As originally aired on The Rochester Press Box
It was 1973. A gallon of gasoline cost 39 cents. The minimum wage was a buck sixty. The Exorcist was the big movie. All In the Family was number one on TV. 1973 was the year Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd appeared on the Billboard album chart, and stayed for another 740 straight weeks. That’s sixteen years.
1973 was the year New York Yankee pitchers Mike Kekich and Fritz Peterson swapped families. Wives, kids, dogs. All of it. It worked out fine… for one of them. In other sports, the Oakland A’s were in the middle of a three-year run as World Series champions. The New York Knicks won their most recent NBA title. Secretariat won horse racing’s Triple Crown with a 31-length win at the Belmont Stakes. And they built a football stadium in Orchard Park.
It was just three years after the merger. The National Football League mandated a 50,000-fan capacity. War Memorial Stadium, affectionately known as the Rockpile, couldn’t quite cut it. And with an implied threat from Ralph Wilson to move the Buffalo Bills to Seattle, they got the deal done. For 22 million dollars. And for 53 seasons, the Ralph has been home to all the typical heartbreak and joy associated with a professional sports team. UB and Syracuse played home games there. The Buffalo Sabres played a hockey game there. The Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead performed five times each.
In 1973, what is now Highmark Stadium was the newest in the NFL. It leaves the stage as the fourth oldest. On New Years Eve, we rarely sing the praises of the outgoing twelve months. But as we turn the page on this, I think we’ll remember the old place fondly.
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