Texas acquired its first professional sports team, the Dallas Texans, on January 30, 1952. The team’s only season started with a game against the New York Giants on September 28 in the 75,500-seat Cotton Bowl in Fair Park. They went on to lose their first nine games and finished the season with a record of 1-11, having only defeated the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving Day. They found a shining moment in the final event in the franchise history – a team banquet held at the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas, which marked the first time African-Americans had ever been served by the Dallas landmark. It would be eight years until professional football returned to Dallas with the founding of the Dallas Cowboys.