For Buffalonians, WNYers and those from Southern Ontario: A tribune to the Aud.

Promo the Robot, Dustmop, Matty, Rick Azar, Irv, Joey, the hottish MILF who did the Super Duper ads, Chuck Healy on Strikes, Spares and Misses....Gods, all of 'em....

 

Dan, one of my first trips to the Aud was also for a sectional in the early 1960s, my little town's team of 5-10 to 6-2 white guys against Trott Vocational ... we got smoked. Several years later we got back and won that time, against trott or Lewiston-Porter, can't remember.

Back then the Aud had that old-style scoreboard with the big sweeping hands that counted down the time, people still smoked in the seating era, etc.

A grand old building where I saw a tremendous amount of NHL, NBA and college basketball history, as well as some pretty good concerts and the magic of tenor Joe Byron singing the Canadian and US national anthems, and Stroh's and Utica Club drafts for about a buck for a 16-ounce cup as a 16-and 17-year old kid.

 

Re: For Buffalonians, WNYers and those from Southern Ontario: A tribune to the A

Micro...I, too, would sheepishly say that the carding in that building wasn't as thorough as it should have been...the sectional I went to was in 1960 (I'm pretty certain), when George Carter (future ABAer) hauled Silver Creek into the finals...went to a Pink Floyd concert in 73 (Dark Side of the Moon tour), where in mid-song, the house PA came on and asked if there was a doctor in the house --some kid on dope had fallen out of the oranges-- ... But it's the hockey memories that really stick with me...going back to the last few years of the Bisons ("Guy, Guy, Guy!")....then the Sabres...my $2.50 seat in the lght blues jumped all the way to $4 when the NHL came in....who can forget Sundae Bafo...or Punch and Dodo sitting in the golds...it was in that building that a lifelong love affair with the sport was spawned...

 

Sirs, Madames,

Press row for Sabres games was a rickety wooden bench that seven or more perched on. Not Imlach era, mid-90s.

First time I filed from there I was pointed by the pr guy to a cracked jack that was dangling but one thin, exposed wire down by the Sabres room.

Loved going to the Aud. One memory stands out:

It used to be an open-door policy for Sabres practices--public building, I guess. You ended up with joggers in their for lunchtime work-outs. One day a bunch of peewees in from New York for a tournament saw a practice--not the Rangers but Florida, with John Vanbiesbrouck--and the one kid turned to the other and said: "I have died and gone to heaven."

It should be saved somehow. It might be the biggest building with (virtually) no windows extant. If there are others that rival it, they're probably the resting places for ancient Egyptian kings.

Sob.

o-<

 

Re: For Buffalonians, WNYers and those from Southern Ontario: A tribune to the A

I'm not a real souvenir grabber, but the last game I worked there (Bruins/Sabres), I made sure I grabbed the press box seating list...meant something to a Buffalo boy to have it...

 

I attended the Farewell event they had downtown this weekend at the convention center. Nicely done. Wish I had a spot in my house for a piece of the old dasherboards ($750 ea.) or a set of the blue seats.

My dad grew up playing there in the old Buffalo Municipal Amateur Hockey League and used to hang around after his games on Sundays to watch the old Bisons play. He still has all the old game programs and mementos. His favorite story is sitting behind the Montreal bench one game and getting Maurice Richard's autograph.

When I was growing up, he had a friend who had season tickets and it became a ritual that he would give us his tickets and Aud Club privileges for a game every March for my birthday when I was in my early teens.
Man, did I look forward to those games. Great seats in the upper golds. Then I'd go home and as part of my thank-you note to my dad's friend, I'd try to write a game story about the game I saw. Probably got me started down the journalism path.

Anyway, after going to the Farewell event today, we drove down to the Aud and got a chance to say a final goodbye alongside my dad, who's never one to show his emotions. He didn't break down and sob but I could tell that place had an impact on him. Very glad I got to share today with him.

It's all fenced off now and the brown and tan corrugated siding has been removed, leaving the massive steel beams that hold the place together exposed. We drove a lap around it and my dad pointed out the players entrance and where he used to sneak in to see the Friday night wrestling matches.

Gonna miss that place.

 

http://albums.phanfare.com/5406850/2414438#imageID=38727949

 

Re: For Buffalonians, WNYers and those from Southern Ontario: A tribune to the A

that's a great story sabrefan......there's not many things better than sharing something special with one's dad.

 

Mr H,

I did exactly the same thing for the last game at MLG.

o-<

 

My first and only time in there was, I think, the final event there, the Empire State Games boys basketball tournament, played on the Buffalo Braves basketball court. Jason Cipolla from Syracuse was playing for one of the open teams.

Looking around, I could only wish I could have seen a hockey game there. Marine Midland, as the new arena was called then, just didn't do it for me.

 

That photo album is awesome. The old building doesn't look like much from the outside now but man it had some of the best site lines of any arena I've ever been in.

I remember when the golds were the low 8-10 roaws, then the reds, the blues and the grays. Eventually they eliminated the grays and moved all the old colors up one section and charged more money. My seat for 1971-72 was section 9, row E, seat 1 in the balcony, in the end the Sabres shot at for two periods.

I'll leave the title of this link unchanged. My own mistake by the lake, as it were, just like Buffalo, a great place that's a tad flawed.

 

"Buffalo - We're Not Cleveland." ;D