Friday Nights in Atlanta

When I was a child my Uncle took me to my first wrestling match when I was about six years old. We went to the City Auditorium in Atlanta. I don't remember much about that night except I was with my Uncle and I was hypnotized by what I saw.

I had never watched wrestling on TV nor did I have any idea what I was going to see. The only people I remember seeing that night were Fritz von Erich wrestling Lorenzo Parente and Big, Bill Dromo. I remember Bill because he was so tall compared to the guy he wrestled, and Fritz scared me because everyone seemed to hate him and I guess I figured I should too. The Iron Claw also stuck in my mind.

That night a small boy was infused with a passion for something he did not even understand. I wanted to go every Friday night after that. Live Atlanta Wrestling became a Saturday night must for me. My Dad worked for Columbia Sewing Machine Company and they were a sponsor of the show. As I became a fan I would go with my Dad to the studio from time to time when they would do the commercials for the show. Before going to that first live event I did not even know there was a TV wrestling show.

I grew up going to that old auditorium. I remember watching for Promoter, Paul Jones and George Burie, the "Official" timekeeper to come through the front door and walk down to the ring and strike the bell at precisely 8:30 p.m, everyone waiting anxiously for the appearance of the first wrestler to pop out of the dressing room, to walk across the stage and down the steps to make their way up the aisle to the ring.

I remember Ed Caparal, the ring announcer and also the host of Live Atlanta Wrestling introducing the wrestlers, the timekeeper, and finally the referee. I can still see in my mind the referee checking the wrestlers for "foreign" objects and giving them instructions before calling for the bell. 

I remember the lights dimming in the auditorium except for the spotlights over the ring and being enthralled by the action in the ring. I remember as the nights would wear on the smoke would fill the air and it would become almost surreal as you waited for the main event of the evening.

I will never forget the first time I got to see Mario Galento, Freddie Blassie, Sputnik Monroe, Lou Thesz, Gene Kiniski, and I could go on and on...

I have no idea how many events I attended in the auditorium. Wrestling, Holiday on Ice, The Shrine Circus, and I graduated from High School there on May 29, 1972. I ushered there for about three years and walked out that dressing room as a referee for the first time in 1973.

I can never relate to you in words the feeling I had the first time I yanked that dressing room door open and knew I was making that walk to that very same ring I so eagerly watched for years as a fan. I was still a fan that night and it was all I could do to not scream for the pure delight I had in my heart. My Uncle was there that night and I am sure he was as happy as I was.

I was the office manager at the last event ever held in The City Auditoium. I walked out of the building that night with tears in my eyes. Not because of the building but because of my life and the joy I in my life that occurred in that place. I walked out of the dressing room that night after everyone had gone. I walked to the ring, up the steps and climbed through the ropes.

A big empty building that could not hold all the memories I had in my heart.

No music, no fog, no fireworks, just great athletes and great bookers who could run programs that captured your imagination and made you look forward to next Friday Night. The building is gone, my Uncle is gone, and the business as I knew it and loved is gone. It has evolved into something I don't particularly like, but as they say time marches on.

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES!!