Brief Memories of "Old" Foley Field

It has occurred to me often the past few weeks, as I head south on John F. Kennedy Drive or Broad Street to the Bloomfield Public Library, that a vast emptiness reigns in the township.

In the past, the white, old and crumbling Foley Field stands rose skyward; a press box that I used to sit in back in the 1980s when I covered Bloomfield Bengal football for the Bloomfield High School newspaper, The Student Prints, perched at the stands’ apex at around the 50-yard-line.

The past few years those stands sat dormant, no one allowed near them due to their perilous state.

But, they were there. And they had been every day since 1934.

I didn’t spend a lot of time at Foley Field growing up. I attended a decent amount of football games from 1977 through 1983, and even graduated on the field itself back in 1980, but I wouldn’t say – like many – that Foley Field has a special place in my heart because of all the time I spent there.

However, it does hold some fond memories for me, especially my first and last visits there.

The first game I went to was when I was a sophomore in high school back in November of 1977, when an 8-0 Sam Cavallaro-coached squad faced the Barringer Blue Bears in the playoffs. Bloomfield lost the game, 21-12, and Barringer eventually fell to eventual state champion, Butch Woolfolk and Westfield, 33-12, in the state championship at Giants Stadium.

There was that day almost (I assume) 10,000 fans crammed into the then 43 year-old stands, and I had heard from a Bengal footballer at school the Friday before that it was hoped that 12,000 could fit in the stands. The wooden bleachers that sat behind the Barringer sideline were filled as well, and a number of fans ringed the end zones, which on that day were devoid of bleachers.

My last trip to Foley Field was a few years back, when my daughter was a junior in high school. The stands were, at that time, already roped off, but you could walk out on the field.

This was the turf where so many Bloomfield versus Montclair Thanksgiving Day battles were fought, many in favor of the Mounties, with Bloomfield winning a huge one back in 1969 by a 13-8 tally, breaking a losing streak to Montclair dating back to 1945, and perhaps an even bigger one back in 1973, when both clubs – 8-0 and battling for the state’s #1 ranking – fought to the end, the Bengals pulling out a 15-12 victory on a disputed touchdown call.

It was a quiet and warm fall day as I walked the field with Stefanie. We spent about 45 minutes, wandered over and viewed the Bloomfield Fifth Quarter Club monument beyond the James Street side end zone, and chatted about high school, writing and maybe, just maybe, Bloomfield football.

My daughter lost a multi-colored bracelet that day, and we never returned to try and find it. I envision it now being buried under the new turf being placed down, or maybe has been scooped up with whatever was carted away with the old stands and ground.

That last trip to “old” Foley Field, because of the time spent there with my daughter, may have been my favorite.

Regardless of the current work on-going on the field itself, and whatever reconstruction will eventually take place and produce a new venue to watch the Bloomfield Bengals play football, you have to admit one thing.

Those “ancient” stands were special, and them now being gone is a very weird thing.