. SUNDAY, JUNE 20, 1999 5-H OURCENTURY 1972

ATA GLANCE The heat was on the city agreement transferred city sewage By Fred McGunagle plants and sewers in 37 suburbs to a regional board. In return, Ralph Perk shook the hand of the received $35 million from bonds to be last well-wisher at his inauguration. paid off by water users. Stokes had Then he walked into the mayor’s of- fought the transfer; Perk called it fice to face the greatest financial cri- “the greatest victory for the city in 20 sis since the Depression. years.” Despite the layoff of hundreds of In September, the financial prob- city workers by , early es- lems reached a climax. The safety timates were that Cleveland faced a forces won a court ruling that the ex- PD FILE PHOTO deficit of $24 million in 1972 and tra days off were a violation of their would need to lay off as many as 1,000 union contracts. City officials said the New Indians owner Nick Mileti is flanked by more. Unionized workers were clam- ruling meant 1,400 more employees Tribe great Rocky Colavito, left, and Manager oring for raises, which had been held faced layoffs, including 400 police of- Ken Aspromonte. up by Stokes. ficers and firefighters. Perk, however, had run a “frugal- Refuse collectors struck again and Nick Mileti buys ity” campaign. Now he briefly floated were ordered back to work again. a proposal to pay workers in scrip, as Then the 3,600 members of the Amer- the Indians had been done in the 1930s. He took a ican Federation of State, County and 10 percent cut in his $35,000 salary Municipal Employees struck on Sept. Lakewood lawyer Nick Mileti zoomed onto and ordered his directors and com- 25. Days off were canceled for police, the Cleveland sports scene in 1968 when he missioners to do the same. He prom- and 32 patrol cars were taken from bought the Arena and the American Hockey ised to get rid of “drones” on the pay- regular assignments to protect public League Barons. In 1970, he got an expansion roll. buildings. franchise from the National Basketball Associ- But he repeated his campaign The Operating Engineers voted to ation and started the Cavaliers. In 1971, he an- pledge to avoid a tax increase. “It will walk out, threatening operation of nounced plans for the 20,000-seat Coliseum in be a difficult job, but I intend to do water and sewer plants, but a last- Richfield Township. it,” he said. “Don’t ask me how. At minute settlement averted the strike. In February 1972, Mileti shocked everybody this point, I’m looking for a miracle The city and AFSCME negotiated for by becoming the owner of the Indians as well. man to do it.” 32 continuous hours in the courtroom As usual, little of his own money was involved; of Common Pleas Judge Frank Cele- other investors included Alva “Ted” Bonda While employees waited for the brezze. After nine days, the unions and . budget, Perk left on a trade mission, agreed to a 5.5-percent raise to be Among the most shocked Clevelanders was which was really a grand tour of Eu- George Steinbrenner of the American Ship- paid retroactively on June 1, 1973, rope. He addressed a meeting of may- and June 1, 1974. Perk said he hoped building Corp., who thought he had a deal to ors in Milan, handed out keys to the buy the Indians. Instead, Steinbrenner bought to get the money from federal city of Cleveland to mayors of 16 cit- revenue-sharing. the New York Yankees the next year. ies and got Pope Paul VI to promise to The Indians’ previous owner, Vernon Stouf- pray for Cleveland. On his return, he The most memorable event of fer, had run into financial reverses. After he Perk’s year occurred on Oct. 16 when merged his Stouffer Food Corp. into Litton In- announced, “Cleveland is the greatest place in the world to live.” he opened the Materials Engineering dustries in 1967, Litton stock fell drastically. Congress by cutting a metal ribbon Stouffer severely cut the Indians’ farm teams Perk cut the payroll 10 percent by with a welding torch. The picture of and scouting system, prompting the resigna- giving workers an unpaid day off ev- his flaming hair made front pages tion of Vice President Hank Peters. ery two weeks. In February, 700 re- around the nation. Stouffer also agreed to play at least 30 home fuse collectors struck, leaving 2,800 games a season in New Orleans. Mileti PLAIN DEALER FILE PHOTOS tons of garbage on the streets until a McGunagle is a Cleveland free- canceled that plan and announced that the court ordered them back to work Mayor Ralph Perk’s hair catches on fire. team would stay in Cleveland “forever.” lance writer. after two days. The Court of Appeals Mileti’s wheeling and dealing was far from over. He applied for a franchise in the Na- scheduled a rare Sunday session to tional Hockey League. Turned down, he work out a compromise that fore- bought a franchise in the newly formed World stalled a strike by the safety forces. Hockey Association, named it the Crusaders Meanwhile, Perk tried to fire and signed several NHL stars, including Gerry Stokes holdovers who were blocking Cheevers, star goalie of the NHL champion his plans on the Transit Board, Model Boston Bruins. Mileti said both the Crusaders Cities Board and Civil Service Com- and the AHL Barons would play in the Arena mission. He canceled the Indians’ in 1972 and move to the Coliseum when it Stadium contract when he couldn’t opened in 1974. get an agreement on rent from Nick • Mileti. The Cavs signed Austin Carr of Notre Dame To help the city bring in conven- in the NBA draft and picked up future Hall of tions, he proposed buying the hulk of Fame guard Lenny Wilkens. They improved to a cruise ship and converting it into a 23-69 in their second season. floating hotel. He was rebuffed by the The Barons played .500 hockey and lost to federal government in his attempt to the Baltimore Clippers in the first round of the classify Poles, Lithuanians and other Calder Cup playoffs. When the new season ethnics as minorities. He held the started, fans deserted them for the Crusaders, first annual Easter Sunday Ball with who were building a winning record in the “major league.” nine bands, and sang “Sweet 16” to a A new owner and a new manager, Ken As- crowd of 10,000 celebrators. promonte, couldn’t stop the Indians from reg- In June, Perk settled a suit that had istering their fourth straight losing season. been brought by the Water Pol- The team batted only .234. But Gaylord Perry, lution Board and a group of suburbs picked up in a trade for Sam McDowell, in 1969. Common Pleas Judge George pitched 29 complete games en route to a 24-16 McMonagle had banned new sewer was ostracized by record and a 1.92 earned run average. That connections until the city improved the Democrats for his support of won him the American League Cy Young its control of water pollution. The A strike left 2,800 tons of uncollected garbage on the streets. Republican Ralph Perk. Award. Mike Phipps, obtained in a 1971 trade for Paul Warfield, was the Browns’ starting quar- terback. The team had a chance to make the playoffs going into the final game against the undefeated Miami Dolphins. The Browns led, 14-13, halfway through the fourth quarter, but Huge snafu leaves voters Dolphins quarterback Earl Morrall staged an 80-yard drive for a 20-14 victory. The Dol- down for the count phins then won three playoff games, making them the first team with a perfect season re- Thousands of Cuyahoga County pleted, Hubert Humphrey had out- cord since the 1948 Browns went 15-0 in the voters arrived at the polls for the scored George McGovern in Ohio All America Conference. May 3 presidential primary to find for Democratic convention dele- workers didn’t have keys to the gates. Dennis Kucinich — ostra- • voting place. Many who got in cized by his party for backing Perk Clevelanders were excited about the Gate- found voting machines that did not for mayor — had won the Demo- way project planned for E. 9th St. This Gate- work or were still programmed for cratic nomination for Congress in way was to be at the north end of the street. the 1971 Ralph Perk-Carl Stokes District 23. Norcom, the Northern Ohio Development mayoral election. It turned out that the vote board Corp., planned a $36 million development in- One voter received a postcard had awarded no-bid contracts to cluding a motel, garage, luxury apartments directing him to a polling place politically connected firms, given and the Great Lakes Gateway Exposition Cen- that turned out to be a gas station. patronage jobs to unqualified ter. Mayor Ralph Perk urged Mileti to build The attendant was as surprised as workers and spurned an offer of his Coliseum in Gateway instead of Summit he was. Ohio Secretary of State help from the voting machine man- County. Ted W. Brown called the county ufacturer. Election Director Jo- vote “the worst foul-up I’ve ever seph Cipollone resigned and was • seen in an election in the United replaced by Cleveland City Coun- Once more, bullets were fired at demon- States, except for the fraud in Cook cilman Virgil Brown. strating Kent State University students in County.” There were no problems in No- May. This time, at least, they were wooden U.S. District Judge Frank Bat- vember. Richard Nixon won nor- bullets. Police used them and tear gas to dis- tisti ordered the polls kept open mally Democratic Cuyahoga perse 200 students who had left a peaceful until midnight, but many people County by 13,000 votes on his way anti-war demonstration on campus and still were unable to vote. Battisti to a landslide over McGovern. marched into downtown to continue protest- then ordered a new election the Ohio voters refused, 2-1, to repeal ing. This time no one was seriously hurt. following Tuesday in 34 precincts. the state income tax. Dennis Kuci- The Plain Dealer carried a series by author nich fell 5,000 votes short of upset- Pope Paul VI receives a key to the city from the Perks. It went smoothly, but some work- John Philip Cohane called “Wither America?” ers sent ballots to the wrong place ting U.S. Rep. William Minshall, He wrote “Something has gone terribly wrong to be counted. but vowed to keep trying. with the present.” He added: “Perhaps we are When the count was finally com- — Fred McGunagle going to have to stop letting the front runners — the protesters, the young, the impoverished, the teachers, the outraged commentators, the blacks — fight alone the battle we should be fighting ourselves. Above all, as a nation we must stop telling lies, to others and to our- LOOKINGATAYEAR selves.” Len Toma may or may not have been taking that advice at his Maple Heights High School Feb. 21: President Richard Nixon May 22: Nixon arrives in Moscow, Sept. 3: Bobby Fisher wins the landslide over Democrat George commencement. He ripped off his short- makes his historic visit to China. and the first visit by a U.S. president world chess championship. McGovern. haired wig and let his long hair flow beneath Mar. 24: Britain imposes direct culminates in a strategic arms agree- Sept. 4: U.S. swimmer Mark Spitz his mortarboard, a violation of the dress code. Born: Ryan White, Oscar De La rule on Northern Ireland. ment. wins a record seven gold medals at When it came time for his diploma, school offi- Hoya, Shaquille O’Neal. May 16: Alabama Gov.George the Olympic Games in Munich. cials skipped his name. Later they chided him Wallace is shot by Arthur Bremer June 17: Five men are caught bur- Died: Harry Truman, J. Edgar for disrupting the dignity of the ceremony, but while campaigning for president in glarizing the Democratic National Sept. 8: Arab terrorists massacre Hoover, Jackie Robinson, Roberto said he could pick up his diploma at the school Laurel, Md. The shooting paralyzes Committee offices in the Watergate 11 Israeli athletes at the Olympics. Clemente, Adam Clayton Powell, office. Wallace from the waist down. apartment complex in Washington. Nov. 8: Nixon is re-elected in a Maurice Chevalier, Mahalia Jackson.