Boxing Blog – TSS Tidbits

Trying to save classic arena from progress/wrecking ball

A District of Columbia venue that once housed the bouts of fighters like Rocky Marciano, Jimmy Bivins, Fred Apostoli, and Rocky Marciano is the subject of a preservation debate. Richard Layman, a Washingtonian, will soon ask the D.C. Historic Preservation Review Broad to grant historic designation to the former Uline Arena, the Washington City Paper recently reported.

The Uline certainly held enough historic events to warrant historic designation. The Beatles played their first U.S. show there on February 11, 1964, when the building was known as the Washington Coliseum. The venue also housed D.C.’s first professional basketball and hockey teams: the Washington Lions of the Eastern Hockey League, and the Washington Capitols of the Basketball Association of America. The Capitols were coached by the late Red Auerbach from 1946 to 1949.

Layman also cites the building’s unique architecture as part of the reason for his pursuit of the Uline’s preservation.

“Uline is special, architecturally,� said Layman. “It used a particular German process, where the ribs on top of the building provide the structural integrity. That meant there are no columns, giving it an unobstructed view because of that construction. I’ve been in arenas or stadiums, such as Tiger Stadium, where you have obstructed views.�

The arena also housed many boxing matches, including Rocky Marciano’s first fight outside of the New England area on September 30, 1948. In that bout, Marciano knocked out Gilbert Cardone in the first round.

Boxing historian Bert Sugar and Washington, D.C., native Bert Sugar attended events at the Uline as a child. However, he does not feel that the building needs to be saved.

“The memories are still there, and that’s more important than having the building,� Sugar told the City Paper. “They didn’t save Griffith Stadium. They didn’t save Boston Garden. Now they’re tearing down Yankee Stadium. But people want to save Uline Arena, for chrissakes? And that’s coming from a kid raised in Washington.�

Layman goes before the D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board this week.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 12th, 2006 at 10:06 am and is filed under Aaron Tallent, Boxing News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.