man we got some old peeps up in here
Me and my buddies use to buy a $3.00 ticket in the green seats ( behind the backboard) and then walk over and sit with the rich folk in the red seats at mid-court. Of course in the first few ABA years there would only be about 5000-7000 people per game. And at halftime we we go find some stairwell to smoke some weed.
Al Sturchio and The Sound of the Spurs. This was before the videoboard became such a focus of the entertainment experience.
me and my uncle use to buy the cheap "obstructive view" tix....if u dont know they were seats right behind the pillars that held up the balcony...then sneak our way to the bottom seats...worked everytime!
Watching that just made me think that there a lot of parallels between how the NBA has changed from the 70's to now and how Las Vegas has changed.
More money, more corporate, cleaner... but a lot less soul.
Thanks so much for posting this. Lots of good footage of George Karl who is battling cancer in Denver now.
If you wait after the clip is over and several additional clips are shown as thumbnails, you can clik and see Part 2. which features a come back and last second win by the Spurs.
That was a big memory of them playing "Volver" at the end of the third quarter! We all sang loud on that! Another great thing was after a victory you just walked across the street to Gambits (?) in the riverwalk level of the original Marriott with your plastic Spurs cup for free beer! Why they would build a new arena out in the middle of the slumiest part of town is beyond me.
Damn I miss those days when basketball was just basketball and not a circus like today
it's a shame that only the richies can get remotely close to the court now. Have any of you watched them? They are like zombies during the game. Only moving to talk on their cell phone or text. And if one brave guy or gal dares to attempt to stand up and cheer loudly they get stared down.
Anyway sorry for the mini rant but it's things like these that makes me miss the old arena.
Is why alot of people like College basketball IMO. Ive been down low a few times and im shocked sometimes. A big play and I jump up to my feet. I swear to ladies next to me used left hand (fingers) clapping into thier right palms. Im like...WTF is this? They looked at me like I souldnt be here. Some people with money are just arrogrant. Kinda sad. Its why we miss the good old days when we were all pretty much equal. Butlers and suites are just BS.
Remember how even the so-called 'richies' who had seats on those aluminum bleachers on the floor level used to rhythmically stomp on them during the "Cotton-eyed Joe" and "Orange Blossom Special" during breaks in the BB action and the sound was deafening.
We liked to do the wave too. In fact, the floor level crowd was pretty damn active.
My friend and I shared four seats behing the Spurs bench about 7 rows up. During the All Star game that was held in SA, we took some big plastic numbers I had and held them up as cool chicks passed by on the walkway on the floor, giving them a grade like in the Olympics. It got a good laugh.
Last edited by wildbill2u; 08-07-2010 at 02:04 PM. Reason: needed to add something
For those of you who watched the 7 minute video I posted earlier en led, "In a Single Day" but didn't see Part 2, the 2nd half of the game versus the Denver Nuggets, here it is (below).
In the videos, you will see Spurs players such as "Si" James Silas (13), Rich Jones (33) one of the guys from the Dallas Chaps who moved with the team, Swen Nater (31) an amazing rebounder, Coby Dietrick (25), George Karl (22), Bobby Warren (21), Donnie Freeman (20), and Ice, of course. The head coach giving the half-time talk was Bob Bass and his almost bald-headed assistant coach was Rudy Davalos, who went on to enjoy a successful career as Athletic Dir. at UTSA, U. of Houston, and U. of New Mexico.
Interesting tidbit, that season (1975), 6'8" Collis Temple was a member of that Spurs team the first 3 months of the season. Collis, as in, the father of Spurs guard Garrett Temple.
The World's Fair was hosted in San Antonio in 1968 and was led the "HemisFair". Structures such as the Tower of the Americas and HemisFair Arena were built as theme venues. The HemisFair Arena had a capacity of about 10,000 and after the NBA merged some of the existing ABA teams into the league in 1976, there were requirements placed on San Antonio to provide a venue with seating for at least 12,000 (as I recall). The decision was then made to raise the roof of the HemisFair Arena, so scaffolding went up inside and outside the arena and work began. The roof-raising yielded an upper deck that added almost 7,000 more seats, albeit with some not-so-great sight lines.
That arena got very loud, rivaling such arenas as the always noisy Chicago Stadium.
Here is that second video:
lol obstructed view
All of my memories of Hemisfair Arena were when I was but a tot. I remember the place, but not very vividly. Random recollections of a Spurs vs. Kings game. Lots of people going crazy. It's the first time I remember being in the middle of a very large crowd, but feeling secure that everyone was on my side.
Great place and easily at the time, the loudest arena in the NBA. Seeing the Iceman, Captain Late, Mr. K, Sugar and the Whopper (everybody had a nickname in those days) play were good times indeed! My dad used to work for one of the initial investors who brought the team from Dallas. He used to get free tickets all the time and we would sit in the "box" seats. They weren't luxurious or anything like that, they were just mid court about 10-15 rows up. At the time, Red McCombs was just a millionaire used car salesman.
Johnny Moore. John Lucas. Stan Albeck....All blasts from the past. Its great to hear everyone's story about that place.
Huh? What I do?
I still have my first ticket stub. It was obstructed view and was also no smoking. Worst of both worlds.
Remember the Hemisfair very well. The birthplace of my Spurs adoration.
The Spurs Corral (in-arena bar for after games) was quite a mystery to me because I wasn't old enough to get in. However, my buddies and I did manage to sneak in once. We were ceremoniously thrown out.
A couple of memories:
Anyone remember the time that Baseline Bums doused then Denver Nuggets coach Larry Brown with guacamole? It seems that Brown, when asked what he liked about the San Antonio, rhe eplied, "the best thing about San Antonio was the guacamole." At end of the next scheduled home game between Spurs and Nuggets, the Bums "special delivered" some of the delicasy to Brown - on top of his head. They doused him as he was about to enter the tunnel leading to the locker room. Fortunately, Brown was a good sport about it.
Anyone remember the upper-level, "obstructed view" seats in the old arena? The ones that sat behind those pillars that were installed when the roof was raised. That's right. As the Gervin-era Spurs become more popular and began generating more revenue, the powers that be felt it necessary to expand the arena capacity - by literally raising the roof of the Hemisfair. This culimated in the installation of several pilars (columns) at the upper levels. Many of which, blocked the view of certain upper level seats. Purchasers of these tickets were duly warned on the tickets that they were obstructed view. Being a poor kid, who really couldn't afford better seats, I would buy an obstructed view aisle seat and either lean over in the aisle or literally sit on the aisle steps and watch the game. What fun.
Loud, dank, smelly...the hemisfair was such a great place to watch Spurs basketball. It truly was, as longtime PA announcer, Pat Tallman properly dubbed it, "the noisiest arena in pro basketball".
oh crap i remember that and do you guys remember when we used to stomp our feet like crazy instead of clapping?, that place did rumble it was amazing i always went to the spurs/bulls games we had the bulls number when we were there/ and for at the dome
I started going there in 1975 when I got my driver's license. I had season tickets the last 3 years it was open. They were up on the 3rd level in section 312. It was so loud that you had to scream the whole game just to talk to the guy next to you. You would be wiped out after a game--great times. I had season tickets 1 year in the Alamodome and it was so dead I didn't renew. I would just go to 10 or 12 games a year and buy floor seats, but section 312 in Hemisfair were more fun.
Good stuff...however, the reason the Spurs had to raise the roof and add capacity was because when the Spurs joined the NBA, 10,000 seats did not meet NBA standards. So, San Antonio decided the best plan would be to raise the roof of the HemisFair Arena...thus adding almost 7,000 additional seats.
I loved yelling "HEY LEWWWWW!!!" every time Kareem took a foul shot.
man i miss that place the games, boxing, the live bands. it was a great place
I sat next to and behind some of the lower level concrete pillars. Couldn't see the jumbo-tron in some seats but it never stopped the noise or my cheering. Don't forget how the cigarette smoke would turn the air into a stage 500 air alert.
do ya'll remember the 10 cent beer nights.
As a season ticket holder all the way back than it was the most enjoyable arena to watch a game. I could easily get close to the floor and the crowds were pretty sparse for some games. Those games the players could easily hear you yelling at them. I got many a player to react to me while on the floor. Of course, those were my younger days.
My most memorable game was the night the Spurs defeated the Lakers twice the same night.
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