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Mary Lou Retton: America’s darling gymnast

Anyone that watched the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles became absolutely smitten with Mary Lou Retton. Not only did she demonstrate a performance of pure excellence, but she represented everything that was wholesome about the United States. Her original family name of Rotundo was changed to Retton when they arrived at Ellis Island, and Mary Lou is intensely proud of her Italian heritage.

Born in 1968 in Virginia, Mary Lou developed an intense love of gymnastics are an early age. She relocated to Houston, Texas to be under the instruction of Bela Karolyi, the famed Romanian coach. Her cute perkiness, combined with a very compact and strong frame led her to wins at a variety of competitions, including the U.S. Nationals and the American Cup. Her 4’ 9” size was smaller than the standard, but every ounce of her weight was pure powerhouse toned muscle.
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Katarina Witt: A vision of elegance on the ice

It is rare that you can find such a combination of talent in one person. Katarina Witt has shown that she can excel as an ice skater, business woman, athlete, and television celebrity. She was nicknamed ‘fire on the ice’ and the world had not been taken by storm with the love of a skater since Sonja Henie.

Katarina was born in East Berlin, Germany in 1965; the former communist East Germany. Her love of skating began early when, at the age of five, she was skating at the local sports arena. Her style was apparent and she went under the tutelage of Jutta Mueller, one of the world’s foremost skating instructors. Even though Katarina was a growing girl, she devoted her time to her skating. Between school and 4 hours a day on the ice, she didn’t have any time left to enjoy a family or friends. But hers was a labor of love.
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Jackie Joyner-Kersee: One of the top athletes of all time

The 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles brought about many changes. Not only was the city of Los Angeles rearranging every aspect of their existence to be a host city, but there was an entire buzz of new athletes that were entering the fold. One of these athletes was Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

Born in 1962, Jackie was named after Jackie Kennedy. Little did her parents know that their daughter was destined for greatness. Jackie excelled in all kinds of sports, but in high school proved her worth by qualifying for the 1980 Olympic Trials in Long Jump competition. But it wasn’t until she watched the movie about Babe Didrikson Zaharias that she made the decision to train for the track and fields event. This is a multiple disciplinary level and is considered one of the most difficult.
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Nadia Comaneci: The little gymnast the took the world by storm

The 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada brought a number of ‘firsts’ into athletics. One of the most surprising was little Nadia Comaneci, of Romania. The tiny powerhouse from the oppressed country entered the Olympics, becoming the first person to win with a perfect ten score and she won our hearts.

Born in 1961, Nadia became entranced by gymnastics by the young age of 6 years old. She was discovered and then trained by Bela Karolyi, the famed gymnastic coach. Karolyi and his wife were impressed with Nadia’s talent, but also her work ethic. Her own personal memories of that time included the fact that she continued to try, even though she fell a lot. She was only seven when she was entered into the Romanian National Junior Championship. While she finished in thirteenth place, it gave Nadia a taste of getting close to winning.
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Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field: Once the 2nd oldest stadium in the country

The owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Barney Dreyfuss, had a dream in 1903 to create the most beautiful stadium in the country. He wanted to move the Pirates from the Exposition Park location to a seven acre area in Pittsburgh. The design he selected would blend with the other buildings in the district of Schenley Park. At the time, that location was a bit of a trolley ride (10 minutes) from downtown and the project became known as “Dreyfuss’ Folley”. The name didn’t last long mainly due to his design concept: a 3-tiered stadium of concrete and steel, setting precedence for a stadium design as the first one in the country.
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The AstroDome: One of America’s Favorite Architectures

Any sports fan that ever heard the word “Astrodome” – knew exactly what and where it was. Commonly known as the Houston Astrodome, this was notably the first stadium build for multi-sports purpose. The grand opening in 1965, displayed the domed façade and it quickly became known as the “Eighth Wonder of the World”. Judy Garland as well as the famed super group “The Supremes” were the highlight of performance in the opening night.

The design was based on a rain-out game attended by the former mayor of Houston. Inspired by the ancient Roman concept to offer a velaria to protect the viewers, he changed his project direction and began working on getting a domed stadium in place.
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Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium: The Launching Pad

The 1960’s was a time of progress in our country. Large cars, booming business and the introduction of rock and roll brought about many changes. Atlanta Georgia was a city that needed to move forward with the times. The decision in 1964 for the then, non-identified Major League Baseball organization to offer a verbal commitment to Atlanta created the grounds to build a stadium. In 1965 the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium was opened, having taken only 50 weeks to construct.
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The Spectrum: Heart and Soul of Philadelphia

Anyone that lived in Philadelphia from the late 60’s until the 2,000’s, knew and loved ‘The Spectrum’. While it was called by many other names, including: The Wachovia Spectrum, CoreStates Spectrum, and First Union Spectrum, it was and always will be known as simply ‘The Spectrum’ by the locals.

Oddly named in 1967 when it opened, the letters are actually an acronym: ‘SP’ represents ‘sports’ and has also been referred to as ‘South Philadelphia. The ‘E’ for ‘entertainment,’ as it was planned to host a variety of venues. The ‘C’ for the many ‘circuses,’ that would be there. The ‘T’ for all of the ‘theatricals,’ plays, drama and movie backdrops. The ‘R’ for ‘recreation,’ which covered a lot of topics. And ‘UM’, well they decided that would stand for: ‘um, what a nice building!”.
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Electro-Mech Scoreboard Company Deepens Partnership with SignCoEDS

Electro-Mech, a scoreboard manufacturer with facilities in Wrigtsville, Georgia, announced today a set of product development and resource sharing plans that deepens their relationship with SignCoEDS, a Nebraska-based sign manufacturer and service provider specializing in the sports market. The plans include designing a series of Electronic Team Name (ETN) displays for use in Electro-Mech’s high-end scoreboard products.
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Scoreboards manufacturer explores the connections between athletics, advertising, education, and fundraising

Where should a school draw the line between fund raising and commercial enterprise? What place do corporate sponsors have on public and private campuses? And what role should our government take in setting limits in these areas? These and similar questions are the subject on an ongoing series of surveys being conducted at Scoreboards Company.
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