page 1 of 18 THE HOUSTON ASTRODOME: EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD? (c) 2015 – Use limited to PHIL 2329, R. Moses Disappointment was evident in Harris County Judge Ed Emmett’s voice when he announced the defeat of Proposition 2 after the polls closed on November 5, 2013. The proposition would have provided $217 million in bond funding to renovate and repurpose the Houston Astrodome into an event and exhibition center. “We looked at every possibility and this was the only plan that made any sense for repurposing and keeping the Dome,” Emmett told attendees at the election watch party in Reliant Center.1 The renovation plan would have removed interior seats, raised the floor to street level, and created 350,000 square feet of exhibition space along with 400,000 square feet of plaza and green space outside the Astrodome. In a subsequent interview Emmett said, "We're going to have to do something quick. We can't allow the once-proud dome to sit like a rusting ship in the middle of a parking lot."2 He and other supporters had hoped Harris County voters would understand the historical significance of the iconic Houston Astrodome. In its heyday the building was often described as “The Eighth Wonder of the World.” The voting was not even close with 53% against and only 47% in favor of the bond measure. Emmett interpreted the voting results as being “anti-bond” more than anti-Astrodome. Voters might have wanted to save the Astrodome, but did not want their taxes increased to pay for it. The Judge knew the Astrodome was important to his constituents because he was constantly asked about the county’s plans and whether it would be saved. Emmett was convinced his legacy of service as Harris County judge would be defined by what became of the Astrodome. After defeat of the bond issue in late 2013, Emmett had to decide whether to continue his efforts to save the iconic structure and how that could be accomplished. Astrodome History3 The Houston Astrodome opened April 9, 1965 with Texas Governor John Connally throwing the first baseball for an exhibition game between the Houston Astros and the New York Yankees. Among the dignitaries in attendance was U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. Even with Mickey Mantle on the mound for the Yankees, the Astros won the game with a score of 2 to 1 in the 12th inning. More than 47,000 spectators were on-hand to witness the win in the first-of-its-kind, air-conditioned sports facility with a dome that spanned more than 600 feet. Behind the success of opening day was nearly 10 years of planning, political maneuvering, and controversy. 1950s History of Houston Baseball In January of 1957, George Kirksey partnered with Craig Cullinan to form the Houston Sports Association (HSA) with the stated purpose of bringing major league baseball to their city. Kirksey owned a Houston public relations firm and was a former UPI sportswriter. Cullinan had significant contacts with monied businessmen through his family. He was grandson of the founder of the Texas Company (later known as Texaco). The two men crisscrossed the country, meeting with national baseball team owners to try to convince them to allow a team in Houston. 1 Ronnie Crocker, “Texas Voters Have Their Say at the Polls,” Houston Chronicle, November 5, 2013. www.chron.com/news/politics/article/Texas-voters-have-their-say-at-the-polls-4958304.php#photo-5423076 2 Ibid. 3 Most of the historical facts about the Astrodome are taken from the book by James Gast, The Astrodome: Building an American Spectacle, Aspinwall Press, Brookline, MA, 2014. page 2 of 18 At that time, Kansas City was the southernmost city with a major league baseball team from either the American or National league. No one wanted to move their team from the industrialized cities of the northern and eastern United States. In Houston, there was not much interest in funding a baseball stadium because there was no professional team. HSA was in a Catch-22: how to get a team to Houston without a stadium and how to get a stadium without a baseball team. Kirksey put pressure on Harris County leaders to provide public funding for a baseball stadium, noting the success of the publicly-funded stadium which enticed the Braves to move to Milwaukee (from Boston). “[Public funding of sports stadiums] was a relatively new phenomenon. Moreover, Texas law [in the 1950s] forbade counties from issuing revenue bonds for that purpose.” (Gast, 2014, p. 27) That obstacle was quickly overcome. One of Kirksey’s former clients, Searcy Bracewell, had been voted into office as a State Senator and he introduced legislation which authorized certain counties to issue bonds for the purpose of constructing sports stadiums. By July 1958 a referendum was placed on the ballot and Harris County voters approved $20 million in bonds ($162 million in 2013 dollars) for constructing a baseball stadium. Armed with rudimentary plans for a stadium and passage of the bond issue, Kirksey and Cullinan again tried unsuccessfully to entice national league owners to bring an existing baseball team to their city. The men tried a new strategy and requested that teams be added to the league with one in Houston. No new major league baseball teams had been added since 1901 and the owners did not intend to add any in the late 1950s. Luckily for the HSA a consortium of minor-league baseball cities (Minneapolis, Denver, Buffalo) joined together in 1959 to form the Continental League (a proposed third major league for baseball4 and Houston joined the group. The Continental members could not persuade the American and National League owners to schedule games against their teams. The Continental group used their influence with U.S. Senators (including majority leader Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas) to support a bill that would end a 1922 antitrust exemption for major league baseball. The bill was closely defeated in the summer of 1960, but the major league owners got the message. Within a few months both the American and National baseball leagues added teams. One of the two National League’s expansion teams went to Houston in 1962 and was dubbed the Colt 45s (later renamed the Houston Astros). HSA needed additional capital for the Houston baseball franchise. R.E. “Bob” Smith was brought into their association in 1959. When he joined HSA, Smith was the largest private landowner in Harris County. As a former semi-pro baseball player, he wanted to help bring professional baseball to Houston. Smith insisted on adding another member to the HSA group and brought along his long-time business partner, Judge Roy Hofheinz. Roy Hofheinz, Father of the Astrodome Roy Hofheinz was a self-described huckster: headstrong and eccentric but visionary. If anyone should have been called the “Father of the Astrodome,” it was Hofheinz. [He] is the single most instrumental figure in the Astrodome story: a politician and rags-to- riches businessman... He was a man of extraordinary intellect, energy, and eloquence. ... He may be best remembered for his theatrical instincts, inviting comparisons to Cecil B. DeMille...or P.T. Barnum, whose circus he would purchase after the Astrodome was constructed. (Gast, 2014, p. 21) He reveled in his flamboyant image and made jokes of himself. He dubbed his Galveston Bay seaside home “Huckster House” and decorated each room with a theme such as the Gay Nineties, the South Seas, or the 4 The Continental League formed in 1959 with the first baseball season scheduled for 1961. The league disbanded in 1960 (without playing any games) after the American and National Leagues agreed to expansion of their leagues. page 3 of 18 Circus (including a genuine circus calliope). His lavish, gaudy taste later influenced the décor of his private suite in the Astrodome. No doubt the Hofheinz extravagance and “living large” was influenced by his deprivation as a teenager. He was born in 1912 in Beaumont, Texas (approximately 90 miles east of Houston). In 1923, when he was 11, the Hofheinz family moved to Houston and his father got a job driving a laundry truck. In 1928, the elder Hofheinz was hit by a car and died, leaving young Roy (at age 16) as the head of the household. He had recently graduated from high school and had earned scholarships to attend the University of Texas in Austin. Hofheinz felt he should not leave his widowed mother; so, he enrolled at Rice Institute (later Rice University). Hofheinz earned a living for himself and his mother by promoting dance bands, working as a radio disk jockey, and peddling newspapers. College classes at Rice were offered only in the day and that conflicted with his entrepreneurial ventures. So, Hofheinz withdrew from Rice and enrolled in Houston Junior College and later in the Houston Law School. While still in school, he went to court for permission to sit for the bar exam (usually administered only to those 21 and older), and Hofheinz passed it at the age of 19. In 1931, he established his own law practice while still in law school. (Gast, 2014, p. 36) The accomplishments of Hofheinz were innumerable and almost unbelievable: Convinced a member of the New York delegation at the 1928 Democratic National Convention to let him be on the floor as a page at age 165 Earned his law degree at age 19 Elected to the Texas Legislature at age 22 Won election as Harris County judge at age 24 After losing re-election as judge, in 1944, went back to practice law (age 32) Part-owner in several radio and television stations, including Houston’s KTRK Bought oil wells and speculated in land; was a millionaire by age 37 Elected Mayor of Houston in 1952 at the age of 40 Censured by Houston City Council in 1955; at first he had been impeached Desegregated City Hall, Houston city libraries, and public golf courses in the 1950s While still Houston mayor, persuaded voters to approve a city charter amendment that ended his term and council members’ terms one year early (in 1955).