The Onondaga County War Memorial downtown has been a darn good venue for the Syracuse area for many years. It opened for business in September 1951 and has hosted rock concerts, professional wrestling, hockey games, basketball games…you name it. It is still an impressive building. Seats over 6,000. The striking Lee Trimm murals dedicated to Veterans and the wide expanses have impressed many people both from this area and from around the country.
During the late 50s Carrier Corporation, the air conditioner maker, had it’s annual Christmas Party there. All for the employees kids…. Imagine that. It was a pretty impressive affair too. There were clowns, music, candy and presents. Most of the kids had wonderful afternoons at these parties. My Dad worked as a guard for Carrier at that point and sometimes he was required to work providing security for the party. We kids thought he looked pretty spiffy in his uniform.
Over the years my buddies and I have also attended quite a few rock concerts there. We saw Freddy and the Dreamers, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, The Rolling Stones , The James Gang, Led Zeppelin and the Who there. Good times. The acoustics weren’t that great but hey… we weren’t listening to Mozart.
Occasionally my Uncle Don would take his nieces and nephews to various trips and events. It was a special treat for us kids. He would take us to NYC to see the Yankees play and go to the top of the Empire State Building. We were in Yankee Stadium watching a game the day before Roger Maris hit his 61st home run. Darn! Still had a great time.
In the winter of 1963 rumors went around that the Syracuse Nationals were leaving town. The NBA team was going to Philadelphia.
On March 10 of that year my Uncle Don took Rick Will, Steve McCall and I to see the Nats play the San Francisco Warriors. The Nats had Hal Greer, Larry Costello, Red Kerr, Chet Walker and Dolph Schayes. They were a scrappy, hardworking bunch. The Warriors had Guy Rogers, Al Attles, Tom Meschary, Wayne Hightower and Wilt Chamberlain. This would be the first and last NBA game I would see.
We enjoyed the first half of the high scoring game from our perch high in the stands. The Nats were ahead 85-81 at halftime! I went down to grab a snack and on the way back through I noticed the teams doing a brief warm up before the second half. There were a few kids getting autographs. So I wandered over to court side.
Now I had seen a big league baseball game before from afar. However I had never been standing right next to a professional athlete. These were the guys I had seen in Sports Illustrated, Sport magazine and on TV and here I was standing right next to them! Wilt Chamberlain practicing hook shots less than thirty feet away!
The legendary Wilt looked like a creature from another planet! He was literally bigger than life. The whole scene was overwhelming. I was in awe and, well…..shock. I stood there with my jaw dropping and eyes popping for a minute or two.
Wilt was unapproachable. No autographs from the Basketball God.
So I went over to Al Attles, the talented guard who had made many magical passes to Wilt during that season.
“Can I have an autograph?” I said.
“Sure kid” said Al.
I stood there. Al stood there. I waited. He waited. Finally he looked down at my empty hands.
“Uh…. kid. You’re supposed to supply the pen and paper….”
“Oh..uh. Oh…..Jeez” I said.
“I’ll tell you what” he said. “You get the stuff and I’ll meet you after the game and give you your autograph.”
I said OK and wandered on up to my seat. The second half of the game was just as wild as the first. What a contest! Dolph firing up long set shots and beautiful hook shots…Wilt slamming dunks and the guards of both teams making unbelievable passes. The sneakers were really squeaking. Wilt scored 70 points that game! The Syracuse Nationals prevailed 163-148. It was one of the last games they would play as Syracuse players.
I was so engrossed in the game that I forgot for a moment I was supposed to meet Al Attles after the game. When I woke up to this I grabbed the pencil and scrap paper and rushed down towards the floor. I was weaving in and out of the crowd the best I could as they shuffled towards the exits. I could see that most of the ball players were already in the locker rooms. It seemed to take forever to go the length of the court. Finally I entered the area near the locker room entrances. No other players around. There, standing around and looking all over was Al….and he was looking for me.
“Oh there you are kid!” he said. I was beginning to wonder if you’d show up.” He looked pretty exhausted.
He smiled and signed the scrap paper.
Imagine that. After this momentous contest he still remembered his promise to that dopey, small town kid. I was a pretty happy young fellow. I am impressed still.
I run into Dolph Schayes occasionally at Wegman’s in Dewitt. We chat a bit. He is a big, affable gentleman in his eighties. One of these times I started to tell him this story but as soon as I as I mentioned Al Attles he went off on a story of his own about how Al had accidentally hurt him while playing against him in San Francisco. He said Al was a great guy.
I agreed.
During the late 50s Carrier Corporation, the air conditioner maker, had it’s annual Christmas Party there. All for the employees kids…. Imagine that. It was a pretty impressive affair too. There were clowns, music, candy and presents. Most of the kids had wonderful afternoons at these parties. My Dad worked as a guard for Carrier at that point and sometimes he was required to work providing security for the party. We kids thought he looked pretty spiffy in his uniform.
Over the years my buddies and I have also attended quite a few rock concerts there. We saw Freddy and the Dreamers, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, The Rolling Stones , The James Gang, Led Zeppelin and the Who there. Good times. The acoustics weren’t that great but hey… we weren’t listening to Mozart.
Occasionally my Uncle Don would take his nieces and nephews to various trips and events. It was a special treat for us kids. He would take us to NYC to see the Yankees play and go to the top of the Empire State Building. We were in Yankee Stadium watching a game the day before Roger Maris hit his 61st home run. Darn! Still had a great time.
In the winter of 1963 rumors went around that the Syracuse Nationals were leaving town. The NBA team was going to Philadelphia.
On March 10 of that year my Uncle Don took Rick Will, Steve McCall and I to see the Nats play the San Francisco Warriors. The Nats had Hal Greer, Larry Costello, Red Kerr, Chet Walker and Dolph Schayes. They were a scrappy, hardworking bunch. The Warriors had Guy Rogers, Al Attles, Tom Meschary, Wayne Hightower and Wilt Chamberlain. This would be the first and last NBA game I would see.
We enjoyed the first half of the high scoring game from our perch high in the stands. The Nats were ahead 85-81 at halftime! I went down to grab a snack and on the way back through I noticed the teams doing a brief warm up before the second half. There were a few kids getting autographs. So I wandered over to court side.
Now I had seen a big league baseball game before from afar. However I had never been standing right next to a professional athlete. These were the guys I had seen in Sports Illustrated, Sport magazine and on TV and here I was standing right next to them! Wilt Chamberlain practicing hook shots less than thirty feet away!
The legendary Wilt looked like a creature from another planet! He was literally bigger than life. The whole scene was overwhelming. I was in awe and, well…..shock. I stood there with my jaw dropping and eyes popping for a minute or two.
Wilt was unapproachable. No autographs from the Basketball God.
So I went over to Al Attles, the talented guard who had made many magical passes to Wilt during that season.
“Can I have an autograph?” I said.
“Sure kid” said Al.
I stood there. Al stood there. I waited. He waited. Finally he looked down at my empty hands.
“Uh…. kid. You’re supposed to supply the pen and paper….”
“Oh..uh. Oh…..Jeez” I said.
“I’ll tell you what” he said. “You get the stuff and I’ll meet you after the game and give you your autograph.”
I said OK and wandered on up to my seat. The second half of the game was just as wild as the first. What a contest! Dolph firing up long set shots and beautiful hook shots…Wilt slamming dunks and the guards of both teams making unbelievable passes. The sneakers were really squeaking. Wilt scored 70 points that game! The Syracuse Nationals prevailed 163-148. It was one of the last games they would play as Syracuse players.
I was so engrossed in the game that I forgot for a moment I was supposed to meet Al Attles after the game. When I woke up to this I grabbed the pencil and scrap paper and rushed down towards the floor. I was weaving in and out of the crowd the best I could as they shuffled towards the exits. I could see that most of the ball players were already in the locker rooms. It seemed to take forever to go the length of the court. Finally I entered the area near the locker room entrances. No other players around. There, standing around and looking all over was Al….and he was looking for me.
“Oh there you are kid!” he said. I was beginning to wonder if you’d show up.” He looked pretty exhausted.
He smiled and signed the scrap paper.
Imagine that. After this momentous contest he still remembered his promise to that dopey, small town kid. I was a pretty happy young fellow. I am impressed still.
I run into Dolph Schayes occasionally at Wegman’s in Dewitt. We chat a bit. He is a big, affable gentleman in his eighties. One of these times I started to tell him this story but as soon as I as I mentioned Al Attles he went off on a story of his own about how Al had accidentally hurt him while playing against him in San Francisco. He said Al was a great guy.
I agreed.