Old Cardinal Stadium - Favorite Memories

Demolition was scheduled to begin today on Old Cardinal Stadium in Louisville (even though I still refer to it as Fairgrounds Stadium). A lot of memories from that old stadium will remain with anybody who was ever there.

Jefferson Co football playoff & state championship games for years were played there until the stadium became too dangerous because of the turf. Rivalry games such as Male-Manual, Flaget - STX and Trinity-STX for years were played there. It was considered an honor to play on the “carpet” even though the rug burns on your elbows drew blood.

In its early years, there were NFL exhibition games played there and UofL played there for many years. Once the weather turned cold in the fall, there was more mud and straw on the field than grass. Lee Corso once referred to the field as “Astromud”.

As many high school football fans as there are out there, feel free to share your high school football memory or any memory you may have of the stadium. The ole girl is coming down.

Great thread @Roundsteak

I will definitely work on a list of memories to share!

Mayfield Cardinals beating Beechwood for the title in 2002 is my favorite.

There was a bowl game played there in about 1958....think it was called the Bluegrass Bowl maybe?

The 2002 State Championship game has to rank pretty high.

There was a bowl game played there in about 1958....think it was called the Bluegrass Bowl maybe?

Oklahoma State/Florida State, I believe. Only played once then dropped the Bowl the next year.

I was on two football state championship teams that won in that stadium. Also played against UL a couple times in baseball there. Said to see it is going to be gone.

Playing on back to back state championship teams at Highlands in 1981 and 1982. The 1982 team capped off a perfect season and became the first team in state history to win 15 games.

Never saw a game there. It was before my time.

1996 4A championship game Nelson County beat Dunbar in overtime. Last time a county school won a 4A title in the old 4 class system. My cousin played for Nelson County, I also think they played a Louisville area school there in the playoffs that year in a rain storm.

I liked watching the state championship games there because no matter the weather, you were under a roof.

Winning state title over Boone Co 3-0 in one of coldest games ever been to.

Beating Trinity my Senior year in 1993. We had lost to them my Frosh through Junior year.

Never saw a game there. It was before my time.

Wait were you not there for the Trinity-Male game 2002?

Favorite game: 2001 4A State Championship. Trinity 45 Male 19. My senior year at Trinity. Hadn't won a state title in 7 years and had been obliterated in the title game by Male in a snowstorm the year before.

Most Memorable (and miserable) games *TIE*:

1997, #1 Penn State 57, Louisville 21. Three minutes into the game, Chris Redman hits Arnold Jackson for a 65-yard touchdown and somehow a pretty awful Louisville team has a 7-0 lead on the No. 1 team in the nation... Penn State proceeded to rattle off score after score, including a 36-point second quarter, to take a 50-14 lead at HALFTIME.

Also 1997 (seriously, to heck with that year): 4A State Championship, St. Xavier 3 Trinity 0. It was really cold and really depressing, and a defensive struggle was settled on a Trinity turnover just close enough to the endzone that X could kick a field goal.

I also can't remember any specific games, but I also remember being in middle school (and maybe early high school) and going with my dad to high school playoff doubleheaders. They must have done those right up through the late 1990s.