10/04/2026
Hut, hut, hike! Tampa did not have a professional football team until the Tampa Bay Buccaneers joined the NFL as an expansion team in 1976, but in the 1930s, we watched high school and college football. The University of Tampa Spartans played at Phillips Field on the west side of the Hillsborough River until the program ended in 1974.
Interested in Tampa football history? Come visit the Florida History and Genealogy Library at the John F. Germany Public Library to learn about the inside plays, gridiron glories, and Florida football facts.
[Image: Graduating football players at the University of Tampa posed on football field: Tampa, Fla., (1936) Burgert Brothers Photographic Collection, PA 9090]