DallasCowpoke
Fierce Allegiance
- Messages
- 5,539
- Reaction score
- 302
Last look inside Texas Stadium
Video link
IRVING — Tuesday was the last time WFAA-TV was allowed inside Texas Stadium before it is no more.
Crews on site say everything's on schedule for implosion day, one week from Sunday.
Texas Stadium was once the spot to watch the Dallas Cowboys in action.
At the moment, crews are filling the site with dirt. By implosion day, the dirt will be 40 feet deep.
For one last time, the voice of the Dallas Cowboys Brad Sham, welcomed the crowd to the Cowboys' former home.
"It's a little weird to think they are going to blow this place up. But I think any one of us who has ever had a loved one pass of any kind of a lingering illness knows there comes a point when the frame is no longer the spirit; it's just the frame," he said.
It's a building well prepared for that final fall on demolition day, April 11.
All that is left now is concrete and steel. Most of the metal has been stripped away; gone with it, any sign of the popular Stadium Club, now just a window to Loop 12.
This week, the stadium will become eerily quiet, as crews pack in some 2,700 pounds of explosives into columns now wrapped in black fabric to contain the rubble on the day of the blast.
It is clearly a sentimental day for Cowboy greats, like Billy Joe Dupree, Tony Hill and Nate Newton, who came to say goodbye.
"This building was all of ours and all of yours, every fan, to use for a while, and now someone else needs it for something else," Sham said.
The implosion will take place at 7 o'clock in the morning. The public is welcome -- $25 per car. The money will be donated to charities.
The City of Irving has not said what the site will be used for. Officials are hoping it will be used for mixed usage - meaning a combination of retail, office space and condos or town homes.
================
At Texas Stadium Today, A Few Former Dallas Cowboys Paid Their Last Respects
By Patrick Michels, Tuesday, Mar. 30 2010 @ 4:03PM
Patrick MichelsNate Newton remembered his time at Texas Stadium: "I lived in an unreal world for 13 years."​A couple weeks ago, you may recall, we brought you a look inside what's left of Texas Stadium, which, to our eyes, looked just about ready to come down.
Not about to let the stadium go quietly, though, the city of Irving organized yet another tour of the old stadium today, this time to put a more personal spin on the awesome spectacle coming up on April 11.
So with the demolition crew looking forward to the big bang, former Cowboys lineman Nate Newton, wide receiver Tony Hill and tight end Billy Joe Dupree stopped by this morning to pay their last respects, along with ex-Cowboys cheerleader Cheryl Gates, who spent the late '90s dancing the sidelines, and a handful of City of Irving officials.
Voice of the Cowboys Brad Sham said thinking about the impending demo was "a little weird," setting an ambivalent tone echoed by the former players. Sham compared the sight of Texas Stadium to a visit with a dying loved one. "There comes a time when the frame is just a frame and the spirit has left," he said.
"It's already different, and I don't want to remember it like this," said Hill, who, like the other players, wasn't too enthusiastic about showing up to watch the implosion in person.
The day's biggest biggest news on the implosion: If you're waking up early to catch the big event live and in person, Chris Berman will be out there with you, emceeing a ceremony that, along with the detonation of 2,715 pounds of explosives in the stadium, will also have fireworks.
​"I lived in an unreal world for 13 years," Newton said, recalling his playing time at Texas Stadium. "I hate to see it go, but they got a bigger and better thing over there in Arlington."
Former Irving mayor Dan Matkin recalled just how it felt when Texas Stadium went up in 1971, right next to current mayor Herbert Gears, who drummed up excitement for the mixed-use Valhalla he hopes will take the stadium's place.
Inside the stadium Stephen Revile, A&R Demolition's operations manager for the job, described how the landmark would come down, in "a minute-a-half, tops." Revile said he'd worked other major demolitions, including Reunion Arena, but was clearly looking forward to this one. "This will be my biggest accomplishment when we're done," he said.
A&R Demolition operations manager Stephen Revile explains the path the explosions will take around the stadium on April 11.​
Brad Sham offered one final welcome to Texas Stadium.​
Former Cowboys wide receiver Tony Hill​
Former Cowboy Billy Joe Dupree​
Mayor Herbert Gears floated the idea of a half-demolition, like the Coliseum in Rome, to leave Irving with a world-class tourist destination.
Video link
IRVING — Tuesday was the last time WFAA-TV was allowed inside Texas Stadium before it is no more.
Crews on site say everything's on schedule for implosion day, one week from Sunday.
Texas Stadium was once the spot to watch the Dallas Cowboys in action.
At the moment, crews are filling the site with dirt. By implosion day, the dirt will be 40 feet deep.
For one last time, the voice of the Dallas Cowboys Brad Sham, welcomed the crowd to the Cowboys' former home.
"It's a little weird to think they are going to blow this place up. But I think any one of us who has ever had a loved one pass of any kind of a lingering illness knows there comes a point when the frame is no longer the spirit; it's just the frame," he said.
It's a building well prepared for that final fall on demolition day, April 11.
All that is left now is concrete and steel. Most of the metal has been stripped away; gone with it, any sign of the popular Stadium Club, now just a window to Loop 12.
This week, the stadium will become eerily quiet, as crews pack in some 2,700 pounds of explosives into columns now wrapped in black fabric to contain the rubble on the day of the blast.
It is clearly a sentimental day for Cowboy greats, like Billy Joe Dupree, Tony Hill and Nate Newton, who came to say goodbye.
"This building was all of ours and all of yours, every fan, to use for a while, and now someone else needs it for something else," Sham said.
The implosion will take place at 7 o'clock in the morning. The public is welcome -- $25 per car. The money will be donated to charities.
The City of Irving has not said what the site will be used for. Officials are hoping it will be used for mixed usage - meaning a combination of retail, office space and condos or town homes.
================
At Texas Stadium Today, A Few Former Dallas Cowboys Paid Their Last Respects
By Patrick Michels, Tuesday, Mar. 30 2010 @ 4:03PM
Patrick MichelsNate Newton remembered his time at Texas Stadium: "I lived in an unreal world for 13 years."​A couple weeks ago, you may recall, we brought you a look inside what's left of Texas Stadium, which, to our eyes, looked just about ready to come down.Not about to let the stadium go quietly, though, the city of Irving organized yet another tour of the old stadium today, this time to put a more personal spin on the awesome spectacle coming up on April 11.
So with the demolition crew looking forward to the big bang, former Cowboys lineman Nate Newton, wide receiver Tony Hill and tight end Billy Joe Dupree stopped by this morning to pay their last respects, along with ex-Cowboys cheerleader Cheryl Gates, who spent the late '90s dancing the sidelines, and a handful of City of Irving officials.
Voice of the Cowboys Brad Sham said thinking about the impending demo was "a little weird," setting an ambivalent tone echoed by the former players. Sham compared the sight of Texas Stadium to a visit with a dying loved one. "There comes a time when the frame is just a frame and the spirit has left," he said.
"It's already different, and I don't want to remember it like this," said Hill, who, like the other players, wasn't too enthusiastic about showing up to watch the implosion in person.
The day's biggest biggest news on the implosion: If you're waking up early to catch the big event live and in person, Chris Berman will be out there with you, emceeing a ceremony that, along with the detonation of 2,715 pounds of explosives in the stadium, will also have fireworks.
​"I lived in an unreal world for 13 years," Newton said, recalling his playing time at Texas Stadium. "I hate to see it go, but they got a bigger and better thing over there in Arlington."Former Irving mayor Dan Matkin recalled just how it felt when Texas Stadium went up in 1971, right next to current mayor Herbert Gears, who drummed up excitement for the mixed-use Valhalla he hopes will take the stadium's place.
Inside the stadium Stephen Revile, A&R Demolition's operations manager for the job, described how the landmark would come down, in "a minute-a-half, tops." Revile said he'd worked other major demolitions, including Reunion Arena, but was clearly looking forward to this one. "This will be my biggest accomplishment when we're done," he said.
A&R Demolition operations manager Stephen Revile explains the path the explosions will take around the stadium on April 11.​
Brad Sham offered one final welcome to Texas Stadium.​
Former Cowboys wide receiver Tony Hill​
Former Cowboy Billy Joe Dupree​
Mayor Herbert Gears floated the idea of a half-demolition, like the Coliseum in Rome, to leave Irving with a world-class tourist destination.
