Coordinates: 37°47′38.79″N 122°15′47.05″W / 37.7941083°N 122.2630694°W / 37.7941083; -122.2630694 Frank Youell Field was a football stadium that stood in Oakland, California. It was the home of the Oakland Raiders from 1962 to 1965.
The stadium, which was essentially a temporary home while Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum was being built, sat 22,000 and cost $400,000 to build. The facility was named for Francis J. Youell (1883-1967), an Oakland undertaker owner of the Chapel of the Oaks, Oakland City Councilman, and sports booster. It was located on the grounds of what is now part of Laney College next to the channel which connects Lake Merritt to the Oakland Estuary. The site was formerly part of the "Auditorium Village Housing Project", one of several temporary housing tracts built by the federal government in the San Francisco Bay Area for the thousands of workers who poured into the region during World War II to work in war industries, especially, in shipyards such as the Kaiser Shipyards.
The Raiders (then a member of the American Football League) had played their home games in San Francisco (Kezar Stadium and Candlestick Park, respectively) during their first two seasons. They played their first regular-season game at Frank Youell Field on September 9, 1962, against the New York Titans. The Raiders lost 28-17.
Frank Youell Field remained in operation and hosted some high school football games after the Raiders moved into the Coliseum. Frank Youell Field was demolished in 1969 to make way for extra parking for Laney College.
Famous quotes containing the word field:
“The birds their quire apply; airs, vernal airs,
Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune
The trembling leaves, while universal Pan,
Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance,
Led on th’ eternal Spring.”
—John Milton (1608–1674)