Thanksgiving Day 75th Happy Birthday Party for Pierce Stadium!

The annual Thanksgiving Day football classic between East Providence and LaSalle high schools will have a different twist this year. As we reported earlier the big game has been switched to a non-league game with the score becoming meaningless to division standings. Last January the RI Interscholastic League Principal’s Committee on Athletics voted to change the state football playoff format. "Beginning in the fall (2014) all Thanksgiving Day “League games” must be played during the regular season. As a result, all semifinal games will be played on the Friday before Thanksgiving. The traditional Thanksgiving Day games will be played as in the past as “non- league” games. Divisional championship games will be played a minimum of seven days after Thanksgiving," said the league's full time director Tom Mezzanotte. And so East Providence and LaSalle have already played this year with LaSalle winning against a pesky Townies team 28-13. Only East Providence and LaSalle disagreed with this format. "The rest of the league's Athletic Directors approved. They don't have the tradition that we have. It could mean the end of the LaSalle-EP Thanksgiving Day game as we know it," said East Providence Athletic Director, Bob Duarte. "They could have made other arrangements," Duarte added. The coaches weren't involved, they didn't ask us," said Townies new coach Jay Monteiro. The state's longest standing rivalry on Thanksgiving officially began in 1929. Although the two schools started turkey day play in 1927 (EP won 6-0), there was no game in 1928 and the league “started” in 1929 with a LaSalle 19-6 win. 8-0 LaSalle is taking on 4-4 Cranston East in a Division I playoff game tonight (11/21/14) at LaSalle in Providence. Many believe now that LaSalle will rest their starters on Thanksgiving Day against the Townies. Interest level in the Turkey Day game remains to be seen. Inclement weather will certainly keep the crowd low where in the past upwards of 8,000 fans would pack Pierce no matter what.

But the party is on say East Providence officials:

"We are going to recognize the significance of Pierce Field's 75th birthday," said Townie athletic director Bob Duarte. "So many great activities have gone on at Pierce that we want to celebrate what it has meant to our city and to the state for that matter," said Duarte." Pierce Memorial Stadium was built under the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal agency of the Federal Government during the 1930’s. Completed in November of 1939, the stadium cost $300,000. The field bears the name of one of East Providence's most prominent residents, W.B. Pierce who had bequeathed a trust fund to the town to save this land specifically for recreational use. On November 30, 1939 Pierce Memorial Stadium opened to the public in time for the traditional Thanksgiving Day football game between East Providence and La Salle Academy. The Townies won, 10 to 0.

"I have too many memories of Pierce to name just one," said popular Pierce facility manager, Joe Medeiros. Medeiros has been in charge of everything at the sprawling athletic complex since 1991. "When I think back about the history of Pierce Field, I think of more than local sports or football. Pierce has featured some very big events. In 1959, Harold Gomes of Providence fought and won the World Junior Lightweight boxing championship, in a national match set up in the field," said Medeiros. "We have also witnessed some major soccer events through the years with world class athletes like Portugal's Eusébio who played in a soccer game before 12,000 fans in 1980." Medeiros went on to point out other major events through the years. There were many concerts featuring national acts like America, Three Dog Night, The Guess Who, and Bonnie Raitt to mention some.

A stone memorial inside the gates commemorates the time when both Babe Ruth and Ted Williams put on separate hitting exhibitions inside Pierce. In September 1941, Ruth put on a hitting exhibition which was followed the next day by Red Sox Great Ted Williams.

Ghosts of the Past:

Thanksgiving Day 2014 will still feature a Townie-Ram football game on the hallowed Pierce Field grass but a group happy birthday song or two make break out in the stands. The famous Townie marching band will entertain along with cheerleaders, flag corps, etc. "We're going to bring out a football player from each decade going back to the 1940's," said Duarte. "It will culminate with a special ceremony naming part of the facility for one of these Townie icons," smiled an excited Duarte. It should be a great day of tradition, football and reunions. Now if EP can pull off the upset of the year ...!