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| Notes: | |
| • "The Atom Bowl was played on a killing field in Nagasaki that had been cleared of debris. It had been carved out of dust and rubble, as one wire service report put it." (Greg Mitchell » "Football at Ground Zero: The ‘Atom Bowl’ in Nagasaki") |
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| • "The rules were changed from tackle to two-hand touch because of all the glass shards remaining on the turf." ( Greg Mitchell » "Football at Ground Zero: The ‘Atom Bowl’ in Nagasaki") |
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| • The teams were made up of troops of the United States Marine Corps. The Nagasaki Bears were led by the Chicago Bears' “Bullet” Bill Osmanski of the Chicago Bears, 1939's NFL rushing leader. The Isahaya Tigers captain, Angelo Bertelli won the 1943 Heisman Trophy. |
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| • The first man-made nuclear chain reaction occurred under the west stands of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago in December 2, 1942 as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project. This led in a direct line to the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. |
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| • Stagg Field opened in 1893 as Marshall Field and was renamed in 1913 for Alonzo Stagg, Chicago's famous football coach. On this field, Stagg and his teams innovated and modernized the game of football. In 1925, Northwestern upset Michigan on Stagg Field. Jesse Owens and Marty Glickman finished 1-2 at the Olympics Trials held there in June 1936. Eventually it held 50,000. Chicago discontinued football in 1939. The stadium was demolished in 1957. |
