Hemisphere Arena Roll Call

I first went to the Arena for the "Chep Beer Nights" to see the Spurs in the ABA. Didn't care at first who or what they were as the liquid refresments wer the primary concern. and remembering passing Bongo Joe playing all the time to get there.

The arena was the venue for most concerts though the Municipal Auditorium was sometimes used as well. Saw 'Chicago Transit Authority' in 1969 at the MA. My mom worked for the SA Light advertising dept and Joe Mueller (JAM Productions) would come in to place ads in the paper and would sell to Mom tickets for concerts at the arena he had in his front shirt pocket. Went to many concerts and never sat further back than the 15the row except when the Doobie Brothers came and they gave seats to the people of China Grove when the song hit the charts. Saw many times bands like Chicago, Doobie Brothers, even the Carpenters, Three Dog Night, the Stones in '75, (no one believed me in school when I said they were coming), Frampton, etc. it was a special place with a lot of great memories in my youth.

BTW that's a great picture

I remember seeing Steppenwolf there and Jethro Tull there.

TULL!!!

yes! How could I forget...getting old. Never saw Steppenwolf though.

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Originally Posted by FromWayDowntown

The old place before the 1973-74 season -- before they raised the roof:

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Great picture - looks pretty intimate, doesn't it? Sigh...

:lol before they raised the roof it was a glorified high school gym. I had forgotten what that looked like.

That picture is actually the inside cover of the Spurs' 1973-74 media guide. I thought maybe another of the guides from the mid-to-late 70's would have a picture of the roof raising, but none seem to. It's odd that such a curious event wouldn't have at least one picture on the internets.

It's pretty easy to see, from that picture, why the Arena ended up with those quaint obstructed view seats.

Loved the arena, right across from, wait for it: LA VILLA FONTANA:]

Seeing that picture really brought back some memories. Saw Hendrix there...

Last two memories of that place, in no particular order:

Rodman getting a last-second tip-in to secure a win over the Magic, IIRC;

and hockin' a gnarly loogie off the parking garage on to JR Reid's black Porsche -- I was young, dumb ... and completely justified. :hat

One time I hung a sign that said "Lakers welcome to your Chamber of Horrors" that was 5 feet tall and as long as the basketball court off the railings of the upper deck. It got mentioned in the paper even. I used to love that mariachi band that played at the end of the 3rd quarter "Volver" (maybe they still do that, I live in Dallas). Best of all, after the first quarter you could move down to the good seats. Oh yeah, I was there the night they beat the Lakers twice in one night.

Growing up as a kid in the 80s and going to games at Hemisfair Arena was the best way to become a Spurs fan. I mentioned this in another thread about Hemisphere Arena last year but I took my first steps there and then proceeded to eat shit and roll down the orange studded ramps inside! Greatest Baby's-Day-Out ever thanks to dad, but mom was a little bummed she missed seeing me walk for the first time... I've been a Spurs fan ever since :toast

The best thing about that arena was the mind-numbing noise.

I remember watching the opposing team become so flustered by the sheer volume that they would call time out, hoping the crowd would somehow forget how loud they had just been.

The arena would go almost dead during the TO.

Then the ref would hand the ball to the opposing player for the inbound.

As if on cue the crowd would immediately become even louder than when the TO was called and you could just see the other team wither as if to say, what more can we do?

If ever a crowd roar had a collective smile on its face, it was then. :)

First game there was against the TPuppies, in their first or second year in the league.

Got them for Christmas.

Sat behind a pole. Thought that was standard operating procedure at the time.

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Originally Posted by Blackjack

Last two memories of that place, in no particular order:

Rodman getting a last-second tip-in to secure a win over the Magic, IIRC;

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Not trying to be an ass, but that happened at the Alamodome, not the HemisFair. Rodman came to SA for the 1993-94 season, which was the first season in the Dome and left after the 1994-95 season.

He played at HemisFair, but only as a Piston.

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Originally Posted by FromWayDowntown

Not trying to be an ass, but that happened at the Alamodome, not the HemisFair. Rodman came to SA for the 1993-94 season, which was the first season in the Dome and left after the 1994-95 season.

He played at HemisFair, but only as a Piston.

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You're right. I used to go to the games with a coach of mine and his son -- used to hook us up with all sorts of autographed paraphernalia, cards and whatnot -- the majority of which happened to be at the HemisFair. That just happened to be the last memory that came to mind when thinking about going with them.

But that loogie definitely happened at the HemisFair. :hat

I gotta admit I don't miss the Hemisfair bathrooms. The line was always at least 15-20 people long.

I saw the Blazers play the Spurs there. The place was a dump.

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Originally Posted by TwAnKiEs

My first Spurs game! It was against the rockets, double OT. we lost but it was a damn good game :king

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My first game was a playoff game (we lost) against the Bullets.