Fort Hamilton Football

The Black & Gold

Fort Hamilton Football Squad, Brooklyn, N.Y.,2nd Corp Area Champions 1926. Team photo.
Fort Hamilton Football Team, U.S. Army 2nd Corps Area Champions, 1926
(Photo Courtesy of the Harbor Defense Museum at Fort Hamilton)

Home Field: Reservation Field, 99th Street & 4th Avenue.

The following list is incomplete, still being researched and continuously updated. 

1890
Ft. Hamilton Cricket Club
11/15  W 16-2      Long Island Medical College

1894
11/3   W  6-2      Bayside? (H)

1899
5th Artillery
12/10  W 15-0      Sedgewick Field Club (H)

1900
5th Artillery
10/13  W 28-0      St. Paul's of Brooklyn (H)
10/20   ?       at Elizabeth Athletic Club
.      L           Warlow A.C. of Whitestone
11/29  L  0-6   at St. Thomas Cadets, Waterbury

1901
Wacandahe of Fort Hamilton
11/23  W           Brightons of Coney (Island)
11/24   ?       at St. Peter's Christian Library Association

1902
Fort Hamilton
11/2   L  0-17     Herkimer A.A.
11/8   L  0-12     New York Naval Reserves (H)
11/15  L  0-3   at Fort Totten

1903
Artillery men
10/17  L  0-17     Oreo A.C.  200
10/24  L  0-34     U.S.S. Alabama (H)
11/8   L  0-5   at Olympic A.C., at Harlem Oval (136th & Madison)
11/15  L  0-12  at Richmond A.C., Cove Field, West New Brighton, Staten Island
   New York Harbor Championship
12/16  T  0-0      Fort Totten, inside Madison Square Garden (#2)  2,000
12/19  T  0-0      Fort Totten, inside Madison Square Garden

1904
10/30  L  0-21  at Olympic A.C., Olympia Field (136th & 5th)
11/20   ?       at Richmond A.C., Cove Field 

1905
11/12  L  0-17  at Knickerbocker Field Club, Olympia Field 

1906
10/27  L  0-6      Oreos of Asbury Park
.      T  0-0      Fort Totten
.      T  0-0      Fort Totten
11/29  L  0-22 (at)Fort Totten, at Donnelly's Athletic Field, College Point  att: 500 0-24/23? 

1907
11/5   L  0-6   at Fort Totten, Donnely Field
11/16  L  0-16     Orange Y.M.C.A. (N.J.)

1908

1909
10/24  L  0-3   at Fort Totten [pos. Fort Hancock] (discrepancy in Flushing Times)

1914
.      L  0-24     Montana Field Club of Stapleton

1915

1916

1917
.      L  7-21     U.S.S. Texas
11/18  T  7-7   at Stapleton F.C.
11/24  W 54-0      2nd Naval Battalion (H)
11/29  W 60-0      Fort Hancock 24th Company, at Ebbets Field  [benefit]  69-0?


1922
11/7   L  0-40     101st Calvery, New York National Guard (H) 

1923 
Shamrocks of Fort Hamilton
10/28 canceled  at Flushing Metros
11/2   ?           16th Infantry, Governors Island (H)

1924
9/28  L  0-57   at George Mulligan's Brass City Pros, Waterbury (Waterbury Blues)
10/4  T  0-0       Missions of Brooklyn (H)
10/   W  7-6       Missions of Brooklyn
10/11 no game      West Point Enlisted Men 
10/11 W 19-0       St. Patrick's Club (H)
10/18 W 25-9    at Fort Slocum
10/26 L  6-19      Fort Totten (H)
11/2  L  0-27      U.S.S. Wright (H)
11/27 L  0-27      Glencoe F.C. of Dyker Heights

1925
10/25  ?           Miller Field (H)
11/11 L  0-19      Miller Field
11/1   ?           Fort Hancock Coast Artillery [Brooklyn Eagle]  (H)
11/7  W  9-7    at 6th Division, N.Y. Naval Militia, Whitestone, at Flushing Memorial Field

1926  Coach- Lt. Davis
2nd Corps Area Champions  
.     W            Fort Wadsworth
11/7  L  0-32      Saranac (H)  0-44? 0-39? 0-33?
11/14 W  6-0       Fort Totten (H)  3,000
          2nd Corp Area Semi-Final:
11/21 T  7-7       18th Infantry, Fort Slocum (H)
11/28 W 18-0       Fort Slocum
          2nd Corp Area Championship:
11/30 W 14-0       Fort Wadsworth (H)
12/4  T  0-0    at West Point Militia Attachment (Field Artillery)

1927 (5-3-0)   coach- Lt. Merson L. Skinner
10/25 W 26-0       College Point Legionaires (semi-pro)  2-2,500 10/23?
10/30 L            Saranac A.C. (H)  ~3,000
11/6  W 28-0       Miller Field, New Dorp (H)
11/13 L  6-33   at Fort Totten, at Bayside [originally sched. at Ft. Hamilton]
11/20 no game      Staten Island F.B.C. (H)
11/20 W 44-0       Fort Wadsworth (H)
11/24 postp.       Fort Jay (H)
11/27  ?           Fort Jay (H?)
12/4  L  0-13      West Point Field Artillery (Service team)  (H) att: 200 [benefit]

1928

1929
.     L  0-32      Miller Field
11/17 L  0-20      Fort Slocum
11/24 L  0-14      1st Signal Corp, Fort Monmouth (H)
11/28 T  0-0       Brooklyn Naval Hospital  [NOTE: I also have this as Naval Hosp. v. Fort Monmouth]
12/1  W 12-0       Fort Slocum (H) Reservation Field
12/8  T  0-0       West Point Field Artillery (H) 1,000
  Ramblers of Fort Hamilton {10 to 12 year olds)
11/   L  0-19      Lafayette AC
  Hamilton A.C. of Fort Hamilton
11/28 W  8-6       Cubs

1930 (`4-4-0)
10/26 L  0-13   at Plainfield Saracens, Green Brook Park
11/2  W 32-0    at Miller Field
11/9  W 20-12      Bay Ridge Maroons (semi-pro) (H)  5,000
11/16 L  6-7       Fort Totten (H)  att: 500-1,500 0-7? 0-6? [2 more home v Fort Totten?]
11/23 L  7-12      Fort Monmouth 15th Signal Service Company (H)  att: 600
11/27 W  7-0       Bay Ridge Collegians (semi-pro) (H)  [benefit game]  2,000
11/30 W 27-2       Harway A.C. (H)
12/7  L  0-13      Brooklyn Collegiates (H)  2,500
  [I think loss mentioned in newspaper to Fort Hancock was mistake in paper, they meant Fort Monmouth]

1931  (1-9-0)
10/4  L  0-41   at Passaic Red Devils
10/10  ?        at Fort Hancock
10/11 L  0-6    at Fort Hancock
10/18 L  0-13   at Fort Slocum, at New Rochelle
10/25 L  0-24   at Fort Totten
11/1  L  0-6       Brooklyn Collegians (H)  3,000
11/8  L  0-20      St. Vincent Ferrer A.C. (H)
11/15 L  7-19      Bay Ridge Collegians (H)  2,000 
11/22 L  0-7       Bay Ridge Maroons (H)  (benefit)
11/29 L  0-13      Quentin A.C. (H)  1,200
12/6  W 12-6       New York Black Hawks (H)
12/13 no game      All-Southern Collegians (H)  [orig. schedule]

1932
Fort Hamilton Bears (prob. neighborhood team]

1933

1934

1935 (~1-3-1)  coach- Lt. Norman Edwards
10/20 L  7-13   at Bay Ridge F.B.C., Bay Ridge Oval
11/3  L  0-21      Bay Ridge Phantoms (H)  3,000
11/10 W 13-0       Bay Ridge Paunees (H)
11/17  ?           Fort Hancock (H) (charity) (maybe pp. to 11/24 ?)
11/24 T  0-0       Samosets of Bay Ridge (H)
12/1  L  0-28      Fort Jay (H)
   Fort Hamilton Raiders (probably neighborhood team?)
11/24 W 13-7       Coney Island Rams

1936 (~3-4-0)  coach- Lt. Norman Edwards
18th Infantry
10/7   ?        at Bay Ridge Red Devils, at Bay Ridge Oval (15th Ave. & 86th St.)
.     W  7-6       Bay Ridge Samosets   
10/18 L  0-20   at Valley Stream Red Riders, at Firemen's Field  2,500
11/1  L  6-12      Bay Ridge Phantoms (H)
11/8  W 19-6       10th Cavalry, West Point (H)
11/15 L  6-26      Bay Ridge Samosets (H)  [6-20?]
11/22 L  0-31      Fort Jay (H)  2,500
11/29 W 18-12      Bay Ridge Phantoms (H)  1,500

1937 (~4-4-1)
10/3  L  0-13      Elroy A.C. of Brooklyn (H)  3,500
10/10 L  0-6       Fort Du Pont (H)
10/17 W  7-6       Bay Ridge Phantoms (H)  3,500
10/24 T 13-13      Fort Totten (H)  2,500-5,000
10/31 L 13-15      Chris Cagle's All-Stars/Zephyrs (H)  5,500
11/7  no game      Passaic Pros (H)
11/7  W  6-0       Elroy A.C. (H)  4,500
11/13 L  0-44   at Brooklyn College, Erasmus Hall H.S. Field
11/21 W 25-0       Fort Jay (H)  3,000
11/28 canceled     Bay Ridge Samosets (H)  [rain]
12/5  W  7-0       Nutley Club (H)

1938 (~2-4-2)   Army Service Football League
9/6   L  0-6       Bay Ridge Phantoms
10/2  L  0-32      Brooklyn College (H)  3,000
10/9  T  0-0       Elroy A.C.  1,500
10/16 W 24-6       Fort Hancock (H)
10/30 L  0-16   at Fort Du Pont Engineers (Del.)
11/6  T  0-0       Bay Ridge Phantoms (H)
11/13 W  6-0       Bay Ridge Devils (H)
 1st Brigade, 1st Regular Army Chamionship; 1st Div, 2nd Corp Area Championship:
11/20 L 25-30   at Fort Jay, Morris Memorial Field, Governor's Is.  3,000  [orig. sched. Home game]
11/27 canceled     Astoria Maples (H)  [snowed out]

1939 (~1-2-1)
10/1  L  6-18      Elroy A.C. (H)
10/8  L  8-20      Brooklyn College (H)  2,000
10/15 T  0-0       Fort Hancock (H)  1,500
10/22 W  7-0       Brooklyn Samosets (semi-pro) (H)

1940

1941 (~1-4-0)
11/2  L  7-20      Bay Ridge Elroys (H)
.     L  0-19      Holy Cross Gaels
11/16 L  0-46      Fort Monmouth, at Union City
11/23 W  9-7       Bay Ridge Spartans (H)
.     L  6-7       Holy Cross Gaels

1942 (1-6-0)
10/3  L  0-59   at Franklin & Marshall  4,000
.     L  0-39      St. Vincent
10/16 L  0-26   at Moravian (night)
10/25 W  7-6    at Long Island Anthonians (semi-pro), at Valley Stream Firemen's Memorial Field 10/24?
11/3  L  0-39   at Brooklyn College
11/8  L  7-47   at Canisius  6,891
11/22 L  7-39      Fort Totten, at Union City
 Notes:
•The site of Fort Hamilton was originally known as Nyack, and inhabited by the Nyack , part of a group of tribes of the Algonquin people known as the Wappinger group, who made up the Canarsee culture of Brooklyn and Queens. “Renneiu”, their language, was the only one of the Algonquin to contain the R sound. It is theorized that circa 1300, the Taino speaking Quiscayan tribe of the the island of Hispanola, who were ocean going-whalers, followed the whales and settled on Long Island, bringing their language and their arrow points to the Nyack. Eventually the Nyack were moved, in two moves, 30 miles north up the Hudson to where today's Nyack is located.
•Nyack means “point of land”, and the first defenses, a block house were constructed here overlooking the Narrows following the settlement of nearby New Utrecht by the Dutch starting in 1650. The Surveyor-General who laid out New Utrecht, Jacques Cortlyou lived where Fort Hamilton is, his home surviving until 1895.
•The Dutch West India Company bought the Bay Ridge area from the Nyack, calling it Yellow Hook (and Yellow Ridge) for the color of the clay found there. After the yellow-fever epidemic, 1848-49, it was renamed Bay Ridge after the glacial ridge (Ridge Boulevard) and the Bay below.
•In 1664, the British took possession.
•The last siting of large wild game in Brooklyn was “in 1759, when a full-sized bear attempted to swim across to New Utrecht from Red Hook and was shot by Sebring of Brooklyn.”
•Denyse's ferry went between Staten Island and the shores below the bluff where Ft. Hamilton would later be built.
•On July 12, 1776, an American battery fired on British ships in the harbor, damaging the H.M.S. Asia. On August 26, 1776, British ships bombarded the bluffs (the site of the future Ft. Hamilton), hitting the Cortlyou and Denyse homes. The area where the Redcoats landed is today John Paul Jones Park. General Howe used the Cortlyou mansion as his headquarters.
•During the War of 1812, fortifications were built to protect the harbor. Fort Wadsworth on the Staten Island side, and two forts on the Brooklyn side: Fort Lewis, and Fort Diamond - later named Fort Lafayette - on an off-shore reef.
•Construction (1825-1831) replaced Fort Lewis with a new fortification. Fort Hamilton was the first granite fort in New York Harbor. Although called Fort Hamilton, the name was not official until the 20th century. Purportedly named for Alexander Hamilton The original 1831 fortification survives as the Community Club today.
•Captain Robert E. Lee was Fort Engineer in the first half of the 1840s, and Stonewall Jackson served there at the end of that decade.
•Abner Doubleday, of baseball fame, was Fort Hamilton's Post Commander at the beginning of the Civil War.
•During the Civil War, the biggest muzzle-loading cannon ever cast in the U.S., the 20-inch Rodman Gun, was installed at Fort Hamilton and is still there (one of a pair, the other at Fort Hancock at Sandy Hook). The 20-inch shot weighed 1000 pounds (the battery fired at the British in 1776 were nine-pounders). Ship barrier chains were laid across the Narrows, and Fort Lafayette was used as a federal prison for Confederate prisoners-of war, one of whom was Robert E. Lee's son.
•Long range guns were installed, then replaced by anti-ship guns for the First World War, when the fort was also used as a troop embarkation point.
•Anti-aircraft guns went in during World War Two.
•Used as a U.N. Troop Staging Area for the Korea War.
•Nike Missiles were armed and ready at Fort Hamilton, 1954-1974.
•Except for the mostly symbolic action by the Patriots in 1776, no rifle, cannon, gun or missile was ever fired from Fort Hamilton.
•Fort Hamilton Hospital was opened in the Spring of 1929.
•Fort Lafayette was destroyed and its island used as a pier for the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, built (1959-1964) as the longest suspension bridge in the world
•The U.S. Army Chaplain School relocated to Fort Hamilton from Fort Slocum in 1962 where it was based until relocated to Fort Monmouth in 1974.
•Designated New York Area Command and Fort Hamilton under Fort Dix, 1975.
•Put under the U.S. Army Military District of Washington, 1997.
•The North Atlantic Division, U.S. Army Corp of Engineers since 1998.
•Home of the U.S. Army Recruiting Battalion & Military Entrance Processing Station for the New York area.
•Home of the 26th Army Band.
•Home of the Army Harbor Defense Museum.
•Fort Hamilton is the only active U.S. Army Post in the New York area, and the second oldest continuously garrisoned federal post in the United States
•The current commander (2005) of the U.S. Garrison at Fort Hamilton is Colonel Tracey E. Nicholson, the first woman commander at the base.

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This list is compiled and designed by Paul S. Luchter
  Updated 1/22/2024
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