August 16, 1977: Elvis Presley Dies

August 16, 1977: Elvis Presley dies at his home, Graceland, on the south side of Memphis, Tennessee. He had a massive heart attack, brought on by years of a rotten diet and massive prescription drug use. The man known as the King of Rock and Roll was only 42 years old.

Graceland Farms was owned by Stephen Toof, who ran a commercial printing firm. He named it for his daughter, Grace. She inherited the property from him in 1894, and after her death, it went to her niece, Ruth Moore. Her husband, Thomas Moore, built a mansion on the site in 1939.

Elvis bought it in 1957, after seeing the house he'd bought for himself and his parents in a nice section of Memphis besieged by fans. The house on the Graceland property was well back of U.S. Route 51, providing protection from the public. The address was 3764 Bellevue Boulevard, in the Whitehaven section of Memphis, and it's actually closer to the Mississippi State Line (4 miles) than it is to downtown (7 miles). In 1972, while Elvis was still alive, the City renamed the road Elvis Presley Boulevard.

Elvis had begun taking amphetamines while serving in the U.S. Army in 1958. This led to sleeping pills to counter the effects, and later diet pills in a vain attempt to control his weight.

He concluded a tour at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis on June 26, and was preparing to fly out of Memphis on August 16, to start a new tour the next night. As rich as he seemed, as it turned out, he needed the money. Elvis had a huge entourage, including family members such as his father; and his manager, "Colonel" Tom Parker, was taking far too much of his earnings.

Divorced from his only wife, formerly Priscilla Beaulieu, he was now dating actress Ginger Alden, who was living with him at Graceland. At the peak of his fame, at a shade over 6 feet, he weighed about 170 pounds. Now, he was more than twice that.

That afternoon, he was in the master bedroom with Ginger, and he told her, "Precious, I'm going to go into the bathroom, and read." A few minutes later, Ginger heard a sound come from the bathroom. Elvis had fallen off the toilet, his various maladies and prescriptions having combined to give him a heart attack. He was taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital, and was pronounced dead at 3:30 PM Central Time (4:30 Eastern).

Under Priscilla's leadership, Colonel Parker lost control of Elvis' estate, and it made more money in the 1st 3 years after his death than he made in the 42 years that he was alive. Graceland is not just the most-visited former private home in America: It has become a theme park, with the house and the Meditation Gardens -- final resting place of Elvis and various relatives -- and a hotel on the east side of Elvis Presley Boulevard, and various Elvis-related items on the west side, including restaurants named for his parents: Vernon's Smokehouse and Gladys' Diner. There's also an Elvis-themed Automobile Museum, and "Elvis Presley's Memphis," an exhibit about the city during his lifetime.

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August 16, 1977 was a Tuesday. Football, basketball and hockey were out of season. There were Major League Baseball games were played on that day, including the New York Yankees playing the Chicago White Sox at Yankee Stadium.

When ESPN made its miniseries about the 1977 Yankees, The Bronx Is Burning, it included this exchange, between Mather Zickel, playing Lou Piniella, and Leonard Robinson, playing Mickey Rivers -- keeping in mind, this was 3 years before John Lennon was shot and killed in New York:

Lou: Presley's dead!

Mickey: Who?

Lou: Elvis Presley! I just heard it on the radio.

Mickey: Somebody shot him?

Lou: No, nobody shot him!

Mickey: Well, what, then? Heart attack? 'Cause, I heard, for a superstar, he had a pretty poor diet.

Lou: No, they're saying, drugs, or something.

Mickey: Well, that just goes to show you.

Lou: Goes to show you what?

Mickey: Well, hell if I know, but it must go to show you something!

And then the Yankees took the field, and played what may have been their craziest game of the year. They led 2-0 after 2 innings, saw the ChiSox tie it in the 4th, took a 4-2 lead in the 5th, saw the ChiSox tie it in the top of the 7th, took a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the 7th, extended it to 9-4 in the 8th, and then the ChiSox exploded for 6 runs in the top of the 9th to make it 10-9. Future Yankee Jim Spencer had hit 2 home runs for the Pale Hose, while Roy White had hit one for the Pinstripes.

Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Thurman Munson led off the bottom of the 9th with a walk. Piniella hadn't started the game, but manager Billy Martin put him in as a pinch-runner for Reggie Jackson, who had gone 1-for-3, and kept him in right field for Reggie. Lou bunted Thurman over. This turned out to be unnecessary, as the next batter, Chris Chambliss, hit a walkoff home run.

The day Elvis died was the day that the Baby Boomers realized that they weren't kids anymore. The day Yankee legend Mickey Mantle died, 18 years later to the week, was the day the Baby Boomers had to accept that they were now old.

As for the other games played that day:

* The New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-1, at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Of the 4 players the Mets had gotten in the Tom Seaver trade on June 15, Steve Henderson and Doug Flynn each had 3 hits, and Pat Zachry went the distance for the win, while Dan Norman did not play. For the Cards, Lou Brock went 0-for-4.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Montreal Expos 7-5 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. The Phils scored 5 runs in the top of the 8th to win it. Mike Schmidt went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. George Brett did not play. Butch Hobson hit a home run, and Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Minnesota Twins, 6-5 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Lee May hit a home run for the O's, and Doug DeCinces singled home eventual Rookie of the Year Eddie Murray in the bottom of the 13th inning.

* The Houston Astros beat the Atlanta Braves 4-1 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The California Angels 7 beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-2 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Cleveland Indians 7-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Diego Padres 5-1 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. The aforementioned Tom Seaver went the distance for the win, and the Reds got home runs from Pete Rose and Dan Driessen. Rose and Johnny Bench each went 1-for-4.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-5 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Bill Robinson hit 2 home runs for the Pirates. Willie Stargell did not play. Gene Clines singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 15th inning.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Milwaukee Brewer,s 11-3 at Milwaukee County Stadium.

* And the Los Angeles Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 3-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.