DALLAS, TEXAS – In 1971, the Dallas Cowboys went from the old Cotton Bowl to the State-of-the-Art Texas Stadium in then unknown suburb of Irving in mid-season and went on to win their first of five Super Bowls.
Everyone has their personal memories to share as do I from football to concerts.
I was involved in what I believe were the only two professional boxing events at Texas Stadium in a PR capacity.
Both were actually in the stadium parking lot at the old Corral.
The Corral was a high-tech nightclub held together by a white vinyl patchwork holding possibly hundreds of TVs and bars for pre- and post- game football parties.
This is significant because at the time it was the only area zoned for alcohol. The 65,000 seats weren’t originally zoned for beer or wine.
The first event was the closed – circuit broadcast of James “Buster” Douglas vs. Evander Holyfield on October 25, 1990.
This was Douglas’ first fight after upsetting the sports world with his upset knockout of Mike Tyson.
I believe we also had the weigh-in the day before at the Corral and had a great turnout of Dallas – Fort Worth media. Douglas came in way overweight and rumors of him eating delivery pizza and sleeping in the Mirage sauna swung all the betting toward Holyfield.
I remember at the very last minute the Dallas cable company at the time decided not to broadcast the event for residential customers, leaving closed-circuit promoter Joe Hand of Philadelphia with the only location in the city and he’s still counting the money from that night.
It was an exciting night.
One not so lucky promoter tried a live fight card inside the Corral on October 10, 1991 featuring 7’0 Mike “The Giant” White and Dallas’ own Eddie Richardson.
White once actually knocked out Douglas but that’s not the story here.
There still paying off that card although the Corral is long gone.
What I remember best of that night was the late Cowboys great Harvey Martin (whom I had hired several times to be my ring announcer on other shows in the city) running toward me in a huff and none too happy.
I immediately knew what happened. The promoter, trying to cut costs, refused to pay him and even at his own expense flew in another guy and they shared ring duties that night but didn’t tell me, or tell me to tell Harvey or tell Harvey himself.
It was a pretty low-class despicable act. I happily paid Harvey out of my own pocket that night and rid myself of that slime – ball promoter. It was well worth it.
There are just too many memories for me to list here between now and Sunday’s implosion.
Premium seating for the event can be had for $25.
Other than the boxing, my Texas Stadium memories lean toward an SMU tie against Arkansas that ruined an unblemished football season in 1982, but watching Eric Dickerson run for four years and big plays between Roger Staubach and Drew Pearson I’ll always cherish.
