THIS DAY IN SPORTS: Seattle arrives as a sports city

Presented by ZAMZOWS.

This Day In Sports…March 27, 1976, 50 years ago today:

The grand opening of the Kingdome in Seattle, as a crowd of 54,000 watches 6,000 performers, including a choir of more than 1,700 voices and a band of almost 2,700 instruments. The ceremonies coincided with the nation’s bicentennial and included square dancers, barbershop quartets and log-rolling. The new Seattle Seahawks would make their debut in the Kingdome that September, as would Seattle Sounders soccer, and the Mariners would join them the following year.

A much-forgotten fact is that the NBA’s Sonics also played in the Kingdome from 1978-85. (That was not the best of atmospheres for basketball, with the possible exception of three visits from the Final Four). Ironically, it was baseball that was originally the catalyst for a domed stadium. The Seattle Pilots counted on playing in such a venue when they debuted in the patchwork minor league facility known as Sick’s Stadium in 1969. But it was clear that—due to community opposition and infighting—a dome was too many years away, and the Pilots moved to Milwaukee and became the Brewers after one season.

Finally, though, the Kingdome made Seattle a true major league city. There were circus catches at the wall by the Mariners’ Ken Griffey Jr. and the trucking of the Seahawks’ Brian Bosworth by the L.A. Raiders’ Bo Jackson. The Kingdome, like Lumen Field today, was an intensely loud place during Seahawks games. It was in 1984 that the “12s” were officially born, with the team retiring No. 12 in honor of its fans.

But the single biggest moment in the building came in the deciding game of the 1995 American League Divisional Series. In the bottom of the 11th inning, with the Mariners trailing the New York Yankees 5-4, Edgar Martinez laced a double to left field that scored Joey Cora and Griffey, giving the M’s a 6-5 victory and sending them to their first ALCS. By the late 1990s, however, the Kingdome had worn out its welcome. The Mariners moved to new Safeco Field in July of 1999, and that fall, the Seahawks played their final Kingdome season. The stadium was imploded on March 26, 2000, one day short of its 24th birthday.

(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)