The Toledo Sports Arena, an East Toledo landmark, is set for demolition soon. A brand new sports arena will be built near the convention center and the baseball field. They are all going to be within a block of each other. The Toledo Sports Arena, which has been standing for 60 years at the base of the Martin Luther King bridge, will slowly disappear from view but not my memories.
I have attended many events in this 5,230 seat multi-purpose arena which was built in 1947. I went to my first concert at the Toledo Sports Arena. It was Three Dog Night. I went with my brother, his girlfriend and one of my brother’s friends. Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 played there. So did Bruce Springsteen, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Pearl Jam, Neil Young, Young Jeezy, Johnny Cash, Nine Inch Nails, Kid Rock, Bob Seger, and countless other acts over the years. I remember going to the Sports Arena for the Shriner’s Circus and the Barnum Bailey Circus events every year. Then when I got married and had children, we took them to the Sports Arena to see the circus. My father was a Shriner and we always had front row seats for the show. He was in the parade before the show, walking around the arena proudly wearing his Shriner’s hat. He even bought the children their own souvenir version of a Shriner’s hat with tassel. One year we even got to ride on the back of an elephant! When my granddaughter was born we took her to the circus, she wore the same Shriner’s hat that belonged to her my son. As I sat watching her look at the big arena filled with animals, I reflected back on the days when we first took our children there. I also saw my first hockey game at the arena. The Toledo Storm hockey team played at the arena from 1991-2007. The Toledo Sports Arena has been home to five other hockey teams starting back in 1949. I have watched Sesame Street Live and Disney on Ice in this arena with my granddaughter. I have eaten hot dogs , popcorn, cotton candy, peanuts and washed it all down with a Coke. So many memories of my childhood, my children’s childhood and the beginning of my grandchildren’s childhoods . This was a building fit for a king…well the King, Elvis Presley gyrated there on November 22, 1956 ! This has been the home to boxing, wrestling, concerts, car shows, hockey, and graduations. Soon the building will be gone but not the memories. I’m sure alot of other people will feel the same way I am feeling, sad and reminiscent. Sometimes we give directions by telling what building the places are next to. Soon we might find ourselves saying oh that is over by the Toledo Sports Arena….stopping in mid sentence only to have to explain that it isn’t there any more.
Demolition of the Toledo Sports Arena begins Aug. 8, but no one is sure when the first wall will come tumbling down. A new arena should be completed in October 2009 on the opposite side of the Maumee River. Plans are to have it seat 8,000 to 10,000 people . We are hoping to bring in an Arena Football team once the building is completed.
The Toledo Sports Arena held it’s final event on April 28, 2007. It was an extreme toughman event much like the Ultimate Fightning Championship. It is a U.S. based mixed martial arts competition.
I guess you can say the Toledo Sports Arena went out fighting!
