Twenty years. That’s how lengthy it’s been since Victory Stadium fell to the wrecking ball and bulldozers.
The stands the place 25,000 followers as soon as cheered, the aim posts, the gridiron, all gone.
What stays is an empty area, a number of bricks given away as mementos, and long-ago recollections of a recreation performed proper right here that changed sports and civil rights historical past.
A Night That Changed Everything
Sixty years in the past, in August 1961, the Pittsburgh Steelers performed the Baltimore Colts proper right here in Roanoke, and they received. But the true story wasn’t nearly soccer.
WSLS was there to cowl all of it. Loyal 10 News viewer Larry Ronk remembers, as a result of he was there. Back then, Ronk performed each soccer and basketball for Patrick Henry High School, quantity 50 on the sphere. He went to the Steelers-Colts recreation to see his favourite gamers, like NFL legend Johnny Unitas.
But for anybody who wasn’t white, Roanoke was a special place. Brenda Hale, now 80, was 15 in 1961. As a younger Black lady, her Roanoke was “very segregated. And at one time, we were known as the most segregated city in the South,” she stated. “In 1961, you can’t go certain places. And you know you have to stay in certain areas when the sun goes down.”
Local historian Jordan Bell defined, “Roanoke was slowly integrating, because it was a quiet integration, some behind closed doors, but it was something that was very important to the City of Roanoke.”
Taking a Stand
Back in January, Roanoke historians Jordan Bell and Nelson Harris, the previous mayor, advised 10 News how two local civil rights leaders and Black players took a stand.
“And so, the Black players on both teams said they would not play in the game, they would not play if the game went forward. And that took this conversation to an entirely new level,” Harris stated.
Brenda Hale remembers, “What happened is that it worked, their plan worked, and these were two brilliant guys. And that was the first time we had an integrated football game.”
“Thirteen thousand people attended the game, and Black and white fans mingled in the stadium seating. There was absolutely no problems, no issues, no law enforcement problems of any kind,” Harris stated.
Ripples Beyond Roanoke
The desegregation that occurred right here sparked change elsewhere. Black Boston Celtics gamers boycotted a recreation in Lexington, Kentucky. The following 12 months, the Washington Redskins began to recruit Black gamers, starting with Bobby Mitchell.
And but, the story of that spark appears to have light over 65 years.
“In large part because Victory Stadium isn’t there anymore,” Bell stated. “And two, people are uncomfortable talking about painful parts of our history.”
More Than Just Football
Victory Stadium was additionally the venue for music. Virginia’s personal Dave Matthews Band drew tens of 1000’s of followers from as far-off as Ohio for a live performance in 1998. And for many years, it wasn’t simply followers on the sphere, however automobiles and crashes. In the Nineteen Sixties, Donald “Whitey” Taylor staged inventory automobile races and demolition derbies right here.
But satirically, demolition is strictly what occurred right here, due to one thing extra highly effective than V-8 engines: the mighty Roanoke River.
The river repeatedly flooded its banks, placing Victory Stadium underwater in 1987, 2001, and once more in 2004.
That final flood brought on a lot harm {that a} non-public engineering advisor warned the town of potential security hazards.
The gates have been closed in March 2005. Yellow tape went up. And 20 years in the past this week, Victory Stadium got here down.
The Final Farewell
As demolition crews labored, the Roanoke River rose once more, flooding the sphere because the partitions fell. Someone painted a farewell message: “Goodbye, Old Friend.” Onlookers and elders who constructed the place winced, and youngsters cheered, probably the final cheers ever heard at Victory Stadium.
Well, apart from these fortunate few who took house a brick, like Ray Jones, who performed soccer for Jefferson High.
“I think it’s kinda crazy, as many times as I got knocked down on that field, then I come out here and get a stupid ol’ brick!” he stated.
So, whereas the stadium is gone, one can solely hope that, for generations to return, Roanoke remembers what occurred right here, so a few years in the past.
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