Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

A guide to Philly's hidden sports treasures

With a little effort and not much travel, NFL tourists can discover all sorts of hidden sports treasures in Philadelphia.

The views of Philadelphia from the 2017 NFL Draft's spectacular vantage point, beneath the Art Museum steps at the head of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, reveal much about this old city's rich history.

But if what most excites visitors to the Draft is sports, the history won't be quite so visible.

With a little effort, though, and not much travel, NFL tourists can discover all sorts of hidden sports treasures, ones related not just to football, but to basketball, baseball, tennis, boxing, and golf as well.

Here are a few Philadelphia sports sites worth exploring.

Franklin Field

For anyone who finds it hard to believe the Philadelphia Eagles -- still without a Lombardi Trophy after all these years -- were ever champions, here's the proof. This handsome, 122-year-old facility is where the franchise's last NFL title was won, way back in 1960. Located on an edge of the University of Pennsylvania's campus, across the Schuylkill from Center City, it's been the home of Penn football since its opening. The Eagles played there for 13 seasons (1958-70). Red Grange, Jim Thorpe, and Chuck Bednarik ran on its field, and John Heisman, the trophy's namesake, coached on its sidelines. The nation's first two-tiered stadium, it's also home to the annual Penn Relays Carnival, America's biggest track-and-field event. (The Penn Relays are this week; access to Franklin Field likely will be limited.) More obscurely, Franklin Field is where Philadelphians pelted Santa Claus with snowballs and where an inebriated Howard Cosell threw up during a Monday Night Football telecast.

The Palestra

Right next door to Franklin Field on 33rd Street is Penn's famous 90-year-old basketball arena, a building so revered in the sport that it's become known as the Cathedral of College basketball. A curious mix of practicality and elegance, the Palestra has hosted more regular-season and NCAA games than any other arena. Locally, it's most famous as the former home of the Big 5, the unique Philadelphia institution that unites five area colleges – Penn, Villanova, LaSalle, Temple and St. Joseph's. Its long and storied history – as well as that of Philadelphia basketball – is on display in the building's narrow, musty hallways.

Connie Mack Stadium and Baker Bowl

For 83 years, Major League Baseball was played along a short stretch of Lehigh Avenue in North Philadelphia. The American League's Philadelphia Athletics won five World Series while playing in Connie Mack (originally Shibe Park), the nation's first steel-and-brick ballpark when it opened at 21st and Lehigh in 1909. Seven blocks east, at Broad and Lehigh, was Baker Bowl, home of the National League Phillies from 1887 to 1938.  Both venues have been torn down, but historical markers note their locations, and their surrounding neighborhoods are little changed.

Joe Frazier's Gym and The Blue Horizon

Philadelphia is as noted for its gritty boxers as its hoagies and cheesesteaks. And not far from the Baker Bowl site is Joe Frazier's Gym, where scores of fighters, including the namesake heavyweight champion, were nurtured. No longer a working facility, the building at 2917 N. Broad St. has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is slated for restoration. Similar plans are underway for the Blue Horizon, the former 1,500-seat arena that Ring magazine once rated as the best boxing venue in the world. Picturesque, intimate, and located in a three-story brownstone, the Blue Horizon was where the opening scenes of Rocky were filmed.

Germantown Cricket Club

This still-functioning emerald gem sits in the midst of what was once a tony Philadelphia neighborhood. With its stately Georgian clubhouse -- designed by the famed architectural firm McKim, Mead and White -- and its pristine grass tennis courts, this National Historic Landmark is a throwback to an earlier era. Tennis legend Bill Tilden, who grew up very near the club's entrance, learned the game here. U.S. championships and Davis Cup matches have been contested at this urban oasis, the nation's second-oldest cricket club.

Merion Golf Club

Located in suburban Ardmore, only a short drive from Center City, its world-renowned East Course has hosted more U.S. Golf Association tournaments (18) than any other. Bobby Jones completed his Grand Slam here, winning the 1930 U.S. Amateur. Ben Hogan, just months after a near-fatal car crash, captured the 1950 Open at Merion. And Lee Trevino beat Jack Nicklaus in a playoff to win the 1971 Open. Rated America's fifth best course by Golf Digest in 2015, Merion's best-known tradition is its use of red wicker baskets instead of flags.

>> Click here for more coverage of the 2017 NFL draft in Philadelphia