Trying to choose “the most memorable moment in RFK Stadium history,” is as fruitless as trying to choose the best meal ever. WTOP breaks it down into more manageable chunks.
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Relive RFK Stadium’s greatest moments, from the gridiron to Beatlemania
Trying to choose “the most memorable moment in RFK Stadium history,” since it opened in 1961, is as fruitless as trying to choose the best meal ever.
Rather than an attempt an impossibly subjective task, WTOP is breaking down some of the memories into four more manageable groups, and talking about those memorable events with people who remember them well.
So, without further ado …
Memorable moments on the football field
The first sporting event at what was then D.C. Stadium was Oct. 1, 1961, when Washington’s Burgundy and Gold took on the New York Giants. Washington lost, 24-21 in front of a crowd of 36,767, including President John F. Kennedy.
Frank Herzog was the play-by-play voice for Washington’s radio broadcasts from 1979 through 2004, teaming with Sonny Jurgensen and Sam Huff.
“RFK had an atmosphere that was it’s own,” Herzog told WTOP. “The tradition was rich, and it was just a very special place to be.”
Asked for his most vivid memories, Herzog barely hesitated: “Darrell Green, Darryl Grant and the seat cushion game.”
In the fourth quarter of the 1987 NFC Championship Game against the Minnesota Vikings, with the winner going to the Super Bowl, Vikings quarterback Wade Wilson threw a pass in the left flat.
“Darrell Green dove in front of the receiver, knocked the ball away, and bang, Washington was in the Super Bowl,” said Herzog. “I recall Joe Gibbs on his knees in prayer.”
Another memorable moment for Herzog was the 1982 NFC Championship game against the Dallas Cowboys.
“Late in the game, Dexter Manley slaps a pass away from the quarterback, and it falls into the hands of Darryl Grant at the 3-yard line, and he rolls into the end zone for the game winning score,” said Herzog.
This was Grant’s only career touchdown.
“The place went nuts,” said Herzog. “On that play, I was afraid that our radio booth was going to fall to the ground, the stadium shook so hard.”
Grant’s interception and return for a touchdown propelled Washington to Super Bowl XVII, where they defeated the Miami Dolphins.
And then there was the seat cushion game.
On Jan. 4, 1992, during the NFC Divisional Playoff against the Atlanta Falcons, fans had been given gold seat cushions as promotional giveaways.
“Their coach had made some comments about the team and about the fans,” said Herzog.
With about six minutes left in the game, Gerald Riggs scored a 1-yard touchdown to extend Washington’s lead to 23-7.
“When it looked like (the team) had it wrapped up, suddenly the seat cushions flew out of the stands. And as the first ones flew out, there came a flood. It was like a shower, it was unbelievable, and it was delightful.”
Herzog said he hopes the team’s owners will place a chunk of RFK’s foundation somewhere within the new stadium, “In hopes that some of that atmosphere and the ghost of the old RFK will spill over.”
With YouTube and other digital platforms, many memorable moments at RFK can be replayed on demand. But for a lot of people, who witnessed Joe Theismann’s career-ending injury on Monday Night Football, once was enough.
On Nov. 18, 1985, during a game with the New York Giants, Washington tried a flea-flicker play, with John Riggins tossing the ball back to Theismann, to set up a deep pass.
Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor’s horrified reaction after slamming Theismann to the ground made it clear this wasn’t a typical sack.
Theismann suffered a compound fracture of the tibia and fibula in his right leg. It ended his NFL career at age 36.
‘Before there were soccer moms’ and baseball’s return to DC
Given D.C. Stadium’s multisport, or cookie cutter design, what eventually became RFK Stadium was made for sports other than football.
The Washington Senators 2.0 played from 1962 through 1971, more than a half-century after baseball writer and humorist Charles Dryden famously wrote in 1904, “Washington — first in war, first in peace, and last in the American League.”
Even with slugger Frank Howard, and manager Ted Williams, after the 1971 season the franchise moved to Arlington, Texas, and became the Texas Rangers.
Thirty-three years later, after decades without the nation’s capital having a team playing the national pastime, the Montreal Expos relocated to D.C. in April 2005, and became the Washington Nationals — this time playing in the National League.
For three years, as a new stadium was being built, the Nats called RFK Stadium home. President George W. Bush threw out the ceremonial first pitch in the April 14, 2005, game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Soccer got several big boosts at RFK.
“We didn’t have soccer moms, minivans weren’t invented yet,” remembers Dave Johnson, longtime WTOP sports director, and the voice of D.C. United since the club’s inaugural season in 1996.
“It was 1975, and Pele was coming to Washington to play the hometown Washington Diplomats at RFK Stadium,” said Johnson. When Pele and the New York Cosmos played in D.C., it was the largest crowd ever at the time for the original North American Soccer League.
“And pregame, Pele’s at the White House with President Gerald Ford at the time, and he’s juggling the ball,” on his feet and head as Ford watched in appreciation, Johnson said. “This game that we barely knew about, suddenly it was part of the White House.”
A quarter-century later, women’s soccer became a phenomenon.
“April 2001, RFK Stadium was the launching pad for the first professional women’s soccer league in the world, when Mia Hamm and the Washington Freedom played the first-ever game in the league,” said Johnson. “Mia Hamm, from Lake Braddock High School in Fairfax, Virginia, the best player in the world, making history in her hometown.”
In 2002, the parking lots and roads near RFK were converted into a 1.66 mile street race circuit for the American Le Mans Series. Despite plans for a 10-year contract, it was the only year the Grand Prix was held at RFK, because of noise complaints.
The second and final time The Beatles played in DC
With far less hoopla than when The Beatles played their first U.S. concert on Feb. 11, 1964 at the Washington Coliseum, the Fab Four played one of their final concerts in D.C., at what was still called D.C. Stadium.
“It was Monday, Aug. 15, of 1966,” said Russ Lease, Beatles historian and CEO of BeatleSuits.com. “In the ’66 tour they did 14 cities, and D.C. was the fourth stop.”
The “Revolver” album had just come out, but The Beatles didn’t play any songs from the groundbreaking album during the tour. “The music had gotten a little more complicated, with more sound effects, and would have been more difficult to reproduce on stage, so they went with the basic 12-song rock ‘n’ roll set,” said Lease.
Did fans who bought tickets realize this would be The Beatles’ last tour?
“No, nobody knew that this was going to be their last one,” said Lease. “And I’m not even sure that they had definitely made up their mind.”
The Beatles arrived at National Airport in the early afternoon, and headed toward the Shoreham hotel, where they had stayed during their first visit, said Lease.
“On the way to the Shoreham, right after getting off the plane, they actually stopped by the White House,” Lease said. A member of the promoter’s staff got out of the car “and asked if they could get a White House tour, and they were immediately told no, because nothing was set up in advance,” said Lease.
After relaxing at the hotel, the band held a news conference at RFK Stadium in the Senators locker room. Many of the questions were directed at John Lennon, who had recently made his “The Beatles are more popular than Jesus,” remark.
“John was trying to deflect it, and was saying that it was taken out of context,” said Lease. When asked to comment on a report that said his comment had been a publicity stunt, Lennon scoffed: “Well, that is one of the most stupid versions of it. That wasn’t a publicity stunt at all. We don’t need bad publicity.”
While The Beatles fielded questions about Lennon’s quote, “Outside the stadium that night, the Maryland chapter of the KKK had a three-member demonstration,” said Lease.
Two weeks after playing at RFK, The Beatles final concert was Aug. 29, 1966, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
‘It was crazy’: Odd happenings at RFK
The largest mass wedding in U.S. history was held at RFK Stadium. On Nov. 29, 1997, Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church married approximately 7,000 couples in a combination of arranged marriages and reaffirmations of vows.
On the other end of the spectrum, RFK Stadium played a role in the largest mass arrest in U.S. history. During 1971, May Day protests against the Vietnam War resulted in more than 12,000 arrests over the course of three days, starting on May 3.
With jails and court cells filled, hundreds were bused and trucked to RFK Stadium, where a makeshift outdoor detention facility was established.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a class suit, seeking to expunge the arrest records, saying that the Nixon administration, anticipating civil disobedience deployed thousands of police and military personnel, who arrested not only protesters, but bystanders.
According to the ACLU, only 79 people were convicted.
After presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was killed on June 5, 1968, there was a groundswell of support to rename D.C. Stadium in his honor. However, after President Lyndon Johnson announced he would not seek reelection, those close to the then-president said he wanted D.C. Stadium to be named for him as he left office however.
Days before Richard Nixon was sworn in, since D.C. Stadium was on National Park Service land, Interior Secretary Stewart Udall, a JFK appointee, signed-off on renaming D.C. Stadium as Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, without LBJ’s knowledge.
A few years before the final regularly scheduled event at RFK — the Oct. 22, 2017 regular season soccer match between D.C. United and the New York Red Bulls, and the series of “Goodbye RFK” events in 2022 and 2023, one of the strangest images ever seen at RFK was captured.
Foo Fighters were scheduled to perform at RFK on July 4, 2015, as part of the band’s 20th anniversary celebration, but that concert was thrown into jeopardy when singer/guitarist Dave Grohl was injured.
“He fell off the stage somewhere in Europe and broke his leg,” said Seth Hurwitz, whose I.M.P. Productions was the promoter of the show.
Hurwitz told WTOP that shortly after learning of the severity of Grohl’s injury, “He was in the hospital when I texted him, and he said, ‘We’re playing the gig.’”
Foo Fighters canceled several shows on the tour, yet every time he texted, Grohl, who grew up in Springfield, Virginia, assured Hurwitz the show would go on.
“It’s his hometown. I guess he told his people, ‘I was to do this show, so make it so,’” Hurwitz said.
While Hurwitz was impressed by Grohl’s determination, it wasn’t clear how the former drummer of Nirvana would be able to play guitar and sing with a broken leg.
“I’d heard that they were building him this throne,” said Hurwitz. “I went to the sound check the day before, and there it was — it was crazy.”
The following night, Grohl performed the sold-out show in a custom-built, motorized throne that he had sketched while in the hospital.
“He’s sitting in a chair, in front of 50,000 people, and he’s rocking the house,” marveled Hurwitz.
While images of Grohl on the throne have been widely shared, for the first time you can see video of the contraption Grohl and Foo Fighters decided not to use at RFK.
“He had this thing where he was going to be suspended by wires and go over the crowd,” Hurwitz said. “But he tried it out, and that was just a little too risky, so they said ‘Nah, never mind on that one.’”
Hurwitz shared video he took during the sound check, in which drummer Taylor Hawkins test-drove the device, while Grohl, lying on the stage with his leg in a cast, enjoyed the moment.
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