THE PLAIN DEALER . SUNDAY, JULY 4, 1999 5-H

OUR CENTURY1974

AT A GLANCE

Mileti builds the ‘Big House’By Fred McGunagle

Green and blue spotlights criss-crossed the floor, sparkling off thespecially created gold commemora-tive medallions around the necks ofguests. Resplendent in his brown mo-hair tuxedo, Nick Mileti happily ac-knowledged the applause of thou-sands.

It was Oct. 26, 1974, and Mileti, 43-year-old “sports magnate,” was open-ing the gleaming $25 million Coli-seum in Richfield. It was the acme ofan almost unbelievable career thathad started with part-time jobs in thefourth grade at Corlett ElementarySchool. “Superstar Mileti MakesAmerican Dream Come True,” aPlain Dealer profile had said in 1972.

That was the year Mileti added theCleveland Indians to his NationalBasketball Association Cavaliers andAmerican Hockey League Barons.Now, in 1974, he also owned theWorld Hockey Association Crusad-ers, with stars for whom he had out-bid the National Hockey League. Healso owned radio station WWWE.

From his two-story loge high up inthe Coliseum, Mileti cheered FrankSinatra, whom Mileti had paid$250,000 as the Coliseum’s openingact. So did those inside the building,many in tuxes and evening gowns forthe champagne party to follow.

Outside, the scene was different.Interstate 271 was a parking lot. Carstrapped in the jam were overheatingand running out of gas. Drivers whomanaged to reach the Ohio 303 exitwere forced by police to keep goinginto the countryside because the Coli-seum parking lot was full.

Many abandoned their cars.Clutching their $25 tickets, theyslogged through the mud toward thelights of the Coliseum a half-mileaway. One woman in an evening gownclambered up an embankment andfell in the weeds. She struggled to herfeet, only to fall in a ditch.

The problems continued into thefirst athletic event, a Crusadershockey game the next week. It had tobe called off because the ice-makingequipment didn’t work. The samething happened for the second game.

But gradually, the Coliseum over-came the bugs. It presented a steadyrun of circuses, ice shows and rockconcerts. All who saw it agreed it wasa fine facility, even though there wereproblems with the location — espe-cially when snow turned hilly Ohio303 into a toboggan run.

•Mileti was a born promoter. He

started with events for his almamater, Bowling Green State Univer-sity, and the Miss Lakewood beautypageant in Lakewood Park for theLakewood Jaycees.

In the early 1960s, he told Lake-wood Mayor Frank Celeste the Jay-cees wanted to do something moresignificant. Celeste told him Congresshad just created a senior citizenapartment program in which spon-sors need put up only a small amountof “seed money.” The result, in 1963,was the Westerly, the first senior citi-zen apartments in the country.

Another result was that Mileti andCeleste found themselves the mostknowledgeable lawyers in the coun-try about senior citizen housing.When Celeste left office in 1964, theyformed National Housing ConsultantsInc., advising sponsors around thecountry on how to wade through thered tape.

Mileti burst on the sports scene in1968 when he bought the Arena andthe Barons — or rather, headed an in-vestor group in which others put upmost of the money. Needing anothertenant for the Arena, he won an ex-pansion NBA franchise in 1970. Whenhe couldn’t get an NHL franchise, hejoined the new WHA in 1972.

That same year, he suddenlyemerged as owner of the Indians,buying the team from financiallystrapped Vernon Stouffer. Again, oth-ers put up most of the money. “Whyare you assuming I put in anymoney?” he asked an interviewer. “Iput in work and talent. There are dif-ferent things that make a partner-ship. Sometimes you put in moneyand sometimes you don’t.”

By 1974, Mileti’s teams were strug-gling financially. The Indians werelosing games before nearly emptystands. One of Mileti’s partners, Alva“Ted” Bonda of Apcoa Inc. took overbusiness operations. The “lovableloser” Cavaliers were losing their lov-ability as well as games. The Crusad-ers were having trouble meeting theirhigh payroll. The minor-league Bar-ons had been sold in 1973 and movedto Jacksonville, Fla.

The new Coliseum gave a boost tohockey and basketball attendance,and Mileti added as a tenant theCleveland Nets, a team formed by JoeZingale in the new World Team Ten-

nis League. Akronites adopted theCavs as “their” team. Clevelandersbraved the icy roads, though therewas no public transportation and thetraditional blue-collar fans began todrift away.

Population was in decline. Themegalopolis that demographerscalled “Cuyahoga Valley City” intheir predictions failed to material-ize; instead, the Census Bureaudropped Cleveland from the list of thenation’s 15 largest metropolitanareas. A recession put a crimp in rec-reation spending. The real estate de-velopment around the Coliseum, onwhich the investors had hoped tomake their real money, was nowhereto be seen.

The Coliseum lights still gleamed,visible for miles around. Nothingarose to block the view.

“The Big House on the Prairie”stood alone.

McGunagle is a Cleveland free-lance writer.

PLAIN DEALER FILE PHOTO

Frank Robinson.

OPEC has cityover a barrel

The Organization of Petroleum ExportingCountries, the oil cartel, had raised pricestwice in late 1973. In January, it raised themagain — to $11.56 a barrel, nearly four timesthe October price.

The “oil shock” hit America hard, but it hitCleveland harder than most places. Not onlydid Clevelanders face long lines at gas pumpsand lower speed limits, but the auto industry— the area’s backbone — led the nation intorecession. Buyers discovered that not onlywere Japanese cars more economical thanAmerican “gas guzzlers,” but they had fewerquality problems.

Within a year, General Motors had laid offmore than 7,000 workers in northern Ohio.The Lordstown Vega assembly plant was shut-ting down for a week or two at a time. The GMFisher Body Division laid off employees inCleveland, Euclid and Elyria. Ford announcedshutdowns at its Lorain plant, which assem-bled Mercury Montegos and Ford Torinos.

Suppliers to the auto industry were affected,especially steel and rubber companies. Sowere machine tools and machinery industries,as plants canceled expansion plans. By year’send, there were 8 million unemployed Ameri-cans — the most since 1940. The unemploy-ment rate was 6.1 percent in Greater Cleve-land, and twice that in the city.

•John Glenn made good his vow to oppose

Howard Metzenbaum for the Senate seat towhich Metzenbaum had been appointed byGov. John Gilligan. In the climactic City Clubdebate the weekend before the primary, Met-zenbaum scoffed that Glenn had never held ajob in private life.

Glenn replied: “Go with me and tell and aGold Star mother her son didn’t hold a job. Goto Arlington Cemetery, watch those flags,stand there and tell those people they didn’thave a job.” Glenn won the primary and wenton to a landslide victory over Ralph Perk inNovember.

Councilman Dennis Kucinich was runningfor Congress again, this time against StateRep. Ron Mottl for the open 23rd District seat.His aggressive campaign prompted the Pressto observe editorially that “Dennis the menacehas become Dennis the demagogue.” Mottlwon a close race.

James Rhodes, meanwhile, tried to regainthe governorship he had held from 1963through 1970. In 1970, when he was ineligibleto seek a third term, he was defeated in theRepublican Senate primary by Robert Taft,while Gilligan was governor. Pundits said thetimes had passed the 65-year-old Rhodes by.

Gilligan, buoyed by polls showing him with abig lead, adopted an above-the-fray attitude.But in the last 10 days, Rhodes unleashed a$100,000 media blitz that hit Gilligan as aloofand uncaring.

On Election Night, both ABC and NBC pro-jections showed Gilligan re-elected. Shortlyafter midnight, Rhodes conceded. He told hissupporters, “We lost the election and that’s it,”and went to bed. At 3 a.m., he was awakenedwith news: The complete count showed he hadbeen elected governor again.

However, Rhodes had a Democratic lieuten-ant governor. State Rep. Richard Celeste ofLakewood had defeated John W. Brown.

•After two years of improvement, the Cavs

fell to 29-53 in their last season at the Arena.Coach Bill Fitch’s one-liners no longer wereenough to stop fans from muttering. The Cru-saders finished third in the Eastern Division ofthe WHA, with a 37-32-3 record, but lost to theChicago Cougars in the playoffs.

Mileti’s Indians struggled to a fourth-placefinish in the American League East. Phil Seghireplaced General Manager Gabe Paul, whohad left to join George Steinbrenner’s NewYork Yankees. The Perry brothers, Gaylordand Jim, won 38 games — 21 and 17 respec-tively — though opposing teams repeatedlydemanded that the umpires search Gaylordfor illegal baseball-doctoring substances. Os-car Gamble and George Hendrick each hit 19homers. In July, Dick Bosman threw only 79pitches in a no-hitter against the Oakland Ath-letics.

It speaks volumes about the 1970s Indiansthat the most memorable event of the year —probably of the decade — was the infamous10-Cent Beer Night on June 4. Juiced-up fansswarmed on to the field, forcing the umpires todeclare a forfeit for the Texas Rangers. InSeptember, Seghi picked up future Hall ofFamer Frank Robinson on waivers from theCalifornia Angels. When the season ended, henamed Robinson as the majors’ first blackmanager, replacing Ken Aspromonte.

Once fans could count on the Browns tomake them forget the woes of the Indians. The1974 Browns finished 4-10, the worst record intheir 29-season history. Nick Skorich retiredas coach.

PLAIN DEALER FILE PHOTO

The Colisuem’s cement floor is poured just days ahead of its opening.

The crowd — at least those who weren’t stuck on the interstate — gathers for Frank Sinatra’s opening show at theColiseum.

Host Nick Mileti on opening night,

Merger puts regional transit on the roadMayor Ralph Perk had staved off

financial ruin in 1972 by selling thesewer system to a regional board for$35 million. Now that money was run-ning out. Worse, the city-ownedCleveland Transit System had ex-hausted its reserves and was facingbankruptcy. The legislature author-ized creation of a regional transit au-thority — one eligible for federal aid— but set a Dec. 31 deadline.

For the first time, Perk agreed tosubmit a tax issue — an increase inthe income tax from 1 percent to 1.5percent, with part of the money ear-marked for CTS. In the fall, however,Perk was busy running for U.S. Sen-ate. The tax was defeated.

Officials redoubled transit negotia-tions under intense media pressure.On Dec. 31, City Council approved aplan to gather the Cleveland, Shaker

Heights, North Olmsted, Euclid andMaple Heights systems under a re-gional umbrella. Cleveland would getfour seats on the board, with threeeach for the county commissionersand suburban mayors. Clevelandwould also get $11 million for past in-vestments.

County voters, however, wouldhave to pass a 0.5-percent “piggy-back” sales tax in 1975.

The city still faced red ink. On Dec.

30, Judge Daniel O. Corrigan blockedPerk’s plan to lay off 289 police andfirefighters because council had notapproved it. Instead, he ordered Perkto lay off 300 “temporary” workerswho had been on the payroll longerthan allowed by the city charter.

The city faced financial chaos, Perksaid. It was the same prospect the cityhad faced at the end of 1972 and 1973.

— Fred McGunagle

LOOKING AT A YEAR

Feb. 4: Newspaper heiress PattyHearst is kidnapped from her Berke-ley apartment by members of a groupcalling themselves the SymbioneseLiberation Army. Two months later,Hearst joins her abductors in a bankrobbery.

Mar. 15: A federal grand jurynames President Nixon an unindicted

co-conspirator in the Watergate cov-erup.

April 8: Atlanta Braves sluggerHank Aaron hits his 715th home run,surpassing Babe Ruth’s record.

June 30: Soviet ballet star MikhailBaryshnikov defects to Canada.

July 30: The Supreme Court rulesunanimously that Nixon must turn

over tape recordings sought by theWatergate prosecutor.

Aug. 8: Nixon resigns. GeraldFord becomes president.

Sept. 8: Daredevil Evel Knievelfails in his bid to rocket across theGrand Canyon on a motorcycle.

Sept. 16: Ford pardons Nixon.

Oct. 13: Muhammad Ali regains

the world heavyweight boxing titlewith a knockout of George Foremanin Zaire, Africa.

Deaths: Earl Warren, CharlesLindbergh, French political leaderGeorges Pompidou, former UnitedNations Secretary-General U Thant,Duke Ellington, Jack Benny, SamuelGoldwyn, Chet Huntley, Walter Lipp-mann.