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Los
Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Here's an excerpt from the book's Introduction...
I am sitting in Section 6, Row 44,
Seat 1 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. While I am
the only one here, I have seen the stadium packed with 90,000
strong. Yet somehow, empty on this breezy spring day, it
is no less dramatic.
I was interested in doing this book
to document not just the well-known events that occurred
here, but also the lesser-known events. Because it's the
combination of both that give one a full appreciation of
this site. It's what separates this grand stadium from others.
It's what, I believe, lets you make a case for Los Angeles
Memorial Coliseum as the most historic stadium in America
(If not the world.)
No other place has hosted two Olympiads.
Two Super Bowls. A World Series. Countless classic college
football matchups featuring both USC and UCLA. The Los Angeles
Dodgers.
The Coliseum hosted six professional
football teams (The Rams, Dons, Chargers and Raiders of
the NFL, the Express of the USFL and the Extreme of the
short-lived XFL.) The Aztecs Soccer team. And dozens of
world-class track events.
There have been landmark appearances
by John F. Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower, F.D.R., Charles Lindbergh,
General Patton, Nelson Mandela and Pope John Paul II. The
Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, and The Who.
Not to mention Evel Knievel, The Harlem
Globetrotters (in front of the largest United States basketball
crowd on record), prizefighter Jack Dempsey, tennis great
Don Budge, football star Red Grange, baseball icons such
as Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron
and Stan Musial.
And the motocross, skiing, ice skating,
rodeos, boat shows, circuses, fireworks shows, Pontifical
Masses, auto races, Boy Scout jamborees… It is staggering.
And it is significant...
...It's getting late now, so
I guess it's time to go. I think I'll walk down on that
famous field. Up those stairs. And out through the Peristyle
arches. Where I'll get goosebumps. Like I always do when
I leave this illustrious place.
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