December 15, 1978: The City of Cleveland goes into default, the largest American city ever to do so. Between this, the Cuyahoga River catching on fire in 1969, the industry falloff, and the nasty Winter weather, Cleveland became America's city of jokes.
Dennis Kucinich, a Democrat, had been elected the city's "Boy Mayor" at age 31 in 1977, but was in over his head. He relied heavily on confrontation politics, a style that, according to a book about his tenure, "alienated business and civic leaders, the news media, and, ultimately, even those neighborhood groups that had been his chief supporters."
The key was the sale of the city's electric company, Municipal Light, to the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company (CEI). Kucinich opposed it, because it would have resulted in a monopoly on public power in the city. But without the money from the sale, the city would have defaulted. His stubbornness made that happen, and Cleveland remains the only American city to default since the Great Depression.
Kucinich had infuriated everybody, including the local Mafia. A contract was put out in him, and he was set to be assassinated at a public ceremony. It didn't happen because he missed the ceremony, due to being hospitalized for an ulcer. He was defeated for re-election in 1979, by Republican George Voinovich, and the contract was called off.
Kucinich's decision was later vindicated by both city officials and the U.S. Senate, whose investigations found that CEI and the banks had acted improperly. He later served in Congress, and ran a hard-left campaign for President in 2004. Voinovich later served as Governor and U.S. Senator.
In 1983 "Muny Light" became Cleveland Public Power. In 1997, CEI merged with Ohio Edison to become FirstEnergy.
The city's population peaked at 914,808 in 1950, making it, then, the 6th-largest in America, behind New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Detroit. It dropped to 876,000 in 1960, no big deal. But "white flight," especially after the East Side race riot of 1966, caused a drop to 751,000 in 1970.
And with the loss of industry and the financial crisis, it got worse, falling to 574,000 in 1980, 505,000 in 1990, 478,000 in 2000, 397,000 in 2010, and 372,000 in 2020. In 1970, the city was 59 percent white, 38 percent black, 2 percent Hispanic; by 2010, it was 52 black, 33 white, 10 Hispanic. The metropolitan area, however, is still home to 3.6 million people.
All the city's problems led to the rise of Cleveland jokes:
* Why do ducks fly over Cleveland upside-down? Because there's nothing worth crapping on.
* What's the only thing that grows in Cleveland? The crime rate.
* How much snow and sleet fell in Cleveland? So much that hookers are exchanging sex for Ice Melt.
* What does the average student from Cleveland get on his SAT? Drool.
* Why don't girls play hide and seek in Cleveland? Because no one would look for them.
* A radio host in rival city Cincinnati asked, "What's the difference between Cleveland and the Titanic?" His answer: "Well, at least Cleveland has a better orchestra." (The city is renowned for it, while, on the Titanic, to comfort the passengers who couldn't get off, the orchestra kept playing, their last song being "Nearer, My God, To Thee.")
* The sports teams haven't been spared. The NBA's Cavaliers have been known as the Cavalosers and the Cadavers.
* Where should Clevelanders go to avoid a tornado? The Browns' stadium. No chance of a touchdown there!
* On a flight to the city, to play the Indians, New York Yankees 3rd baseman Graig Nettles, who had played for them, got on the plane's speaker, and told his teammates, "We are now arriving in Cleveland. Please set your watches back 42 minutes."
* An earlier player, Richie Scheinblum, said, "Maybe we should change our name to the Cleveland Utility Company. All we have are utility players."
* When Len Barker of the Indians pitched a perfect game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Municipal Stadium on May 15, 1981, a sportswriter (whose name I've forgotten) said, "How cold it be perfect? It was in Cleveland."
* It was no surprise that the 1989 and 1994 Major League movies were set in Cleveland, to represent a city that never won.
* In 1989, Cincinnati Bengals fans threw snowballs onto the field to protest a bad call. Their coach, Sam Wyche, was given a house microphone to try to calm the crowd. He said, "Will the next person that sees anybody throw anything onto this field, point 'em out, and get 'em out of here. You don't live in Cleveland, you live in Cincinnati!" The crowd cheered, and no more snowballs were thrown.
* In 1995, The Drew Carey Show premiered on ABC. Cleveland native Carey, a successful comedian, played a struggling middle-manager in a struggling city he still loved. When the Indians won the American League Pennant that year, he said, "Finally, it's everybody else's team that sucks!" And then, as if to remind Northern Ohio not to get cocky, the Indians lost the World Series, and the original version of the Browns moved.
* Want to hear a joke about construction in Cleveland? Sorry, it's not finished yet.
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December 15, 1978 was a Friday. This was also the day that Superman: The Movie, starring Christopher Reeve, premiered. I have a separate entry for that event.
Baseball was out of season. The NFL was in midweek, and there were no college football bowl games. There were 9 games played in the NBA that night. None of them were played in Metropolis:
* The New York Knicks beat the Chicago Bulls, 118-94 at the Chicago Stadium. Toby Knight scored 43 points for the Knicks. No, I don't remember him, either.
* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Atlanta Hawks, 121-104 at the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway, New Jersey. (It was renamed the Louis Brown Athletic Center in 1986, after a generous University donor.)
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Houston Rockets, 91-84 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.
* The Kansas City Kings beat the Boston Celtics, 105-101 at the Boston Garden.
* The Washington Bullets beat the Detroit Pistons, 116-114 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.
* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Indiana Pacers, 125-113 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.
* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 110-106 at the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.
* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Denver Nuggets, 116-113 at the McNichols Arena in Denver. David Thompson scored 36 for the Nuggets, but for the Blazers, Maurice Lucas scored 32 with 23 rebounds.
* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 100-98 at The Forum, outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
Only 1 game was played in the NHL: The Minnesota North Stars beat the Washington Capitals, 6-1 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland. And in this season, which turned out to be the last for the World Hockey Association, a Soviet All-Stars team was a member. And on this night, they played in the only WHA game scheduled, losing 5-3 to the Edmonton Oilers at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.
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