Semi-professional football in Ironton began in 1893 with a team known as the Irontonians. Founded in 1919, the Ironton Tanks combined two Ironton cross-town rival football clubs, the Irish Town Rags and the Lombards. The name fit both a city heavily dependent on the iron industry and team members returning from World War I and new players who likened themselves to battlefield tanks that flattened the opposition. On April 16, 1926, the Beechwood Stadium Corporation was formed to raise money to build the team a permanent home, and six months later the stadium was completed. Opened in 1926, Tanks Memorial Stadium became the home of the Ironton Tanks, who in twelve seasons compiled a record of 85 wins, 19 losses, and 14 ties, including victories over the Chicago Bears and New York Giants. Through the years they played other semi-professional teams as well as teams from the American Professional Football Association, which became the National Football League in 1930, and their innovative 1930 plays, looping and angle charges, are still used today by National Football League teams. The Tanks disbanded in 1931, but five players moved on to the Portsmouth Spartans, which became the Detroit Lions, and four others joined other National Football League teams. Tanks Memorial Stadium is one of the few remaining roofed high school football stadiums in the country.