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Indiana State Fair Coliseum

Coliseum Explosion - October 31, 1963
With Halloween approaching I can't help but remember the tragic Coliseum Explosion on October 31, 1963. The Holiday on Ice performance was disrupted by a horrrendous explosion which killed 74 people and injured dozens more. A call went out for every ambulance in the city and as I recall our own David Millls was a driver of one of those emergency vehicles.

These two links provide more details about that devastating night.

https://indianapublicmedia.org/momentofindianahistory/1963-coliseum-explosion/

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/history/retroindy/2014/01/15/coliseum-explosion/4495037/

Renovation
An update - The State Fair Coliseum was renovated in 2013-2014. A nice video about that renovation is here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOhTTknOGi8

The Ford Mustang
You may recall that in 1964 Ford introduced the Mustang!
It retailed for $2,368. 

The photo below shows a beautiful convertible, appropriately painted gold, which is currently on sale on AutoTrader.com for
$46,900!!

My older brother, Don, who went back to school after serving in the Korean War and was a 1956 graduate of Manual was a Navy medical corpsman and Navy Cross Winner in Korea happened to be stationed at the Naval Avionics Facility in 63 and answered the call for all medical help to go to help at the explosion.  I remember he told me it was just about as bloody as what he had experienced in battles in Korea.

 How could we forget!
Cassius Clay vs Sonny Liston - Feb 25th, 1964
(Of course Cassius Clay soon became Muhammad Ali)

                                                 

Liston was a reserved, feared fighter, a decade older than Cassius Clay, and had been world heavyweight champ since defeating Floyd Patterson in 1962. By contrast, Clay was a mouthy underdog who had won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Olympics in Rome. While training for their fight, Clay, a natural self-promoter, taunted Liston and boasted to reporters that he would win by knockout. Clay came out strong during the fight, using speed and footwork to his advantage against the slower Liston. After the sixth round, Liston, who was suffering from cuts and bruises under his eyes and an apparent injured shoulder, announced he couldn’t continue. Clay won the match by technical knockout and then announced to the world, “I am the greatest!” (from History.com)

To me Ali was one to the most interesting historic figures of our time. He went from Olympic Gold Medal Winner to World Heavyweight Champion to Draft Resistor to lighting the Olympic Flame in Atlanta in 1996. A tremendous athlete and facinating person.