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Post by Baltimore Jack on Jun 17, 2006 20:25:31 GMT -5
This is pretty cool. Using Google Maps, I was able to zoom in and capture this great perspective of Memorial Stadium and the Grady Cole Center, better known to us Mid-Atlantic denizens as the Charlotte Park Center. (I don't know who Grady Cole was, but he has heat with me for taking the name of this great buidling away!) Park Center was the site of great wrestling cards throughout the 1960s and 70s, as was the Stadium, although the Stadium I suppose is best remembered for the Great American Bash.  |
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Post by HardcoreHeroes on Jun 17, 2006 21:38:39 GMT -5
I don't know who Grady Cole was, but he has heat with me for taking the name of this great buidling away!) Grady Cole was the morning guy on WBT radio in Charlotte for 31 years back in the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. You can imagine the kind of impact he had on the town and area back in the day, even if it was before the time of most of us. |
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Post by jameslofton on Jun 17, 2006 21:42:57 GMT -5
Thats very cool. To be honest, I am surprised it still exists. Old arenas, stadiums,etc. are tore down all the time.
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Post by bluedevil71 on Jun 17, 2006 22:58:08 GMT -5
They nearly tore it down a few years back. There was a proposal to do so, but enough people had their say to keep the place up.
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Post by jameslofton on Jun 17, 2006 23:21:59 GMT -5
Maybe someone should try and turn it into a museum. Is it still used frequently, or is it practically rotting?
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Post by HardcoreHeroes on Jun 18, 2006 2:11:16 GMT -5
Maybe someone should try and turn it into a museum. Is it still used frequently, or is it practically rotting? It's run now by the city's Recreation department, and they'd just as soon have it sit empty so kids can play basketball there and the crooked politicians can have somewhere to go on election night to wait on the returns. I hear of a concert or something playing there every now and then but not often. Several folks have tried wrestling there, including myself, and it's never been profitable. Never will. |
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Post by bobbyryates on Jun 18, 2006 10:16:36 GMT -5
one of the best indy's i ever went to was greg's show, when was it...'89?? maybe it was '88. either way, a great show.
he had barry windham, tommy rich, johnny rich, davey rich (haskins), bambi, vic steamboat, joe savoldi....a few other names at the time and some locals. great show!! but not huge crowd like i expected. but a very good show!!
first time i got to go here for a wrestling show, was back in 12/85. the WWF came to town with a "Rick Mcgraw Memorial". it featured hogan vs bundy on top, but the semi main was ricky steamboat vs roddy piper. considering it was '85, it was still a very good match.
Smoky Mountain Wrestling came once (called Carolina Memories) with a huge lineup that featured a bunch of MACW stars making 'legends' appearances. tim woods, swede hansen, tommy young, terry allen, abe jacobs, nelson royal, and johnny weaver were all on hand to meet the fans.
UFC III was held in this building back in '93. sold out like crazy. had to stand the whole night. guess they learned their lesson..when UFC returned to charlotte, they went to the old coliseum.
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Post by HardcoreHeroes on Jun 18, 2006 10:48:39 GMT -5
one of the best indy's i ever went to was greg's show, when was it...'89?? maybe it was '88. either way, a great show. he had barry windham, tommy rich, johnny rich, davey rich (haskins), bambi, vic steamboat, joe savoldi....a few other names at the time and some locals. great show!! but not huge crowd like i expected. but a very good show!! Wow, Bobby! You're really making me feel old. To be honest with you, I'm not sure of the year without digging out some old stuff. Here's a clipping from that night that I'd scanned recently.  This was just at the time before Barry Windham started his "Widow Maker" personna with WWF. He'd just left WCW, had already signed with WWF and was just days away from starting there. Tell you a nice little story about Barry that will tell you what kind of person he is. At the end of the night when everything was done, I gave him his check (yes, we could give checks back then,) and he gave it back to me. Told me something to the effect of if he wasn't more of a draw for me then he didn't need to get paid. I can't remember the exact attendance; I'm thinking somewhere around 350. But in a building that holds a little more than 2000, 350 made it look empty. A lot of names there -- some not as much now, but if you figure 16 or 17 years ago, these guys were a lot closer to their "prime." George South and Gary Royal (Cruel Connection,) and Brad Anderson were a few of the "locals" on that card. I also have some great photos somewhere of the Rick McGraw benefit show that WWF did there. Hogan, Bundy, Moolah, Steamboat, Piper are ones I remember. A couple of Moolah's students, Al Navarro and Donnie Driggers. After the matches, they opened up the dressing room for Hogan to sign autographs. Very relaxed atmosphere, seemed strange with him trying to pack his bag at the same time. Boy, those were the good ol' days! (Forgot to mention the "Ric" Steamboat was an honest error. Found out after the fact that a proofreader at the Observer found Vic Steamboat and JUST KNEW that was wrong since Rick Steamboat was ALL OVER Charlotte and not many folks knew his brother at the time. It was corrected for future issues (the ad ran for several weeks,) but I still got a nasty phone call from Bonnie Steamboat and had to go through all sorts of legal stuff between the Observer's ad department and WCW, with the ad department having to send letters of explanation to all kinds of lawyers and Jim Herd. I thought it was funny at the time.) |
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Post by Baltimore Jack on Jun 18, 2006 11:01:16 GMT -5
HardcoreHeroes wrote: Grady Cole was the morning guy on WBT radio in Charlotte for 31 years back in the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. You can imagine the kind of impact he had on the town and area back in the day, even if it was before the time of most of us. That was before my time listening to WBT 1110 on the latenight clear channel, although I'm surprised I didn't know more about that. Thanks for the info. I feel better knowing it was a radio institution that stole the name of the Park Center rather than some local politician, lol. He's still got heat with me, though! ;D |
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Post by Baltimore Jack on Jun 18, 2006 11:05:38 GMT -5
I would guess of the two years Bobby mentions, it would have to be 1989, as both Barry and Nikita were still intragal part of Jim Crockett Promotions in June of 1988, Barry having recently become a horseman.
Wow, I sure would love to see that card today.
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Post by bobbyryates on Jun 18, 2006 11:06:57 GMT -5
yep, that's the show greg. i couldn't recall all the talent either without research.
thanks for filling in the blanks here for me. and thanks for all the shows i went to that you did in various places. i been to a few i heard you had your hand in over the years.
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Post by Baltimore Jack on Jun 21, 2006 17:45:03 GMT -5
Information on Grady Cole that Mike Cline sent me: Grady Cole did the morning show on WBT radio for 31 years, ending in 1961. His morning show was "taken off" the air and replaced with a more modern format. (Grady's forte was a down-to-earth country boy / hillbilly, but very wise. He knew EVERYONE of prominence up and down the Eastern seaboard.) Grady was given the position of "Personal Assistant" to station mogul Charles Crutchfield, but it was mostly a PR position. Grady would occassionally do on-air features for WBT, but his regular broadcasting days were over.
Grady lived until 1980, when he was killed in an automobile accident. |
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