On Sept. 24, 1958, two boys were stabbed after a football game at White Stadium in Franklin Park.
Two weeks later, then-Boston Public Schools superintendent Dennis C. Haley declared there would be no more Friday night games at White Stadium.
The ban lasted until 2004.
Twenty-one years ago, Globe photographer Bill Greene was on hand when Friday night football returned to the historic venue, which is undergoing a renovation as it enters its next chapter as a home for women’s professional soccer in Boston.
On Sept. 17, 2004, the crowd was smaller than anticipated and the weather was less than ideal. But it was a milestone moment in the history of high school football all the same.
The contest was between O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science vs. South Boston Education Complex.
But the result didn’t really matter.
“The crowd at this game is pretty much going to be the biggest I will play for,” Gregory Benoit, an O’Bryant senior, told the Globe at the time. “This is the big time.”
Then-Boston Mayor Thomas Menino made a point of bringing Friday night football back to White Stadium. The tradition ended due to violence, and returned for the same reason. Menino was seeking ways to give city teenagers and their families a safe haven after a stretch of summer violence.
Boston University’s marching band played, Pop Warner players ran up and down the sidelines, and 500 fans watched as Kerome Coley ran in a touchdown to give O’Bryant the 8-0 win.
See Greene’s photos from the game:
Colby Cotter can be reached at colby.cotter@globe.com. Follow him @ColbyCotter.
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