The old Jack Murphy Stadium looks like ancient ruins in its final days of demolition

Jack Murphy Stadium was definitely one of my favorite stadiums growing up. This is in part because it was one of those hideous multi-use behemoths lobbed beside a highway, seemingly constructed with one color of concrete and surrounded by a different color of concrete. The aesthetics of it all simply didn’t matter: Just build a place that’s easy to get to where lots of people can park and then go watch sports!

But I also loved it because it had a human name: Jack Murphy. Back then I was 8 years old and Google wasn’t a thing and so I had no idea why it was called this (turns out it was named after a local sports writer who had pushed the city to build the facility.) But I always felt like Jack Murphy had a friendly persona and would be a nice place to sip a chocolate milk (I did not know about beer then) and enjoy a game.

Well, time moves on, and this is what Jack Murphy — which you also may know as San Diego or Qualcomm or SDCCU Stadium — looks like now:

And in case you’ve forgotten what this place looked like in its heyday, here’s a random file photo from 1997:

(AP Photo/Fred Greaves)

I’m dizzy just thinking about getting to the upper deck here.

Of course the Padres moved out of this venue after the 2003 season to Petco Park, and the Chargers left for Los Angeles after the 2016 season. San Diego State played its football games here until 2019 and is building Aztec Stadium in what used to be the parking lot.

The Murph, or The Q, hosted three Super Bowls — XXII in 1988,  XXXII in 1998,  XXXVII in 2003. Let’s review those real quick:

XXII is the Doug Williams game, where Washington destroyed the Broncos 42-10 and Williams won MVP while becoming the first Black QB to ever start a Super Bowl. XXXII also featured the Broncos, this time holding off Brett Favre’s Packers, 31-24, thanks to 157 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns from MVP Terrell Davis. XXXVII is the one where Jon Gruden, having been traded by the Raiders to the Buccaneers because he wanted a higher salary, went and beat the Raiders 48-21.

Here’s the late Al Davis, captured during that game where the coach he dealt won it all:

(Photo by Robert Hanashiro, USA Today)

The Padres played two World Series games at The Murph in 1984, splitting with the Detroit Tigers before being swept in Detroit. Qualcomm Stadium became the only stadium to hold a World Series after a Super Bowl in 1998, but San Diego got swept by the Yankees. Who could forget Tony Gwynn dropping hits into every open bit of field at this place, though? (Unfortunately one of the main baseball memories here is that time Roseanne Barr sang really poorly.)

Let’s try to remember it fondly in its final days. Readers responded to this shot with other beautiful photos: