Daily News - Philadelphia, PA - March 13, 2009
Spectrum press-box fixture Abel was always willing
THERE IS NO statue cast in Charlie Abel's image, but the man whose bronzed likeness sits on the Spectrum steps knows who is the arena's true soul.
Julius Erving said so himself.
"If anybody here should be looked up to, it's you," he told Charlie Abel. "You're always here, doing your job."
"Press Box" Abel - so named because, as the press-box guard, that's how he answered the phone there; no comma, no pause - will be among the Sixers' esteemed guests at tonight's farewell to the Wachovia Spectrum. And rightly so.
"One of my favorite things about the Spectrum was talking to our wonderful staff," said Comcast-Spectacor chairman Ed Snider. "Charlie represents all of the many special people who gave so tirelessly of their time to make the Spectrum such a terrific place. It'll be great to see him and many of our other long-tenured staff back in the Spectrum on Friday."
Abel, 75, helped open the venue on Sept. 30, 1967, working among the masses as a general security guard for the Quaker City Jazz Festival. The Spectrum is scheduled for demolition after a concert on the same date this year to make way for a hotel, part of the planned Philly Live! complex.
Abel heard about the Spectrum's imminent demise on television in his Yeadon home.
"I thought I'd go stand in front of the wrecking ball," Abel said.
He never worked in the Wachovia Center. He retired from the Spectrum once it became second fiddle to that shiny new edifice in 1996. Luxury boxes and plush seating and a cavernous press box - that just wasn't him.
A cabinetmaker from South Philly, trained in his trade at Bok Vocational at 8th and Mifflin, Abel saw his time at the Spectrum as a privilege. His cabinet company moved south. He wouldn't. He became a firefighter - and remained a guard.
He had moved up in the Spectrum world.
Abel's steady hand and calm demeanor led tennis maven Marilyn Fernberger to request that he work the press box at the Philadelphia Indoor men's tennis tournament at the Spectrum.
"She liked the way I handled high-strung tennis players . . . and reporters," Abel said.
Everyone, he figured, deserved the same treatment. It was his policy.
"From Ed Snider on down, even to the cleaners, I knew 'em all," Abel said.
And he saw it all. And he marveled.
* The record 53 times the Grateful Dead played the arena: "Can't believe how loyal those fans are. No matter how many times [the band would] come, you'd see the same people down there watching them."
* The wondrous absurdity of professional wresting: "To see the wrestlers in the ring, and then to see them in the dressing room; they were all in the same dressing room."
* The gaudy crowds on fight nights: "They'd come dressed in their finery, and eat peanuts. It was a peanut crowd."
* The Flyers' Game 6 comeback win over the Oilers in 1987: "Never saw a hockey game live 'til I started working there. Great sport. Live."
* And, of course, the night a Lakers rookie named Magic Johnson moved from point guard to center in place of injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and scored 42 points, grabbed 15 rebounds, had seven assists and three steals in the clinching Game 6 of the 1980 NBA Finals: "It was great to see. The crowd was Sixers fans, but Magic took them over, believe me. What he did that day - I couldn't believe it."
He shared such unbelievable moments with the cynics: the press. He guffawed at Inquirer scribe Bob Ford's famous impression of Charles Barkley. Ford, then the Sixers beat writer and now a columnist for the paper, recalls that Abel was always willing to help.
One of Ford's first assignments at the Spectrum involved a Flyers alumni game against a celebrity team. Abel saw that Ford was pounding away on a tight deadline and asked if he could lend a hand. Anything. Really.
Ford replied, yes, he could use a quote from the celebrity team's coach.
"Five minutes later, Charles had the guy standing next to me," Ford said. The coach was a bit tipsy, and stalled when Ford asked him for a comment. "He turned and looked at Charles, and Charles just nodded seriously at him."
Press Box Abel, indeed.
Abel's position helped his family share some of the arena's greatest moments. His sons, Darren and Howard, saw the games, sure, but they saw the circus, ice shows and concerts, too. Darren even worked there in college, as a vendor, and afterward, a guard.
Darren died 8 years ago. So, yes, the Spectrum is extra special to Charlie Abel.
"It was home to me. I liked the closeness. You felt good about the place," Abel said. "If it comes across like I loved the place, well, I did."
Which is kind of what tonight is all about.
Bulletin - Philadelphia, PA - March 13, 2009
'Chocolate Thunder' Never Lost Taste For The Spectrum
Two decades later, Darryl Dawkins can still hear the noise.
It’s almost as if he is still throwing down dunks at the Spectrum and Sixers fans are going bizerk with each and every rim-rattling slam.
The truth is, it’s been 27 years since Dawkins played for the Sixers, 20 years since he played in the NBA and 13 years since the Spectrum housed an NBA game of any kind.
But some things in life, like the atmosphere in that old, cozy arena, don’t get forgotten over time.
“(The energy) would be right in your pocket,” Dawkins, now 52, said in a recent conference call. “It would be so loud in there that you would be running back down the floor, giving everybody (in the crowd) a high-five. It would be off the charts right there in the Spectrum. The floor would vibrate — that’s what it would feel like.”
As much as anyone who played at the Spectrum, Dawkins fed off the energy of the fans. His game was built on intimidation and energy, and that’s exactly what the South Philly venue offered the Sixers 41 days a year.
“My best memory was when they started cheering my name — Dawkins! Dawkins! Dawkins!” he recalled. “I was like, ‘I’ve arrived. I’m big time now. Big Daddy’s on the beach.’”
The 6-foot-11 center was the Sixers’ first-round draft pick in 1975 out of Maynard Evans High School in Orlando. He was one of the first players to ever be drafted straight out of high school and averaged just 2.4 points as a rookie in 1975-76.
However, despite the slow start to his professional career, it didn’t take long for the 18-year-old to fall in love with his new home.
“Being a young guy, a country kid from Florida, and coming to Philadelphia and seeing the fans all screaming, it was mind-blowing and special when they started cheering for me,” Dawkins said. “I really did enjoy that.”
In his best statistical season with the Sixers, Dawkins averaged 14.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.8 blocks in 1979-80. He helped the team reach the NBA finals that season but was traded to New Jersey two years later and missed out on the Sixers’ championship party in 1983.
Those were the glory days at the Spectrum, where the Sixers played from 1967 to 1996 before moving across the street to the Wachovia Center.
But while their new home is impressive, their only home was, well, home.
“When I walked in, I always tried to feed off the energy,” Dawkins said. “World B. Free always told me, ‘When you go in there, you either do it big or you don’t do it.’”
And if anyone went big, it was Dawkins. The self-appointed “Chocolate Thunder” was known for his ferocious slams, broken backboards and even naming each of his dunks.
Perhaps the Sixers will pay homage to Dawkins when they host the Bulls in the last ever game at the Spectrum on Friday night. Maybe Andre Iguodala will throw down a “Spine-Chiller Supreme” or Sam Dalembert will introduce Tyrus Thomas to the “In Your Face Disgrace.”
Better yet, if Marreese Speights breaks a backboard on Friday night, he can honor Dawkins by borrowing the name he used for his backboard-shattering dunk in 1979: The Chocolate-Thunder-Flying, Robinzine-Crying, Teeth-Shaking, Glass-Breaking, Rump-Roasting, Bun-Toasting, Wham-Bam, Glass-Breaker-I-Am-Jam.
Now that would be a fitting tribute to the final game at the Spectrum.
“There were some great people down there,” said Dawkins, who recalled playing 1-on-1 with Free every day before practice. “To see it come down after being there so long, it’s hard to see. You can’t stand in the way of technology, but it’s hard to see.”
Walk Down Memory Lane
The Web site RememberTheSpectrum.com offers an assortment of memories about the Spectrum, from former Sixers players and coaches to Sixers fans and even celebrities.
“It was a great place to play,” said Maurice Cheeks, who played for the Sixers from 1978-89 and coached the team from 2005-08. “Those were my years. I still think about the Spectrum when I drive to the Wachovia Center. It was a great place to play and I’m really, really going to miss it.
“There was an energy there, a passion that came from the fans and spilled over into how the players played. That was what that building was all about, almost like it had a pulse itself.”
Love for the Spectrum is clearly universal, as Charles Barkley — who couldn’t be more different than Cheeks as a person or a player — also had wonderful things to say about his first NBA arena.
“I have great memories of that place, because I played my first game there in ’84,” said Barkley, who began his Hall of Fame career with the Sixers from 1984-92. “Probably the night they retired my jersey was the most special night for me. It was awesome. As a player, there is no single moment better than when an organization retires your jersey.”
Former NBA coach Paul Westhead remembers the Spectrum primarily for the 1980 NBA finals, when his Lakers clinched the championship there. But the Philadelphia native also coached at the Spectrum with La Salle from 1970-79 and admitted that he’ll never forget those Big 5 battles at Broad and Pattison.
“It was a big-time arena, but there was a real mystique to it,” Westhead said. “The Spectrum pretty much covered it all when you think of basketball and big games. I hate to see it go, but I’ll never forget it.”
Courier Post - Cherry Hill, NJ - March 13, 2009
Memories will outlive Spectrum
The Spectrum was old before its time.
It was too small, and it wasn't long before modern arenas with luxury suites and fancy scoreboards made the building obsolete.
But the memories live on for the former 76ers who played there, as well as their fans. They will get their final chance to bid adieu to the building tonight, when the Sixers host Chicago.
The Spectrum opened in 1967, and it always seemed to have a star-crossed relationship with the Sixers, unlike the building's other main occupant, the Flyers, or the memorable NCAA tournament games played there.
The championship season of 1982-83 is perhaps the greatest Sixers memory at the Spectrum. There also was Darryl Dawkins shattering the backboard and Julius Erving's array of high-flying dunks.
But as Pat Williams, the Sixers' general manager from 1974 to 1986, put it, "It wasn't all peaches and cream there. The Spectrum was antiquated shortly after it opened, and selling pro basketball in Philadelphia was never easy."
There was the 9-73 season in 1972-73, still the worst record in NBA history; the nearly empty building for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals in 1981; and the final five playoff-less seasons before the Sixers moved to the Wachovia Center in 1996.
The Spectrum is scheduled to be demolished this year, and be replaced by a retail and entertainment complex called Philly Live!
Williams and the Sixers who played there will be sad to see it go.
"I went to a Rick James concert down there," Dawkins said. "I remember working with (longtime statistician) Harvey Pollack and (former Sixer) World B. Free. We played 1-on-1 every day, before and after practice. There were some great people down there.
"To see it come down, it's hard. You can't stand in the way of technology."
Dawkins, of course, is responsible for many of the memories -- both good and bad. There was the night in 1977, during Game 2 of the NBA Finals against the Portland Trail Blazers, when he and Maurice Lucas got into a fight. Dawkins' brothers came down from the stands to help. They were stopped before getting to Lucas.
Dawkins was ejected, and he was fuming in the locker room because his teammates didn't back him up.
"I caused some major-league destruction," Dawkins said. "A toilet came off the wall. Water was flowing everywhere. Guys were coming into the locker room, and they had their gator shoes floating around. I was so mad. Oh yeah, I'm part of that destruction down there.
"(Shattering the) backboards? Accidents happen. You just have to see if they can happen again. I had the ability to do that."
Hold your ears
Mostly, the Spectrum was known for noise. The building, which seems like it can fit inside the Wachovia Center, was so small that it felt like the fans were right on top of the court.
"You could feel the floor vibrate," Dawkins said. "It would get so loud in there, you'd turn around and you're just running down the floor giving everybody high-fives."
Added Williams: "When it was packed, you would get eaten up by the sound. When the team was really good, no sporting arena was more heart-pounding, noisy, intense or intimidating."
Dr. J
Erving was probably the most revered Sixer in the Spectrum. He played there from 1976 until his retirement in 1987.
The memories began his very first night.
Williams had spent the final weeks before the start of the 1976-77 season frantically trying to work out a deal with the former New York Nets, who were looking to sell Erving's rights to the highest bidder.
Finally, the night before the season began, the deal was consummated. Erving had missed all of training camp, and nobody knew if he would play or not.
At the last minute, Erving decided to play. He was introduced to the crowd, which stood and cheered. Then season-ticket holder Steve Solms ran out to center court and presented Erving with a doctor's bag.
"I remember that night vividly," Williams said. "The doctor was finally in the house."
Wilt Chamberlain played for the Sixers during their first season in the Spectrum, and he still holds the team scoring record with 68 points in a game. Charles Barkley, Moses Malone, Cheeks and Bobby Jones were some of the other great Sixers who played there.
Bad memories, too
But there were many forgettable players and forgettable seasons, too.
Sixers president and general manager Ed Stefanski grew up in Philadelphia. He was a teenager when the Spectrum opened, with the Sixers trying to defend their championship.
He attended a playoff game that first season against the Celtics, with the rivalry between Chamberlain and Celtics legend Bill Russell as fierce as ever.
"Those games, you just knew that you needed to win," Stefanski said. "They were so intense. But there was no question that the Spectrum became Julius' building. Wilt was only there one year.
"Once Erving left the building for good, it seemed that the magical moments left with him."
That's why no one lamented the move across the parking lot in 1996.
The team was horrible, and the building was about half-filled.
"You move on," Stefanski said. "I haven't been in the Spectrum in years. And people who say they're sad about the Spectrum closing probably haven't been there in years, either.
"I don't think any of them will trade it for the Wachovia Center."
Maybe for one final farewell, they will.
Inquirer - Philadelphia, PA - March 13, 2009
A list of Spectrum moments to remember
With the 76ers playing the final big-league sporting event at the Wachovia Spectrum tonight, there's a lot to remember about the old South Philadelphia arena. But there's probably just as much we've forgotten about the place.
Here are five Spectrum facts that might have been withdrawn from your memory banks:
The first roof-raiser 1
Everybody remembers that the Spectrum's roof blew off on March 1, 1968. People forget it happened two weeks earlier, too.
On Feb. 17, as 11,000 watched an Ice Capades show, Hal Freeman, the Spectrum's first president, sat in his basement office. Suddenly, a nephew, who had been watching the show, appeared at his door.
"Uncle Hal," he told Freeman, who died in 1998, "I think you've got a problem. The roof is blowing off."
High winds had dislodged a 50-by-150-foot chunk of the four-month-old arena's roof. Debris injured three people entering the building.
"It sounded just like a subway train roaring past you," Steve Greenberg, a Spectrum public-relations assistant, said in 1988. "There was this great ripping sound. I looked up and saw blue sky where the roof should have been. There was an orchestra on hand for the show, and it must have had a comedian for a director, because they started playing, 'Off We Go Into the Wild Blue Yonder.' "
The structural damage was repaired quickly, but not before Philadelphia became the national butt of jokes.
Then, two weeks later, the roof blew off again.
This time Mayor James H.J. Tate, whose administration had been criticized for the sweetheart deal it awarded developer Jerry Wolman, shut down the building.
The 76ers, NBA champs a year earlier, had to finish their season at the Palestra and Convention Hall. They did not repeat.
The first-year Flyers, meanwhile, clinched the Western Division title while playing their remaining games on the road in New York, Toronto and Quebec City. Their celebration consisted of a late-night party in Ed Snider's room at a Quebec City hotel.
"Did we have to clinch now?" complained goalie Doug Favell, who was summoned to the event only after second-place Los Angeles was eliminated in a West Coast game. "I just took three sleeping pills, and The Slime People is on the late movie."
After the Red Army
2
The Flyers-Soviet Red Army game at the Spectrum on Jan. 11, 1976, was one of the building's most memorable. That chaotic and historic Flyers' victory would overshadow the NHL All-Star Game, which took place there just nine days later.
As part of the Bicentennial celebration, the arena hosted that year's NHL and NBA All-Star Games (baseball's was played at the Vet). The only previous all-star game played in the building had been the 1970 NBA game.
A crowd of 16,436 saw the Campbell Conference stars beat the Wales, 7-5.
Perhaps the only noteworthy thing about the game was its rosters, which illustrates the depth of change in the NHL since then.
Thirty-nine of the 40 players in that '76 game were Canadian-born. The only exception was Borje Salming, Toronto's Swedish-born defenseman.
Compare that with the international makeup of this year's all-star game. In 2009, 25 of the 49 eligible players were born outside Canada, the majority in Sweden, Russia and the Czech Republic.
The name game
3
People forget how innovative an arena name the Spectrum was. The era's sports facilities tended to have names like Convention Hall or the War Memorial Arena.
It came out of the head of the arena's VP, Lou Scheinfeld. While Freeman favored Keystone Arena, Scheinfeld sought something livelier.
"We didn't want it named for some dead general," he said.
Seeking inspiration, he and designer Bill Becker walked through the construction site. After tossing around adjectives like "spectacular," "splendid" and "special," Scheinfeld said, "How about Spectrum?"
"I looked up the meaning," he said, "and it said, 'All things colorful under the sun.' Perfect. And you had 'SP' for sports and South Philadelphia. 'E' for entertainment. 'C' for the circus and concerts. 'T' for theatrical. 'R' for recreation and relaxation, and 'UM' was a suffix for auditorium and stadium."
Still Freeman held out for Keystone. When it came time to present their ideas to developer Wolman and his people, Scheinfeld brought along a "crappy" sign from a Keystone State Official Automotive Inspection Station. He also pointed out that Philly had at least 60 businesses with "Keystone" in their names, everything from a tonsorial parlor to a pickle factory.
Wolman's team voted, 9-1, in favor of "Spectrum." "Freeman was the only holdout," Scheinfeld said.
When Freeman demanded a broader vote, other executives were brought in.
"This time it was 30-1," Scheinfeld said. "That name started something. Before you knew it, you had arenas with names like the Forum and the Omni."
Scheinfeld hopes to keep the name alive and is lobbying developers of the Spectrum site to include it in the new project planned there.
The bizarre box score
4
Hard to believe this one's been largely forgotten. The box score from a March 23, 1979, Nets-Sixers game at the Spectrum shows that Eric Money, Ralph Simpson and Harvey Catchings played for both teams.
Here's how it happened:
The Sixers had won a foul-filled, double-overtime game with the Nets on Nov. 8, 1978. But because referee Richie Powers had called three technicals on Nets coach Kevin Loughery and star Bernard King - the NBA limit was two - New Jersey protested.
"I was thinking, 'That's funny. I thought you could only get two technicals'," recalled Catchings, retired now in Chicago.
NBA commissioner Larry O'Brien upheld the protest, ordering that everything from 5:50 left in the fourth quarter (when the technicals were called) be expunged and the game replayed from that point.
The Nets were back in Philly on March 23 and the suspended game was to be completed before the regularly scheduled contest.
One problem: On Feb. 7, the 76ers had traded Catchings and Simpson to the Nets for Skinner and Money.
After much deliberation, league officials decided the traded players could compete for their new teams. While Skinner never got in, you'll find Simpson and Money on both sides of the box from Philadelphia's 123-117 triumph and Catchings just on the Nets' side because he was scoreless for the Sixers and played only during the time the statistics were expunged.
Another oddity of that game: When Loughery was ejected in February, his assistant took over. Then in the March replay, when the Nets were short on big men, that same assistant, a 6-9 ex-NBA center, was activated.
His name?
Phil Jackson.
What a start
5
For all the significant sporting events that took place there, it's hard to imagine the Spectrum ever had a streak like the three-day run of events at its official opening.
After the first concert (Quaker City Jazz Festival) and the first ice show (Holiday on Ice), things moved to another level.
On Oct. 17, 1968, Philadelphia's Joe Frazier, an Olympic gold medalist and future heavyweight champ who had just TKO'd George Chuvalo, knocked out Tony Doyle in the second round.
On Oct. 18, the day the building was officially dedicated, the NBA champion 76ers, with reigning MVP Wilt Chamberlain, opened their season by thumping Jerry West's L.A. Lakers, 103-87.
On. Oct. 19, the brand-new Flyers played their first home game and got their first shutout (Favell), beating the Pittsburgh Penguins, 1-0, before a crowd of 7,812.
Sun Times - Chicago, IL - March 13, 2009
Closing the Spectrum Opens A Flood of Memories
They're putting up the baskets at the Spectrum one more time tonight, when the Bulls and Philadelphia 76ers play the last basketball game before the 42-year-old arena is demolished.
Some memories of the building -- which last hosted a Sixers game in 1996 before the team moved to the Wachovia Center -- are not easily swept away.
''I was playing with the Knicks at the time, and we were coming on as a team,'' Bulls assistant coach Pete Myers said of a 1989 playoff series. ''We swept [the Sixers] in the first round, so we took the brooms that were behind the basket and we actually went up and down the floor with the brooms and swept the floor. Then we got back the next day in New York, and they had us on the front page.
''It went all downhill from there. Granted, we did play [the Bulls] in the next round and lost. It was kind of a good thing turned bad.''
Flyers owner Ed Snider calls the Spectrum his ''baby.'' Snider needed to build it to get an NHL franchise in Philadelphia. It went up in 11 months and opened in 1967.
Only one championship was celebrated in the arena. The Flyers clinched the 1974 Stanley Cup with a 1-0 victory over Boston.
''We won two Stanley Cups and went to four finals,'' former Flyer Bob Kelly said on rememberthespectrum.com. ''We beat the Russians there and had a 35-game unbeaten streak. It was a big part of so many of our lives because a lot of us played there for a lot of years.''
Charles Barkley, whose No.34 jersey was retired to the Spectrum rafters, played his first game there in 1984 with teammates Julius Erving and Moses Malone.
''The locker room was so small ... if I moved too quickly, Moses' [expletive] would hit me on the cheekbone,'' Barkley is quoted on the Web site. ''I had to really be careful when I was doing interviews because if you turned your head, Doc's cheek was right here and Moses' cheek was right here.''
Duke's Christian Laettner hit his last-second game-winner off a 75-foot inbounds pass from Grant Hill to beat Kentucky at the Spectrum. The 104-103 overtime decision in the 1992 NCAA East Regional is considered one of the best college games ever.
Bulls forward John Salmons, a Philadelphia native, is looking forward to being part of the farewell game.
''It's going to be fun,'' he said. ''The most famous memories are always going to be the Dr. J dunks. Growing up, I used to watch Barkley all the time. [He] was my favorite player for a long time, he and Hersey Hawkins.''
Bulls assistant Bernie Bickerstaff recalls Lloyd Free refusing to pass to a wide-open Erving in a key playoff game during Washington's run to the 1978 NBA title. Fellow assistant Del Harris remembers the Philly fans' fervor.
''They were always more intense against their own,'' Harris said with a chuckle.
For Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro, it's the end of an era.
''All the old buildings -- from the L.A. Forum to the Boston Garden to the Chicago Stadium, Madison Square Garden and the Spectrum -- they just had an atmosphere that was electric,'' Del Negro said. ''The [cigarette] smoke up there. The history of those buildings is just phenomenal. It will be a great atmosphere.''
Tribune - Chicago, IL - March 13, 2009
Last stand coming for Philadelphia's Spectrum
Chicago Bulls grateful to play final basketball game at Spectrum against Philadelphia 76ers
Bulls broadcaster Neil Funk remembers the crowd noise, so loud it would pierce his headphones as he broadcast memorable game after memorable game.
Vinny Del Negro remembers the smoke hanging in the rafters — not the manufactured kind that lingers after pregame indoor fireworks these days, but the real stuff from cigarette after cigarette.
Del Harris remembers Eugene "Goo" Kennedy shutting down Julius "Dr. J" Erving in Game 5 of the 1977 Eastern Conference finals.
Bernie Bickerstaff remembers World B. Free missing a wide-open Dr. J in a crucial moment from the 1978 Eastern finals as the Washington Bullets improbably marched to the NBA title.
Pete Myers remembers taking a mop from behind the basket stanchion and sweeping the floor after his Knicks shockingly swept the 76ers out of the 1989 playoffs.
And John Salmons, a native who was 4 at the time, remembers Dr. J's thunderous "rock the baby" dunk over Michael Cooper in the 1983 NBA Finals that's still a highlight-show staple.
The Bulls, like anybody associated with the league, have their fill of Spectrum memories and get the honor of playing the final NBA game there Friday night. The 76ers moved with the NHL's Flyers across a parking lot to the Wachovia Center 13 years ago, and the Spectrum will be torn down later this year.
But not before Funk, Salmons and the rest of the Bulls get to visit some ghosts one last time.
"I never thought I would set foot in there again," said Funk, who began his pro broadcasting career there in 1976 and also called the Sixers' 1983 NBA championship. "I'm a little surprised they didn't schedule Boston to play the last NBA game there because that was one of the great rivalries in sports for 20 years.
"But one thing about Philly is they have a sense of history. Here's this building, and we're going to get rid of it. But there are so many memories, let's play one more game."
Opened in 1967, the Spectrum hosted six Stanley Cup finals and four NBA Finals. In 1976 both the NHL and NBA All-Star Games were played there, as was the NCAA Final Four.
With the cookie-cutter nature of most modern arenas, Friday will be a chance to remember old characters like George McGinnis and Darryl Dawkins and play in a building with character.
"From Madison Square Garden to the L.A. Forum to the Boston Garden to the Spectrum to the old (Chicago) Stadium, all those old buildings had an atmosphere that was electric," Del Negro said. "It's going to be fun."
Too many great moments and too many great players left their mark on the Spectrum to be captured by one night. Funk is just happy for the opportunity to try.
"When I walk in there," Funk said, "I know a lot of memories are going to come flooding back."
Inquirer - Philadelphia, PA - March 13, 2009
Cheeks to miss Sixers' celebration
Maurice Cheeks is not scheduled to be at the Wachovia Spectrum tonight.
He will not stand with Julius Erving, Bobby Jones and Moses Malone, his teammates on the 76ers' 1982-83 NBA championship team, for the final game played at the arena where they raised a banner.
He will not watch this mid-March version of the Sixers, the ones he coached until being fired in December, play the Chicago Bulls.
Although Cheeks remains under contract with the Sixers through next season, he declined an invitation to celebrate what was once his arena.
The organization formally invited alumni of its two championship teams, from 1966-67 and 1982-83, six weeks ago. The Sixers said they did not have an exact date for Cheeks' decision.
Despite repeated attempts, he could not be reached for comment.
Sixers coach Tony DiLeo said he left Cheeks a message "a long time ago" and still hadn't heard back.
"Whenever he's ready, I'm sure he'll get back to me," DiLeo said.
When general manager Ed Stefanski fired Cheeks, he mentioned the possibility of discussing with Cheeks, when the time was right, future opportunities with the team.
"Mo took some time off, and we've talked a couple of times," Stefanski said. "Right now, he feels the timing would be best to wait a little bit, but he's considering those things."
Stefanski declined to comment on what role Cheeks might fill.
"We did invite every member of both of our championship teams to help us celebrate this special night at the Spectrum," Sixers spokesman Mike Preston said in an e-mail. "While he informed us that he will unfortunately not be able to attend this game on Friday night, we will always consider Mo to be a cherished member of the Sixers family and we continue to hold him in the highest regard, both on the court and off."
In the weeks leading to tonight's game, the Sixers ran an advertising campaign that paired a current Sixer with his throwback teammate: Samuel Dalembert with Malone, Andre Iguodala with Erving, Thaddeus Young with Charles Barkley, Andre Miller with Cheeks.
While each advertisement appeared to imply that each player would be present tonight, Barkley and Andrew Toney also are not scheduled to attend. The Sixers said the campaign was "designed to celebrate blending of past and present."
The current Sixers, the ones Cheeks coached to a 9-14 record until his Dec. 13 firing, said they had kept in touch and understood Cheeks' decision.
"I've spoken with him several times since it happened," Young said of Cheeks' firing. "We'll text back and forth, and I'll take his input, and I'll give him a little bit of mine. He's still been a coach to me."
Did Young ask Cheeks about tonight? "I did not," Young said. "I don't want to get into that. That's his decision."
"We text back and forth once or twice to check up on each other," Iguodala said. "It's kind of a situation, kind of like, it would be good to be here, but the situation that happened, maybe not a good idea. It's hard to say. So I'm pretty sure he's just relaxing and enjoying his wine right about now."
Scheduled Sixers. Members of the championship teams scheduled to attend are Malone, Erving, Jones, Earl Cureton, Wali Jones, Clemon Johnson, Marc Iavaroni and Reggie Johnson. The team said a limited number of tickets remained.
Daily News - Philadelphia, PA - March 13, 2009
Spectrum: Saying goodbye
The Sixers play their final game tonight in the Wachovia Spectrum, their home in the 1982-83 NBA championship season. The Sixers played in the Spectrum from 1967 to '96. Expect tonight to be one of nostaglia, highlighted by a halftime ceremony for the title team, including Julius Erving.
1967-68 TEAM ATTENDEE: Wali Jones
1982-83 TEAM ATTENDEES: Earl Cureton, Franklin Edwards, Julius Erving, Marc Iavaroni, Clemon Johnson, Reggie Johnson, Bobby Jones, Moses Malone
BY THE NUMBERS:
Seasons at Spectrum: 29
Games: 1,240
Wins: 804
Losses: 436
Winning pct.: 64.8
Points scored: 136,548
Opponents' points: 131,729
Attendance: 15,120,536
THAT CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON:
n 1982-83, the Sixers were dominant at the Spectrum. Their numbers:
Regular-season record: 65-17
Playoff record: 12-1
Spectrum regular-season record: 35-6
Spectrum playoff record: 7-0
COMCAST SPORTSNET ON THE SCENE: "Daily News Live" will have interviews from the Spectrum with Bobby Jones, Doctor J, Earl Cureton and Wali Jones, among others. "DNL" is on Comcast SportsNet weeknights from 5 to 6:30 p.m. and is hosted by Michael Barkann. Also on CSN, "Sportsnite" at 6:30 and "Postgame Live" after the game will air from the Spectrum.
Green Day article from Philadelphia Magazine
Tribute to fallen Philadelphia Flyer Pelle Lindbergh on philadelphiaflyers.com. For story and photos click here.
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