Join us as we explore the fascinating story of Glenn McCarthy and his ambitious plans for a giant stadium in Houston, Texas, which was never built. Timothy Brown from footballarchaeology.com shares insights about this larger-than-life character, who was inspired by the grandeur of the film "Giant" and envisioned a 100,000-seat stadium with a retractable roof. Despite his efforts, including hosting the glamorous Shamrock Bowl in 1949, McCarthy's dreams of bringing professional football to Houston faced numerous challenges, ultimately leading to the dissolution of the AFC shortly after. This episode delves into the rich history of football in Texas, highlighting the colorful personalities and extravagant ambitions that shaped the sport. Tune in for a captivating tale that not only preserves football history but also reveals the entertaining quirks of its lesser-known figures.

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Darren Hays and Timothy Brown engage in a compelling dialogue that centers around the untold story of a proposed giant stadium in Houston, Texas, envisioned by the eccentric Glenn McCarthy in the late 1940s. As they explore McCarthy's dream of a 100,000-seat stadium featuring a retractable roof, the episode provides a rich historical context of American football during a time when cities were vying for NFL franchises. The discussion highlights the challenges Houston faced due to inadequate facilities and how McCarthy's audacious plans aimed to fill this gap, showcasing his commitment to community and the sport.

Brown elaborates on McCarthy's life, revealing the intriguing connections between his experiences and the cultural landscape of Texas. With anecdotes about his flamboyant personality, his rise and fall in the oil business, and his eventual inspiration for the character Jet Rink in the film 'Giant', the episode portrays McCarthy not just as a businessman but as a larger-than-life character who sought to leave a lasting mark on the city. The conversation also reflects on the broader implications of stadiums in shaping the identity of communities and their sports culture, emphasizing how these structures are often emblematic of local pride and ambition.

Ultimately, this episode serves as a reminder of the dreams that once fueled the quest for football greatness in cities like Houston, even if those dreams did not come to fruition. Through Brown's historical insights and Hays's engaging hosting, listeners gain a newfound appreciation for the complex narratives that weave together the fabric of American football history.

As the old saying goes, everything's bigger in Texas.

Well, even the football stadiums, apparently.

Timothy Brown@footballarchaeology.com joins us to talk about a giant stadium in Houston, and it's not the one you're thinking about.

Tim's up in just a moment to tell us all about it.

This is the Pigskin Daily History Dispatch, a podcast that covers the anniversaries of American football events throughout history.

Your host, Darren Hays is podcasting from America's North Shore to bring you the memories of the gridiron one day at a time.

Hello, my football friends.

This is Darren Hayes of Pigskind dispatch.com welcome once again to the Pig Pen, your portal to positive football history.

And welcome to another edition of Tuesday footballarchaeology.com day.

Timothy B.

Brown is here to talk about one of his tidbits he's written recently.

Tim, welcome back to the Pig Pen.

Hey, Derek.

Look forward to chatting.

This is a giant of a tidbit that we get to talk about, a.

Giant of a tidbit.

And, folks, you may be thinking the word giant maybe in a different context than what Tim is talking.

We will not be talking about the team, the professional team from New York so much today, but rather a large object that's connected with football and a recent tidbit that Tim's wrote titled Glenn McCarthy and Houston's Giant Stadium.

So, Tim, what can you tell us about this?

Yeah, so this, this one's kind of fun.

So my lovely and beautiful wife is a big fan of the movie Giant.

And, you know, it's got James Dean, it's got Rock Hudson, it's, you know, got a couple other people.

And I say that because we'll get back to that in a moment.

So, you know, back in the late 40s, you know, you had the NFL and then you had the AFC, and they were basically competing with one another.

And so, you know, there were probably, you know, 16, 18 teams between the two leagues.

So there's still a lot of cities that did not have a franchise.

And so, you know, there was kind of, as has gone on for a long time there, different cities and different groups of people trying to figure out a way to buy a franchise and move it to their town or to get a new franchise.

And so that was happening in Houston and in Houston, one of the challenges that a lot of cities had was that they didn't have an adequate stadium, at least for what the NFL wanted.

And, you know, which is kind of funny because they were playing in places like, you know, Briggs Stadium, you know, later, Tiger Stadium.

They're playing in Fenway.

They were playing in, in Wrigley, you know, so, you know, some of those places just weren't great foot, great football stadiums, but nevertheless, so they still felt Houston didn't really have, have what they needed.

And so at the time, University Houston was looking at maybe building a bigger stadium, a new stadium.

Rice was talking about expanding theirs.

And so there was this guy named Glenn McCarthy who kind of stepped up and said, you know, I have plans for a, for a hundred thousand seat stadium with a retractable roof.

It's going to cost $6.5 million to build, which seems like nothing nowadays.

And he was willing to put up the first 3 million just as a gift to the community.

Now, this guy McCarthy was kind of a crazy character.

He had grown up in Texas, had gone to Houston schools, but then transferred anyway.

He's kind of a, you know, I don't think he was the greatest student.

And at least later in life he enjoyed to knock back a few, which caused him to knock around a couple other things.

So he's kind of a crazy guy.

And then he ended.

So he, he ended up Tulane recruited him, but he couldn't get in academically.

So then he played for a school, high school in Louisiana.

And then they found out, you know, they got him in the state playoffs.

They found out partway through that he wasn't eligible because of his past in Texas.

So then he ends up going to some other like prep school in West Texas and then he ends up at Texas A and M, gets booted for some kind of hazing incident and then he ends up at Rice where I think he was on the roster for a year or two.

And then he leaves school and he becomes a oil wildcatter and ends up, you know, hitting it, you know, multiple times.

So he's one of, one of these guys who made a fortune three or four times and lost it, you know, three times.

So I think he had some money in the end, but, you know, he, he had his ups and downs and so that's kind of who this guy was.

He's kind of a little bit of a nut.

And in that movie, well, it was book first and then the movie Giant, he is this guy.

McCarthy was the basis for the character Jet Rink, who is played by James Dean in that movie.

So anybody that's familiar with the movie Giant, you know, he's that character.

So anyways, you know, the whole stadium thing does, doesn't happen.

And you know, he was, he's still trying to get, you know, get either NFL, AFC.

He's able to convince the AFC to come to Houston.

He ran and hosted the Shamrock bowl, which was a.

It was the Cleveland.

Cleveland Browns who were the champion that year.

They played an all star team comprised of guys from all the rest of the teams in the league.

And so, you know, they host.

Host this thing.

And like, he was a big showman.

You know, he, he had like, there are some quotes.

A couple guys like YA Tittle, you know, claimed like it was the biggest event he ever attended in his life.

That just like, it was just splashy and the food, the drink, the women, the everything, you know, kind of whatever you wanted.

If you were a player in the day or two, you know, after the game, then, you know, it was available to you.

So then that never really went anywhere because, well, the AFC folds right after that.

But then he builds a big hotel called the Shamrock Hotel.

And it was like this big luxury place in Houston, but it was too far away from the.

From downtown, so it never really made it.

But like, same thing when he opened it was he had trains and, and airplanes coming in from Hollywood, had sports celebrities coming in and, you know, so it was this big splashy event.

So, you know, anyway, it's just this kind of crazy character he did.

He made it on.

So, you know, he wasn't a schlub.

You know, I mean, he, he was a big deal and.

But still just, you know, ups and downs.

And then I think he kind of settled down a little bit later in life and, you know, kind of kicked his heels up and rested a little bit.

Wow, that is quite the tall tale there.

Everything's bigger in Texas, including the stadiums and the stories about the stadium.

That's quite an extravagant character, it sounds like.

Well, and, you know, think about it.

I mean, I don't have anything to really go.

I mean, I didn't really find any evidence of this, but if you think about it.

So he was saying his stadium was going to have an aluminum retractable roof.

Right.

And so that was going to be in Houston.

Well, what's the first city that had a dome?

Yeah.

So, you know, were the two connected?

I, you know, I don't know, but I would guess that, you know, he planted a seed, you know, for those folks down there about this whole covered stadium thing.

But, I mean, a hundred thousand, that's.

That's a gigantic stadium.

There's probably only, what, three or four stadiums.

And they're all college stadiums that concede that.

And no, no, I don't think there's a professional stadium that can.

So that's.

That's a.

That's a big deal.

Yeah.

And, you know, so, you know, it's, you know, college stadiums, especially early on, they build these big ones, and it was really just, you know, like, even, like Harvard Stadium and Yale, the Yale Bowl, I mean, those things, they.

They were.

Their capacity was intended for the rivalry games.

You know, early season, they get five, maybe 10,000 people, but they wanted to be able to seat 40, 60, 70,000 for the big games because that's when the, you know, alums came back and donated money, you know, so.

And renewed old friendships and, you know what that.

So.

Well, state stadiums were built much better back in the day because you're getting, you know, a century out of stadiums where now you have, like, Cleveland, their stadiums, like 21 years old, and they're, hey, we got to build a new stadium.

This thing's outdated.

You know, I'm thinking, jesus, I've had pairs of socks last longer than that, you know.

Yeah.

Well, I mean, the other thing is even, like, you know, you look at Northwestern, you know, colleges, with very few exceptions, they build, you know, they expand and renovate their stadium.

And sometimes they get to the point, like Northwestern, where you just got to tear it down and rebuild, but they do it in the same footprint or nearly so.

Right.

Whereas pros, it's like, well, you know, we'll either build it out in the burbs, you know, build, you know, play in a different state in the case of, you know, New York, and the.

Taxpayers pay for it, most of them.

Yeah, that's great.

Great.

Yeah.

Wow.

Great stuff.

That's a great story and really, really glad that you could tell that and preserve that history, because it's a.

It's really a cool one that, you know, I.

I've never heard before till I.

I read it in your tidbit.

And you.

You have other stories like this that come up all the time that, you know, the common football fan and even people that are into football history all the time don't know about.

And maybe you could share with folks how they could partake in those.

Sure.

Just go to footballarchaeology.com if you haven't been there before.

It's going to ask you to any.

Enter your email address.

And if you do that, then you're, you know, effectively you're subscribing, and if you subscribe, you'll get every time I send an article or publish an article, you'll get an email that has the article, the images, etc in it.

Alternatively, go to the site, you know, whenever you want and, you know, check through the archives or, you know, whatever's on the front page and have at it.

All right.

Well, Tim Brown, we appreciate you coming on here talking about this subject and love to talk to you again next week.

Very good.

Thank you.

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