1936 NFL Championship Game

The 1944 NFL Championship Game was the 12th National Football League (NFL) title game, played on December 17 at the Polo Grounds in New York City, with an attendance of 46,016. The game featured the Green Bay Packers (8–2), champions of the Western Division versus the Eastern Division champion New York Giants (8–1–1).The Packers were led by longtime head coach Curly Lambeau and its stars were running back Ted Fritsch, end Don Hutson, and quarterback Irv Comp. The Giants were led by head coach Steve Owen, running back Bill Paschal, former Packers quarterback Arnie Herber, and a dominant defense. The Packers were slight favorites, despite the Giants' 24–0 shutout win four weeks earlier. Prior to the game, the Packers had spent over a week preparing in Charlottesville, Virginia; they had completed their regular season on November 26, while the Giants finished on December 10. If the title game ended in a tie, the teams would share the championship.Green Bay scored two touchdowns in the second quarter then yielded one early in the fourth to win 14–7 for their sixth and final league title under Lambeau, their first since 1939.The Packers did not return to the championship game for sixteen years, and won the following year in 1961, the first of five titles in seven seasons in the 1960s under head coach Vince Lombardi.

The 1934 NFL Championship Game, also known as the Sneakers Game, was the second scheduled National Football League (NFL) championship game. Played at the Polo Grounds in New York City on December 9, it was the first title game for the newly created Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy. With a remarkable fourth quarter, the New York Giants defeated the Chicago Bears 30–13.

The 1946 NFL Championship Game was the 14th annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL), played December 15 at the Polo Grounds in New York City, with a record-breaking attendance of 58,346. The game matched the New York Giants (7–3–1), champions of the Eastern Division, against the Western Division champion Chicago Bears (8–2–1). The Giants had won the regular season game 14–0 at the Polo Grounds seven weeks earlier on October 27, but the Bears were seven to ten point favorites. This was the fifth and final NFL Championship game played at the Polo Grounds and the fourth of six meetings between the Bears and Giants in the title game. Tied after three quarters, Chicago won 24–14 for their seventh NFL title, their fifth victory in eight NFL championship game appearances. The attendance record stood for another nine years, until the 1955 title game in Los Angeles.

The 1938 NFL Championship Game was the sixth championship game played in the National Football League (NFL). It was played on December 11 at the Polo Grounds in New York City, with an attendance of 48,120, a record crowd for a title game.The game matched the New York Giants (8–2–1), champions of the Eastern Division, against the Western Division champion Green Bay Packers (8–3–0). The Giants had won the regular season game with Green Bay 15–3 at the Polo Grounds three weeks earlier on November 20, but Green Bay was without hall of fame end Don Hutson; there was no clear favorite for the title game.This was the Giants' fourth championship game appearance, their previous victory was in the famous "Sneakers game" of 1934 and they were runners-up in 1933 and 1935. It was the Packers' second trip, winning in 1936. New York also won the 1927 NFL title when the championship was awarded to the team with the best season record. Green Bay had similarly won three straight league titles in 1929, 1930, and 1931. At halftime, Packers head coach Curly Lambeau accidentally made a wrong turn going to the team's locker room and walked out of the Polo Grounds, locking himself out. Hurrying to the front gate, Lambeau tried to get back into the Grounds, but the guards at the gate believed Lambeau was a random fan and refused him entry. As Lambeau loudly protested, a couple of sportswriters inside heard the commotion, and identified Lambeau: the guards allowed him back in, by which time halftime was nearly over. After trailing by two points at halftime, Green Bay took the lead in the third quarter with a short field goal, but New York responded with a touchdown and held on through a scoreless fourth quarter to win, 23–17.With the victory, the Giants became the first team to win two Championship Games since the league was split into two divisions in 1933. The two teams met again in the Championship Game the following year in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with the Packers winning 27-0. Ed Danowski became the first Giants starting quarterback to win two NFL Championships for the team (the other is Eli Manning). The Giants' next title was in 1956, and was won at Yankee Stadium.

The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 through 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889, was built for the sport of polo. Bound on the south and north by 110th and 112th streets and on the east and west by Fifth and Sixth (Lenox) avenues, just north of Central Park, it was converted to a baseball stadium when leased by the New York Metropolitans in 1880. The third Polo Grounds, built in 1890, was renovated after a fire in 1911 and became Polo Grounds IV, the one generally indicated when the Polo Grounds is referenced. It was located in Coogan's Hollow and was noted for its distinctive bathtub shape, with very short distances to the left and right field walls and an unusually deep center field. In baseball, the original Polo Grounds was home to the New York Metropolitans from 1880 through 1885, and the New York Giants from 1883 through 1888. The Giants played in the second Polo Grounds for part of the 1889 season and all of the 1890 season, and at the third and fourth Polo Grounds from 1891 through 1957. The Polo Grounds was also the home field of the New York Yankees from 1913 through 1922 and the expansion New York Mets in their first two seasons (1962, 1963). Each of the four versions of the ballpark held at least one World Series. The fourth version also hosted the 1934 and 1942 All-Star Games. In American football, the third Polo Grounds was home to the New York Brickley Giants for one game in 1921 and the New York Giants from 1925 through 1955. The New York Titans/Jets of the American Football League played at the stadium from the league's inaugural season of 1960 through 1963. Other sporting events held at the Polo Grounds included soccer, boxing, and Gaelic football. Its final sporting event was a pro football game between the Jets and Buffalo Bills on December 14, 1963. Shea Stadium opened in 1964 and replaced the Polo Grounds as the home of the Mets and Jets. The Polo Grounds was demolished over a period of four months that year and a public housing complex, known as the Polo Grounds Towers, was built on the site.

The 155th Street station was an elevated railway station in Manhattan, New York City, that operated from 1870 until 1958. It served as the north terminal of the IRT Ninth Avenue Line from its opening until 1918 and then as the southern terminal of a surviving stub portion from 1940 until its closure in 1958. It had two tracks and one island platform.

Greg Marius Court at Holcombe Rucker Park is a basketball court in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, at 155th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, just east of the former Polo Grounds site. It is geographically at the base of a large cliff named Coogan's Bluff. Many who have played at the park in the Entertainer's Basketball Classic (also known as the Rucker Tournament) achieved a level of fame for their abilities, and several have gone on to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

The Hamilton Lodge Ball was an annual cross-dressing ball in Harlem, United States. The Lodge's ball in 1869 was recognized as the first drag ball in United States history. The Hamilton Lodge Ball reached the peak of its popularity in the 1920s and early 1930s, as the Harlem Renaissance and Pansy Craze drew wealthy white New Yorkers and celebrities into Harlem nightlife.

The 155th Street station (155th Street–Eighth Avenue on some signage) is a local station on the IND Concourse Line of the New York City Subway. It is located at the intersection of the bi-level 155th Street's lower level and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, at the border of Harlem and the Coogan's Bluff section of Washington Heights neighborhoods of Manhattan. It is served by the D train at all times except rush hours in the peak direction and the B during rush hours only. The station opened in 1933, along with the rest of the Concourse Line.

The Clef Club was an entertainment venue and society for African-American musicians in Harlem, achieving its largest success in the 1910s. Incorporated by James Reese Europe in 1910, it was a combination musicians' hangout, fraternity club, labor exchange, and concert hall, across the street from Marshall's Hotel. In its best years, the Clef Club's annual take exceeded $100,000. For musical entertainment in the club, Europe created the first all African-American orchestra in the country called the Clef Club Orchestra. This orchestra was very large, numbering around 125 members, and consisted of a wide variety of instruments. Among the instruments included the normal orchestral instruments of violins, violas, cellos, basses, and the normal wind and brass instruments, but also included mandolins, guitars, banjos, ukuleles, and a large bass drum. These “strummed” instruments were not in small amounts either. According to one account the orchestra included “thirty strummers- ten each of mandolins, guitars and a rare harp guitar, and banjos.” The orchestra was also frequently joined by a men's chorus, eight pianists, and various soloists.Very few of these musicians had any musical training, and hardly any could read music. The conductor is quoted as saying: “I always put a man who can read notes in the middle where the others can pick him up."The Clef Club orchestra performed in 1912 - 1915 on the stage of Carnegie Hall in New York City. This concert stands as a crowning achievement for both the orchestra as well as Europe. The orchestra was very well received, and it is said that during one concert march in particular “music-loving Manhattan felt a thrill down its spine such as only the greatest performances can inspire.” Among Reese's musical collaborators at the Clef Club was Ford Dabney, composer of the song "Shine".

Coogan's Bluff is a promontory near the western shore of the Harlem River in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. Its boundaries extend approximately from 155th Street and the Macombs Dam Bridge viaduct to 160th Street, between Edgecombe Avenue and the river. A deep escarpment descends 175 feet (53 m) from Edgecombe Avenue to the river, creating a sheltered area between the bluff and river known as Coogan's Hollow. For 73 years, the hollow was home to the Polo Grounds sports stadium.

The Putnam Bridge was a swing bridge that spanned the Harlem River and the adjacent tracks of the New York Central Railroad in New York City. The bridge connected Harlem in Manhattan to Concourse, near the current location of Yankee Stadium, in the Bronx. It carried two tracks of the New York and Putnam Railroad, and later the 9th Avenue elevated line of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), as well as two pedestrian walkways outside the superstructure. The bridge opened to rail and pedestrian traffic on May 1, 1881, and operated until all rail service was discontinued on August 31, 1958. The bridge's extreme narrowness of 26 feet (7.9 m) between the centers of the trusses, combined with the proximity of the Macombs Dam Bridge, made it impractical and unnecessary to convert to a roadway bridge, and it was removed in 1960.