A Paean to Detroit’s Olympia Stadium

Frank Sinatra recorded “There Used to Be a Ballpark” in 1973. If this does not rank among classics like “My Way,” “Strangers in the Night” and “New York, New York,” it was still a good one. The song captured how a community had lost its baseball team (generally thought to be the Brooklyn Dodgers or New York Giants) and the stadium (Ebbets Field or the Polo Grounds) where so many games had been played. I can relate, to some degree, as I have sentimental feelings about the Dallas Rangers and Burnett Field on the south side of the Trinity River.

Football, basketball and hockey—North America’s three other main pro sports—can also stir people’s emotions. I know least about hockey, but that is the one I will address here. The Montreal Forum (home to the Montreal Canadiens from 1926 to 1996), Madison Square Garden III (New York Rangers, 1925–1968), Chicago Stadium (Chicago Blackhawks, 1929–1994), Boston Garden (Boston Bruins, 1928–1995) and Olympia Stadium (Detroit Red Wings, 1927–1979) have all been razed. Maple Leaf Gardens, home of the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1931 to 1999, still stands but it has been reconstituted for other purposes. These were truly hockey cathedrals, and fans of the Canadiens, Rangers, Blackhawks, Bruins, Red Wings and Maple Leafs—still the core of a much-expanded NHL—remember them fondly. All have been the subject of books and documentaries.

While I lack any strong connection to Montreal (in fact, I have never been there), New York, Chicago, Boston and Toronto, that is not the case for Detroit. I lived in a suburb of the so-called Motor City in the early 1970s and witnessed games featuring the Pistons, Tigers and Lions. I saw basketball at Cobo Arena, and baseball and football at Tiger Stadium. I regret not having attended a Red Wings game at Olympia Stadium, although I watched the puck drop when they played the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center in 2007.

The history of the “old red barn” may be summarized as follows. Detroit was booming in the 1920s, thanks in large part to the automobile industry. Its NHL franchise, then known as the Cougars, needed a home. Howard C. Crane was hired, and he designed a handsome and imposing facility with a Romanesque exterior. There was seating for 11,500 fans (expanded by 3,000 in 1966), and sight lines and acoustics were superb. I mention that last point because Olympia Stadium was always more than a hockey rink. It cost $2.5 million and was a landmark at the intersection of Grand River Avenue and McGraw Street in the northwest part of the city.

The first game, on November 22, 1927, was a 2-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators. The University of Michigan marching band was there, having opened up the Wolverines’ new football stadium in Ann Arbor five days earlier against Ohio State. After expressing amazement at the speed and power of big-time hockey, a Detroit News writer opined, “Detroit now has a place for public events that ranks among the best in the world, well-equipped for boxing shows, pageants, conventions and theatrical spectacles.”

Coach and general manager Jack Adams kept the team alive in the Depression and got to the top of the heap in 1936 by winning the Stanley Cup. The mid-1930s was a good time for sports fans in the city, as the Tigers won the World Series in 1935 and the Lions became NFL champs that same year. Joe Louis, born in Alabama but an adoptee of Detroit, became the heavyweight champion in 1937 and held that title for 11 years. Louis fought at Olympia Stadium several times. So would Thomas Hearns, the holder of world titles in five weight divisions.

Detroit liked to call itself “hockeytown, USA” and for good reason. The Wings also won titles in 1937, 1943, 1950, 1952, 1954 and 1955 before starting a long dry spell. Of all the players I could mention, one stands above the rest: Gordie Howe of Floral, Saskatchewan. There is no disagreement among hockey historians that Howe was one of the best players of all time. He wore the red-and-white “winged wheel” uniform from 1947 until 1971.

There was another tenant at Olympia Stadium during this time, the basketball-playing Pistons. Fred Zollner had moved them to Detroit from Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1957. They stayed for five seasons until Cobo Arena opened.

While I would rather not, I must touch on an unpleasant fact about this city, once known as the Paris of southeastern Michigan. Massive numbers of blacks had come up from the South (Louis, for example) in the 1920s. That eventually led to racial unrest as Whites were not always welcoming. Detroit was the scene of major race riots in 1943 and 1967, and it has never fully recovered. Fundamental changes in the auto industry were a part of that process. The city’s population peaked at 1.8 million in 1950 and is now barely 600,000.

Olympia Stadium was solid but outdated, and the neighborhood in which it sat could only be called “explosive.” Getting in and out safely was becoming harder. The Lions had moved to the suburbs, and Red Wings owners were tempted to follow suit. But the city was willing to build a replacement on the riverfront and made a sweet offer. The decision was made, and the team would go. On December 15, 1979, the Wings and Quebec Nordiques battled to a 4-4 tie. For the next 38 years, they made Joe Louis Arena home. (Please allow me to pause and say that it was absurd to name a hockey facility for a boxer. This was done because of racial politics, pure and simple.)

How sad it was to have Olympia Stadium empty, forlorn and deteriorating for seven years! It certainly could have been altered and had a second life; recall what happened to Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. But that would have required imagination and flexibility on the part of Detroit’s civic and business leaders. When the time came for this building to be razed, it would have to be done slowly—almost brick by brick. More modern sports arenas can fall quickly and easily (Texas Stadium in 2010 comes to mind) with a series of explosive charges. Tiger Stadium suffered the same fate as Olympia Stadium, closing in 1999 and not being demolished until 2009.

Finally, my connection to this storied edifice. I was there twice, to enjoy rock concerts. On June 23, 1973, my brother and I entered Olympia Stadium to see Pink Floyd, whose classic album “Dark Side of the Moon” had just been released. And on October 21, 1974, I attended a Traffic concert with my girlfriend, Pam Grover. We were going through an excruciatingly painful breakup. She was in a world of hurt and paid no mind when the band played songs such as “Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring” and “John Barleycorn” (fifth and ninth, respectively, on the setlist). Time and again, Pam kissed the side of my face, looked deep into my eyes and said, “I love you.”