, led by Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Doug Flutie, beat the University of of Houston.

A 2008 expansion fully connected the upper deck, and seating capacity is now 92,100. The 1st NHL Winter Classic held in the South was held there on January 1, 2020. The Dallas Stars beat the Nashville Predators, 4-2, in front of 85,630 fans.

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October 26, 1930 was a Sunday. Les Richter, a Hall of Fame linebacker for the Los Angeles Rams, was born on this day. And these NFL games were played:

* The New York Giants beat the Providence Steamroller, 25-0 at the Polo Grounds.

* The Staten Island Stapletons beat the Newark Tornadoes, 6-0 at City Stadium in Newark, New Jersey. It was renamed Newark City Schools Stadium, and became a home for high school football. The original opened in 1925, and the new one opened on the same site in 2011. But the Tornadoes, in only their 2nd season, folded at the end of the season. New Jersey wouldn't host another NFL game until the opening of Giants Stadium in 1976.

* The Chicago Bears beat the Frankford Yellow Jackets, 13-7 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Chicago Cardinals beat the Portsmouth Spartans, 23-13 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* And the Green Bay Packers beat the Minneapolis Red Jackets, 19-0 at City Stadium in Green Bay, Wisconsin.