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Yesterday in La Crosse

The city almost got a professional football team, 47 years ago

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In 1972, some football fans in La Crosse were trying to raise $30,000 to bring a semi-professional team to town.  The Central States Football League was considering moving its Sheboygan franchise to either La Crosse, or Joliet, Illinois.  Don Harman and Gary Davis of La Crosse were looking for investors.  The team didn’t come to La Crosse…but the city has hosted a few arena football teams in recent years.  

The 1972 Super Bowl was played in January in New Orleans, at Tulane Stadium.  The Dallas Cowboys won in a 24-to-3 blowout over the Miami Dolphins.  Miami would go on to win the next two Super Bowls.  The ’72 halftime show was a salute to Louis Armstrong, who had died the previous year.  Performers included trumpeter Al Hirt, and singers Ella Fitzgerald and Carol Channing.   

Community Camera in La Crosse was selling 25-inch Magnavox color TV’s for $598.  On Friday nights in early ’72, you could watch The Brady Bunch, The Odd Couple, The Don Rickles Show, or Sanford and Son, starring Redd Foxx.  Yesterday in La Crosse.

A native of Prairie du Chien, Brad graduated from UW - La Crosse and has worked in radio news for more than 30 years, mostly in the La Crosse area. He regularly covers local courts and city and county government. Brad produces the features "Yesterday in La Crosse" and "What's Buried on Brad's Desk." He also writes the website "Triviazoids," which finds odd connections between events that happen on a certain date, and he writes and performs with the local comedy group Heart of La Crosse. Brad been featured on several national TV programs because of his memory skills.

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