Built on Randalls Island in the East River as a WPA project, 15,000 attendees witnessed Jesse Owens compete at the stadium in the Men's Olympic Trials on July 11, 1936, the opening night of the new facility.

The stadium was also used as a filming site for a Sesame Street segment about The Flashettes girls track team.

(Coincidentally, the football Dodgers wound up playing under the same lights used at Ebbets, as they had been moved to Randalls Island upon the older stadium's destruction.

[10] A friendly held at the stadium in July 1973 between Haiti and Millonarios of Colombia was delayed for more than two hours and forty five minutes by Haitian exiles protesting against the Duvalier regime.

He later made a call to Haitian Football Federation president Claude Raymond who told him to resume the match, if possible.

On June 15, 1975, Pelé made his NASL debut against the Dallas Tornado with 21,567 spectators in attendance and a national television audience on CBS.

The stadium also played host to the rugby football New Zealand All Blacks several times, in the course of larger tours to Europe.

Performers included Ray Charles, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Miriam Makeba, and Mongo Santamaria.

Productions presented N.Y. City Fun Festival at Downing, which included performances by Sam & Dave, Stevie Wonder, Wilson Pickett, B.B.

Unfortunately, the concert was a bust, as half the big name lineup failed to show up (although Jimi Hendrix performed a memorable set).

What is more, the festival was picketed by several radical groups: some of the protesters demanded that a portion of the ticket sales go to worthy causes (even threatening the box office), while others wanted everyone to get in free.