Los Angeles Times readers share their favorite Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum memories ahead of the 100th anniversary of the L.A.’s iconic stadium.
After the Dodgers won the Series in 1959, my grandparents began taking me to see some games in 1960. It was always the Milwaukee Braves or the Cincinnati Reds. I didn’t complain. Seeing young stars like Aaron and Mathews for the Braves, and Frank Robinson for the Reds, was a genuine thrill for this 7-year-old fan.
Driving up to the parking booths also gave me “goosebumps.” The newsboys were displaying the evening edition which was always covered with a page having that game’s scorecard. Hearing them banter about was really cool! I remember sitting above the 250-foot left field; overlooking the net that tried (though mostly in vain) to hold back some of the fly balls that were hit that way. Wally Moon was the player who took most advantage of the proximity to home plate. He was a left-handed hitter that would go the other way to left field with the ball and drop it over the net: home run! They called them “Moonshots.”: the true origin of the term!
Duane K. Mitchell
Escondido
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Two Coliseum memories stand out in my memory. The first was in 1963 when Billy Graham filled the Coliseum with 130,000+ worshipers. Except for the mass of humanity, the event itself was unimpressive. The second outstanding memory was the 1964 USC vs Notre Dame game. USC was behind 17-0 at halftime and came back to win 20-17 on a last minute pass from Craig Fertig to Rod Sherman. I went to the game with an old high school buddy who was a huge ND fan so with me being a USC fan I loved seeing his hopes crushed.
Fred Gober
Playa Vista
Los Angeles Times sports columnist Bill Plaschke recalls his most memorable moments inside the 100-year-old Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
My favorite Coliseum memory took place in 1967. My dad and I were at a Ram game against the Bears. I don’t believe the Bears got one first down in the first half. What I remember most was one play. The Bears quarterback, Jack Concannon got sacked by the entire “Fearsome Foursome.” The public address announcer said, “Tackle by Grier, Jones, Olson, and Lundy.” The crowd went crazy, and Jack Concannon had to be helped off the field.
Jeff Kash
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When the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to L.A. I was heartbroken. Not for the usual reason New Yorkers lament: I was 9 years old and lived in San Gabriel. I was a rabid fan of the Pacific Coast League L.A. Angels. I couldn’t understand why my team was simply dissolving. I was aware, of course, that we were getting a big league team, and one with a great tradition at that. But what about my childhood heroes — Red Adams, Sparky Anderson, El Tappe, Gale Wade and most of all Steve Bilko?
My Dad took me to a game at the Coliseum in 1958, the Dodgers’ first year in L.A.. On the roster briefly that year was Bilko — he only played in 47 games for the Dodgers but luckily he made an appearance on the night we attended. He came to bat as a pinch-hitter, as I recall, and I yelled “Hit a homer, Steve!” My Dad laughed and said something to the effect of “fat chance.” Next pitch Bilko hit a towering drive over the screen in short left. I was ecstatic. My angst over losing the Angels dissipated that night and I’ve been a devoted fan of the Dodgers ever since.
T.S. Thomas
Flagstaff, Ariz.
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Hands down for me is the 1974 USC-Notre Dame game. Notre Dame raced out to a 24-0 lead in the first half. At the end of the second quarter USC scored on a touchdown pass. To open the second half, Anthony Davis took the kickoff 102 yards for a touchdown. Fast forward 17 minutes and the score was 55-24, USC. All in 17 minutes!
It was sheer pandemonium in that stadium. No one sat down for the entire second half and no one left after the game for 30 minutes. The Notre Dame coach, Ara Parseghian, retired after the season. Legend has it the Notre Dame president told USC head coach John McKay what he did to the Irish “wasn’t very nice” to which the quick witted McKay responded “that’s what you get for hiring a Presbyterian (Parseghian’s religion).”
A truly epic Coliseum memory.
David Bialis
San Diego
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On Dec. 9, 1967 (the day the Queen Mary arrived in Long Beach), I was at the Coliseum with a girlfriend, my sister, who was also a Ram diehard, and a friend from Wisconsin, who was a Packer diehard. The Packers had already clinched their division, and the Rams absolutely had to win to keep pace with the Baltimore Colts, and ensure that their game vs. the Colts the following Sunday would be for all the marbles in the Western Division. The Pack was up 24-20, with just under a minute to go and ready to punt to the Rams. The Rams would get the ball deep in their own territory, and pretty much their doom sealed. Instead, Tony Guillory blocked Donnie Anderson’s punt, Claude Crabbe picked up the loose ball and returned it to the Packers’ 10-yard line. Next play, Roman Gabriel play-actioned with Tommy Mason and hit Bernie Casey for the go-ahead score. After the ensuing kickoff, Maxie Baughan intercepted Bart Starr, game over! What a moment for any real Ram fan old enough to remember.
John J. Gillette
Signal Hill
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Sept. 30,1985, the end of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” tour at the Coliseum. My best friend Steve Walsh from San Francisco flew into LAX to attend the show with me and my girlfriend Nancy. He had a tendency to be late and we yanked him into my car at the white zone and drove as fast as possible since the show was to start soon. On Vermont Avenue, I spotted a single parking space near the venue. Nancy jumped out to block anyone else from nosing their car into it while I made an illegal U-turn and we were set.
The concert ended after 11 p.m. and when we returned to my car there was a parking ticket on the windshield. On Vermont, which we didn’t see, no parking after 11 p.m. Every car had a ticket, the city made a ton of money at $40 bucks each. Since I bought the tickets for Springsteen, Walsh offered to pay for half of the parking ticket.
Steven Lentz
Pasadena
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I’m pretty sure that people will overlook that the beginnings of Supercross in the United States actually began at the Coliseum. It was 1972 and 1973 that this incredible venue hosted what they called ‘The Super Bowl of Motcross’. They invited the worlds greatest riders of that era. Guys like Roger DeCoster and Bengt Aberg and other top European stars to compete against the up and coming Americans.
In the end, the first two races were won by a 16-year-old kid from Santee, Calif., by the name of Marty Tripes. It was huge upset for the young American to beat the experienced Europeans.
It changed the dynamic of Motocross/Supercross to what it is today.
Michael Holtslander
Lawndale
Over the past century, the Coliseum has been a cultural centerpiece for sprawling L.A., a place for sports, rock concerts, papal visits and even ski jumping.
In 1948, my uncle John took me to the Coliseum to see the undefeated, national championship Notre Dame Fighting Irish play the two-loss USC Trojans before 103,000 people. Late in the fourth quarter, unbelievably USC was leading 14-7 but Emil Sitko ran 86 yards for the tying touchdown). The game ended 14-14, it was the first time that Notre Dame had not won a game since 1946. As a good 9-year-old Catholic school boy, I went to that game a Notre Dame fan and left as a lifelong Trojan fan. In 1962, I was honored to graduate from USC.
Dan Basalone
Boise, Ida.
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I remember my father taking me to the first Dodger games there. I was 4 in 1958. Sitting behind that outfield screen.
Craig Newnes
Long Beach
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My favorite memory is from when the Rams returned to Los Angeles. The moment I remember most was in the first game back in the Coliseum, after announcing that “the doors are now open for Los Angeles Rams football!” you could hear the roar of celebration from outside the stadium in the near-empty bowl.
Then I saw the first dad and his son come through tunnel 21 and stop as they saw the field, son holding the dad’s hand, and the look of awe on their face. They stopped and just gazed at the empty Coliseum and drank in the moment. Within 120 minutes, fans were in a frenzy as we welcomed home the Rams to a preseason contest with the Cowboys to a sellout crowd. It was poignant for me as I remember being a child and my dad bringing me to the Coliseum for a Rams game and having the feeling of awe coming out of tunnel 5.
Sam Lagana
Current Rams PA announcer
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I was seven years old in 1972 and accompanied my mom and dad see No. 1 Nebraska play UCLA. My dad was looking forward to see Nebraska’s Johnny Rodgers and was there for the adventure. Everything for a kid from Pacoima was supersized: the building, the crowd, the noise of 100,000 fans and marching bands. My most lasting memory, aside from UCLA winning, was the public address announcer, probably John Ramsey, telling the folks who parked on Hoover to exit through the tunnel. I was rules follower at that age and watched in disbelief as my father coaxed us down to the field.
I thought I was on the floor of the Grand Canyon and could see how excited my dad was to pass through the tunnel where he watched the L.A. Dons, sold out track meets and his beloved Bruins when he was a kid.
Tom Angel
Chico
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A 1989 Rolling Stones concert. The Stones were returning to touring after a seven-year break. Opening night at the Coliseum was an incredible concert with some juicy onstage drama. Guns N’ Roses were on the bill and in the middle of their set, Axl Rose calls out the bassist and repeatedly threatens to quit the band. When the Stones go on, Mick Jagger tells the crowd, “I wish some bands would just shut the .... up and play.” Classic.
Bill Groak
Fullerton
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My greatest memory was on July 25, 2015 at the opening ceremony of the Special Olympics World Summer Games. That day was the culmination of nearly four years of work to bring 6,500 athletes and 3,000 coaches and team personnel from 165 countries to Los Angeles for 12 days of competition.
That evening as the sun began to set, I sat in the press box with my family and watched with over 60,000 people in the stands, as the parade of athletes from all the countries filed into the Coliseum. It was the largest sporting event anywhere in the world that year, but the thing that made me most proud is that we had created a platform for athletes who for centuries had been hidden away, out of sight, because of fear and prejudice.
Jeff Carr
Los Angeles
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The year was 1958. I was 12 years old and played Little League baseball in Anaheim. The name of my team was the Dodgers. My coach took some of us to the L.A. Coliseum to watch the Dodgers who had just moved from Brooklyn. We sat in the bleachers behind the big screen in left field. During batting practice, when the players would hit a home run over the screen, me and a bunch of kids would try to get the ball. I was lucky that day and I caught one.
Today, 65 years later, I still have that ball prominently displayed in a glass case on my bookshelf. I managed to get more than 20 of the players to sign that baseball as they came up the tunnel to the parking lot where they walked to their cars after every game. It took me most of the season and several trips to watch other games before that ball was signed by most of my favorite players, some of whom are in the Hall of Fame.
Norris R Scott
Centennial, Colo.
It could be could argued that Rafer Johnson lighting the torch to open the 1984 Summer Olympics is the greatest moment in 100 years of Coliseum history.
As a kid from Texas visiting Los Angeles during the month of August 1958 I could not wait to see a Dodger game. I do not remember the opponent but I recall Duke Snider hitting a foul ball down the right field line that may have gone close to 500 feet.
Jim Brannon
Oak Bluffs, Mass.
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I worked as an usher when in high school from 1958 when the Dodgers moved here from Brooklyn to the summer of 1960 when I joined the U.S. Navy. The night the team honored the great Roy Campanella is still a great memory for me. The Coliseum was packed. At the designated time during the seventh inning stretch everyone held up lighters to illuminate the darkened Coliseum. It was a moment that I still get goosebumps when thinking about. An amazing sight.
Stephen Creason
San Juan Capistrano
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