played at Plant Field their first three seasons, which had to be shared with many community events. In 1936, the school built its own facility in Phillips Field, which was named for local businessman I. W. Phillips, who donated a plot of land adjacent to the university for the stadium site.
For over 30 years, the Spartans primarily scheduled games against other smaller southern colleges as an independent in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and its forerunners. In 1967, the school decided to compete at the highest level of college football in NCAA Division I and moved their home field to Tampa Stadium, which had just been completed. The Spartans produced several NFL stars in this era including John Matuszak and Freddie Solomon while building a sizeable local following. However, the school had only about 2000 students in the early 1970s and struggled to afford the expenses of a maintaining a major college football program.
When Tampa was awarded a new NFL franchise in 1974 (the eventual …
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