Insider
Here’s proof!
The Garden was host to the N-I-T Tournament, which habitually saw the St. Louis University Billikens in first, second and sometimes even Finals action…like in 1961. The Bills that post-season got by Miami, Colorado State and Dayton, but fell short in the N-I-T Championship game against Providence. Here Friar’s guard Vinnie Ernst, all 5′ 8″ of him, goes high for two points over Bill ’Bevo’ Nordmann in Providence College’s 62-59 win over the Bills. Ernst, who passed away in December of 1996, was named the tournament’s MVP
The Hawk’s Bob Pettit gets a shot up and draws a foul from the Knick’s Kenny Sears in this early December 1960 NBA contest at MSG…won by the Hawks 139-133………
Da Gaww-Duunn or (The Garden)
The most fabled arena palace in basketball history…and it’s heyday was the 40′s…50′s…and 60′s….The Knicks and Hawks fought many a battle at 8th Avenue and 49th Street in lower Manhattan. When Sinatra sang in ‘New York, New York’…”If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere”….he must have had The Garden in mind!! Here’s an outside view of the famous marquee…
…and a view that saddened basketball fans in Jersey, NY, and everywhere else…workers beginning to disassemble the famous backboards and baskets after The Garden’s final NBA game in February of 1968…a New York Knicks victory over Wilt Chamberlain and the Philly 76′ers…a great way to go out!!!
Bring your own!
Halftime at Busch Stadium…November 21, 1982…Eric Wright stretched out on the floor, Ronnie Lott on the bench, and Joe Montana under a motivational sign the 49′ers brought with them to St. Louis to remind the team that, home or away, the basics still applied. Must’ve worked…the 49′ers won 31-20. Bill Walsh was funny like that…
Follow the leader!
Well, it sure didn’t take long to find out who he was and what he could do…simply have a big hand (and arm!!) in the resurrection of football excitement in St. Louis. More on that later…..
The end?? Or the beginning??
At the time…the last pre-season game at the Dome on August 28th, 1999…who really knew? The quarterback who was suppose to be the savior, the one who would compliment Marshall Faulk and this new high octane offense, was now lost for the year..his knee torn apart by a late (and some still say..cheap) hit by San Diego Charger’s safety Rodney Harrison. Trent Green is carted off the field, the crowd is in dismay, and I remember going to the press conference the next day to hear Coach Dick Vermeil say, with tears in his eyes, “we will win with Kurt Warner.” I also remember asking a friend of mine as we left…”who the hell is Kirk Walker?”
Outta the way!
Probably the greatest trade in St. Louis football history occured when the Rams aquired Marshall Faulk from the Indianapolis Colts in April of 1999. Any Rams fan knows the rest of the story. A Super Bowl winner in his first season in the Gateway City, Faulk spent his years in St. Louis honing the style that would find him elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011.
BRUUUU-SSSSSS
If you were at the Dome and Isaac caught a pass, I’m sure you can still hear the chant of his name being drawn out by some 65,000 strong!! A future Hall Of Famer, Bruce led the Greatest Show On Turf in pass receptions and touchdowns for three straight seasons. Offense C/O Mike Martz once said of that bunch, ”I can make a bad call on the sidelines and they’ll still find a way to make it work.
Pretty maids all in a row
Back then they may have been secretaries, students, even housewives the rest of the week….but on Sunday these six beauties and several others made up the very first Big Red Line cheerleading squad in the early 1960′s. Any of them look like the girl next door?
Smile!
Even before his career as a TV Sportscaster, TVG had no problem mugging for the cameras…and proved to be a competitive QB for Bill Bidwill’s team in 1972.
You’re going down, dude!
He wasn’t a Butkus, a Nitschke, or a Huff, but The Big Red’s Chuck Walker more than held his ground as one the the premier middle linebackers in the NFL in the 1960′s. He also had a run at defensive tackle during his 12 year career. Here he puts the hit on Tommy Mason of the Los Angeles Rams in action from 1968.
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