September 9, 1994: Chicago Stadium Closes

September 9, 1994, 30 years ago: Chicago Stadium closes, with its final event being Scottie Pippen's Ameritech Classic charity basketball game. Pippen captained the Red team, and Michael Jordan scored 52 points as he captained the White team, which won, 187-150. When the game ended, Jordan knelt down and kissed the bull logo at center court.

Although not an outdoor venue, the building, as was its rival the Olympia in Detroit, was called a "stadium." It stood at 1800 Madison Street, on the West Side of Chicago. It became known as "The Madhouse On Madison."

It opened on March 28, 1929 with a boxing card. The NHL's Chicago Black Hawks played their 1st game there on December 8, 1929, beating the New York Americans, 4-2. Normie Himes of the Amerks scored the 1st goal, and Earl Miller scored the 1st for the Hawks, the 1st of a hat trick.

The Black Hawks began play in 1926, playing home games at the Chicago Coliseum. They always wrote the team's name as two words: "Black Hawks." This held until 1986, when the document containing the team's original charter was found, and it was discovered that the name was written as one word, "Blackhawks." And so that's how it's been written ever since.

The Blackhawks reached the Stanley Cup Finals 10 times while playing at Chicago Stadium; winning them in 1934, 1938 and 1961; and losing them in 1931, 1944, 1962, 1965, 1971, 1973 and 1992. Crowds of 17,317 would roar from the National Anthem to the final horn, unless they were singing along to the 3,663-pipe Barton organ, played by Al Melgard from 1930 to 1974, by White Sox organist Nancy Faust from then until 1990, and from then onward by Frank Pellico, who still plays for the Hawks today.

In 1946, the Basketball Association of America was founded, and the Chicago Stags took up residence at the Stadium. They made the Finals in the 1st season, losing to the Philadelphia Warriors. The BAA became the National Basketball Association in 1949, but the Stags lasted only the 1 more season.

The Stadium also hosted the February 19, 1948 game between the National Basketball League Champions, the Minneapolis Lakers, and the all-black Harlem Globetrotters. Before 18,000, the 'Trotters, dispensing with the comedy routines to play serious basketball, to show everyone just how good they really were, won 61-59, on a 30-foot buzzer-beater by Ermer Robinson.

The Lakers, led by George Mikan, a native of nearby Joliet, Illinois and a graduate of Chicago's DePaul University, got a rematch with the Globetrotters, but lost that, too. They played 6 more times, and the Lakers won all 6, while also entering the NBA and winning the Championship in 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, and 1954.

The Chicago Majors played at the Stadium in the short-lived National Basketball League in the 1961-62 and 1962-63 seasons. The Chicago Bulls started in the NBA in 1966, but played their 1st season at the International Amphitheatre, on the South Side, before moving into the Stadium in 1967. They had a few good seasons before Michael Jordan arrived in 1984. It took them until 1991 to win their 1st title, but it launched a run of 6 NBA Championships in 8 years.

In 1932, the Chicago Bears and the southern Ohio-based Portsmouth Spartans finished in a tie for the NFL Championship. A Playoff was to be held in Wrigley Field on December 18, but it snowed. The game was moved indoors to the Chicago Stadium, and the field was not only narrower than normal, but only 80 yards long. Still, over 20,000 fans packed the place, which would not have been possible at Wrigley with the snow. The Bears won, 9-0.

Boxing was key to the Stadium's operation from beginning. The 2nd fight in the Middleweight Championship trilogy between Rocky Graziano and Tony Zale, the only one that Graziano won, happened on July 16, 1947.

On February 14, 1951, in a fight so brutal it was called the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Sugar Ray Robinson defended the Welterweight title title by pounding Jake LaMotta to the point where it was stopped in the 13th round. It was the 6th time they had fought. LaMotta had won only the 2nd, and, to this point, that was the only professional fight that Robinson had lost.

On May 15, 1953, the Stadium hosted its only Heavyweight Championship fight. Eight months earlier, Rocky Marciano had won the title by knocking Jersey Joe Walcott out in the 13th round in Philadelphia. This time, Marciano knocked Walcott out in the 1st round.

Both the Democrats and the Republicans had their Convention at Chicago Stadium in 1932. Both Franklin D. Roosevelt and Alf Landon had pre-election rallies there in 1936. The Democrats had their Convention there again in 1940, and both parties had them there in 1944.

By a weird turn of events, in 1932, FDR became the 1st Presidential nominee to accept the nomination in person, something that was not previously done, as the nomination was always supposed to be seen as reluctantly accepted, lest the nominee be seen as too eager for power; and in 1944, due to his illness, he became, so far, the last nominee to not accept in person, with a radio hookup between the Stadium and the White House.

Across Madison Street from the Stadium was the original version of the Billy Goat Tavern. The owner, William "Billy Goat" Sianis, put up a sign in 1944, saying, "No Republicans allowed," which raised an incredible fuss. But it also generated him more publicity than anything he ever did -- including his stunt of bringing his bar's mascot, a goat, to Wrigley Field to the 1945 World Series, which led to them being ejected, which led to "The Curse of the Billy Goat" that supposedly prevented the Cubs from winning the Pennant until 2016. Sianis moved the Tavern to its current location, on the lower deck of Michigan Avenue, in 1963, so he could be closer to the city's newspaper offices.

The Stadium hosted shows from the beginning. In 1946, Roy Rogers, "King of the Cowboys," proposed to Dale Evans, "Queen of the West," backstage at a rodeo. But they were slow to allow rock and roll concerts. The first rocker to play the place? Elvis Presley. But it wasn't in 1956 or 1957. It was on June 16 and 17, 1972.

Other notable shows there: Bob Dylan, Elton John and George Harrison in separate shows in 1974; The Rolling Stones, The Who and Led Zeppelin in separate shows in 1975; the Beach Boys and Chicago together in 1975; Frank Sinatra on a New Year's show, 1975-76; Paul McCartney's Wings Across America tour in 1976; the Beach Boys and Billy Joel together in 1976; Elvis again on October 15, 1976; Led Zeppelin again on there last tour in 1977; Elvis on his last tour on May 1 and 2, 1977; Queen on their Day at the Races and News of the World Tours in 1977; The Jacksons in 1979 and 1981; and, in the Stadium's last show, March 10, 1994, Pearl Jam.

In 1992, Chicago Stadium hosted both the NBA Finals and the Stanley Cup Finals, but only the Bulls won. But there was only so much that an arena built in 1992 could do. Even with standing room, the Stadium only seated 18,472 for hockey, and 18,676 for basketball. And it was built before the NHL standardized rink size at 200 feet long by 85 feet wide. The Stadium's was 185 by 85.

So Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf and Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz got together to build a new arena, the United Center, across the street at 1901 West Madison Street. The Hawks' last game was Game 6 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals, on April 28, 1994, a 1-0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Mike Gartner scored the last goal.

The Bulls' last game was Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, on May 20, 1994. They beat the New York Knicks, 93-79, but lost Game 7 at Madison Square Garden. 

The Stadium was demolished in 1995, and the site now serves as parking for the 23,129-seat (for basketball, 22,428 for hockey) United Center. A statue honoring the Stadium stands outside, with the words "REMEMBER THE ROAR" inscribed on the base.

The console of the Barton organ was saved, bought by Phil Maloof, and installed in his house in Las Vegas. (Ironically, he owns a different NBA team, the Sacramento Kings.) And Jordan preserved the Bulls floor at his mansion in North Carolina.