2 years ago
They hovered around the old Aud for months. "It's like saying goodbye to an old friend," says Tom Sionkiewicz of Buffalo. He raises his camera for one last shot of the place that meant so much to him when he was a kid. "Me and my dad, walking through those doors, waiting to see a wrestling match," he recalls. "He'd come over here, smoke cigars, eat peanuts, watch wrestling matches and grab a beer. He was a good guy."
Click here to visit 2 On Your Side's "Farewell, Old Friend" Aud Page
From the Southern Tier, Rick Thies has come back just to see this. "Originally from the Buffalo area," he says, "back for a nice day, I want to see the Aud before its gone." His dad took him to see the Braves and the Sabres.
Tom remembers the wrestlers. "My favorite was Ilio DiPaulo. I remember Dick Beyer. He had a mask on. I think he went by the name the Destroyer, wasn't it?" He pauses and looks through the wire mesh fence at the facade that would give him chills as a kid when he approached the entrance with his dad. "I wish I could just go back in time and be there again for just five minutes."
It was the sounds as much as the sights that stick in the memory. And the smells. Dave Boyack of Amherst was 12 when his dad took him to see the Sabres play. The next morning, his schoolboy track team would practice in the Aud. "The aroma was quite strong," he says. "A few beers spilled here and there."
"Pew, very smelly," recalls Pat Cognato. She's referring to the circus elephants at the Aud. Today,she works on the 13th floor of M&T Plaza. She glances out of a conference room window. "I can see the Aud from here," she says. "I've watched them take it apart day by day."
Pat's father was a stagehand and took her to the circus and the Ice Capades when she was a little girl. He ran the spotlights high in the rafters and sometimes turned the spotlight on her. And yes, he worked the circus, which is why her mom had a rule. "She used to make him change his clothes on the back porch because of the smell." But all in all, "I always had fun with my dad, so a lot of happy memories. I'll be sorry to see the Aud go."
The Auditorium was a public works project begun in 1938 and completed in 1940. It cost all of $2.6-million and allowed Buffalo to proclaim itself the Convention City of the Future.
The Aud became a showplace for boxing and wrestling, sporting events and concerts. Elvis played the Aud in 1967, followed by the Grateful Dead, Neil Diamond, Rod Stewart and countless other performers.They raised the roof in 19-71 ... added 6-thousand seats. The Sabres beat Pittsburgh in the season opener under the new roof.
Rene Robert, Gil Perrault and Rick Martin later became the most famous and exciting line in hockey. Robert last December revisited the cold and dark Aud he'd last played in nearly three decades earlier. He remembered the fans. "Game in and game out, it was the same faces, regardless of where you were," he told Channel 2's Scott Brown. "When you focused, they'd all be sitting there, it would be like going to church on Sunday."
Dave Boyack of Amherst went to the games with his dad. He remembers the All-Star game of 1978. "That was the game where we had two of the Sabres in there, Rick Martin and Gil Perrault. Rick Martin tied the game up, sent it into overtime. Gil Perrault won the game in the first ten minutes of overtime. Just as with any Sabres game, the crowd erupted."
Dave's son Dillon is ten years old. Just as his dad took him to the Aud, Dave would like Dillon to see the place where his childhood memories still reside. From father to son to grandson.
Tuesday, October 21st, outside Memorial Auditorium.
"This is my son, Dillon," Dave says.
From all the emails we received, we invited Dave and his son and around a dozen of our viewers to visit the Aud one last time.
It's damp and dusty inside. "Please stay tight in the group as we walk around," our tour guide directs us.
Mary Thompson and her mother, Shirley remember camping out in sleeping bags to be able to buy playoff tickets. "And we played pinochle, yeah, all night," Shirley recalls. "Look at that," says Mary, pointing to a concession stand sign. "Popcorn, 39 cents."
Nancy Thines gazes ups into the stands. "When I ame to see the Globetrotters with my dad, we sat up in one of those sections, right behind the no-smoking sign. We had three people with three chairs. It was like a luxury box. It was awesome."
We find Pat Cognato staring up into the rafters. "Where was your dad working on the catwalk? we ask.
"Oh, I think way up there, almost next to the ceiling," she says.
Tom Sionkiewicz recalls the wrestling matches. "I never stood right here on the ground" where the ring was set up. "I was up there in the stands somewhere with Dad."
Dave Boyack, meanwhile, shows son Dillon where he and his dad used to sit. "Our seats were right up there in section 8," he says. "That was Buffalo's attempt at luxury boxes up there."
"This is like going into the Titanic," says Tom.
And like that old wreck, there are things to discover. Artifacts to unearth. Suddenly, the buzz of voices in the lobby. Somebody uncovers an old logo on the floor, a stylized bison covered by years of dust and dirt. Tom pulls out a handkerchief and wipes away a decade of dirt. He holds the cloth toward the camera. "My dad's hanky," he says. "I brought it along."
Minutes later, we're out in the daylight again. "Thank you so much, it was wonderful," says Margaret Thompson. "I'm just so glad I sent that letter in that we did get here."
Soon, everybody's gathered around Tom and his hanky. "I got video!" says Nancy Thines.
"I got a dirty hanky," says Tom.
"Yeah, don't throw out the dust."
"I won't," says Tom. And then, "Thanks, Dad."
Some of our guests picked up shards of marble from the ground in front of the Aud.
And several weeks later, we received a gift in the mail from Tom. He'd made a keepsake of the place that will soon live only in memory.
One last thing. A man in a sweat suit approaches Tom. "I remember you sitting ringside," he says. Turns out that retired wrestler Dick Beyer has a pretty good memory. At age 78 he looks to be in pretty good shape. Still teaches, and coaches swimming. "How are ya? I'm Dick Beyer."
He and Tom shake hands. "Nice to meet ya'," says Tom. "I used to boo ya'."
"Did ya'?" says Beyer. "That's good. The more they booed, the more money I made."
Booed him right here. a long time ago, at the Aud. A place that was like a good friend. "Seems like just yesterday, y'know," says Tom.
And like all good friends that we've loved and lost, the Aud lives on, in the stories that we tell.
