June 26, 1977: Elvis Presley completes his tour at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, home of the NBA's Indiana Pacers and the WHA's Indianapolis Racers.
The tour had been rough. His shows at the Omaha Civic Auditorium in Nebraska on June 19 and the Rapid City Convention Center in South Dakota on June 21 were videotaped for a CBS special, which the network intended to air in December. But the June 19 footage had technical issues, and, above and beyond that, Elvis looked awful. The footage was said to be "unusable." The June 21 footage was clear, but Elvis still looked like a mess, way overweight, and sweating too much under the hot stage lights.
The footage that CBS got has never been released to the public, except in "bootleg" footage. In their 1982 book Elvis: The Illustrated Record, Roy Carr and Mick Farren wrote, "Had it been shown during his lifetime, it would have caused more irrevocable damage to what was left of his career than almost a decade of starring in third-rate movies." The network decided they would have to try again on his next tour, to begin in mid-August.
On June 25, in Cincinnati, for the next-to-last show of the tour, he got arguably the worst reviews in his career, save for early on when middle-aged critics weren't willing to accept any rock and roll, especially from its "King." Typical of this was from Ken Williams in the Journal News, a newspaper in the Cincinnati suburbs. I have not changed a word, nor the spelling, nor the punctuation:
There comes a time when a performer should retire for the sake of his fans as well as for himself. I'm sad to say Elvis Presley has reached that time. Reports of recent Elvis concerts have been disheartening indicating that the King of Rock 'n' Roll is dead. Apparently the reports are founded upon truth, and the King confirmed the suspicions with his listless, lifeless performance Saturday night at Cincinnati Riverfront Coliseum before another sellout crowd.
It is obvious the fans still love Elvis, as they still pack arenas to see their idol. They come to see the legend, but only find the remains It is a most sad occasion for many, including myself. Gone from his performance is the magic price generated by one of the world's ultimate legends; gone is the energy and vitality of a healthy Elvis; gone is the beauty of the voice that charmed millions.
In last week's AWAY, magazine, Rolling Stone reporter Charles M. Young spoke of Elvis' disaster in Baltimore. I feared the worst for Cincinnati and the fears became a nightmare for me. I don't take pleasure in destroying legends.
On this night, in Indianapolis, the show began at 8:30 -- half an hour later that usual. As usual, there was a warmup comedian, in this case Jack Kahane; orchestra leader Joe Guercio put the orchestra through a few songs; and Elvis' backup singers, the soul group The Sweet Inspirations, including Cissy Houston (Whitney's mother), sang a few songs.
Market Square Arena
At 10:00, Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra was cued up, and then the band went into the familiar opening vamp, and The King took the stage. He seemed to have lost weight, and definitely had more energy. As usual, the show began with his take on the blues standard "C.C. Rider," and included songs from throughout his career, including the early stuff and more recent recordings like "Moody Blue" and "Fairy Tale."
After 1 hour and 20 minutes, he closed his show, as usual, with his 1961 hit "Can't Help Falling In Love," written by George David Weiss (who also wrote "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"). He walked offstage, his "Memphis Mafia" bodyguards escorted him outside to a waiting limousine, and, as he was driven out, an announcer said, as was customary, to discourage people from waiting for an encore, "Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building."
The reviews were noticeably better. He flew back to his hometown of Memphis, where another tour was planned, to start in Portland, Maine on August 17. That tour would not take place.
Market Square Arena opened on September 15, 1974, with a concert by Glen Campbell. It hosted Wayne Gretzky's 1st professional hockey game in 1978, and Michael Jordan's return from exile in 1995. It closed on October 22, 1999, with a preseason game won by the Pacers over the Utah Jazz. The last concert was 5 days earlier, with ZZ Top as the headliner, and the surviving members of Lynyrd Skynyrd as the opening act.
On July 8, 2001, with the Pacers having moved into a new arena, currently named the Gainbridge Fieldhouse, and the Racers long defunct, Market Square Arena was demolished. When the implosion was done, an announcer told the gathered crowd, "Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building."
In 2017, Cummins, a vehicle components company, opened their Global Distribution Headquarters on the southern half of the site. A 28-story apartment building, with a Whole Foods store on the ground floor, opened on the northern half the next year. A plaque commemorating Elvis' last concert is also on the site.
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June 26, 1977 was a Sunday. These Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat their arch-rivals, the Boston Red Sox, 5-4 at Yankee Stadium. Don Gullett and Reggie Cleveland started, but neither figured in the decision. Gullett took a 4-1 lead into the 9th, but blew it, and had to be bailed out by Sparky Lyle.
Reggie Jackson, whose 11th-inning single had beaten the Sox 2 nights earlier, had already fallen victim to one of manager Billy Martin's moronic replacements of him with Paul Blair for defensive purposes -- this was 8 days after the shouting match in the Fenway Park dugout -- and Reggie would have been the 5th man up in the bottom of the 9th.
This time, though, it worked: With 1 out, Roy White drew a walk. Thurman Munson singled. Chris Chambliss was intentionally walked to load the bases, to set Blair up for the double play. But Martin's move paid off, as Blair singled White home, to complete a 3-game sweep of the Sox. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-4.
* The New York Mets lost to the Chicago Cubs, 5-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Mike Krukow outpitched Jon Matlack. Bobby Murcer and Steve Ontiveros hit home runs for the Cubs. Bud Harrelson went 3-for-4 with an RBI.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles, 2-0 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Pete Vuckovich, not yet the ace of the Brewers, pitched a 6-hit, 1-walk, 12-strikeout shutout, to outpitch Jim Palmer. Rookie Eddie Murray got 2 of those 4 hits.
* A doubleheader was split at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Pirates won the opener, 7-4. Willie Stargell did not play. The Montreal Expos won the nightcap, 6-3. Stargell went 0-for-3 with a walk.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Diego Padres, 8-5 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Phil Niekro was the winning pitcher. Willie Montañez, Darrel Chaney and Jeff Burroughs hit home runs. Dave Winfield went 1-for-4 for the Padres.
* A doubleheader was split at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Reds won the opener, 5-4. Fred Norman outpitched Rick Rhoden. The Los Angeles Dodgers won the nightcap, 9-3. Doug Rau went the distance for the win, while Paul Moskau didn't get out of the 1st inning.
Over the 2 games, Pete Rose went 1-for-7 with 2 walks, while Johnny Bench went 0-for-3 with a walk and then sat out the 2nd game.
* A doubleheader was split at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The Cleveland Indians won the 1st game, 6-2. The Detroit Tigers won the 2nd game, 3-2.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Seattle Mariners, 8-6 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Robin Yount went 2-for-4 with a walk.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox, 19-12 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Yes, that's an American League Western Division game, not an NFC Central Division game, although the Vikings also played at The Met before moving with the Twins to the Metrodome in 1982.
The Twins scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 2nd, knocking Steve Stone out of the box, but the Pale Hose came right back with 6 in the top of the 3rd, knocking Bill Butler out. Tom Johnson ended up the winning pitcher.
Rod Carew, in the middle of his Most Valuable Player season, went 4-for-5 with a home run, a walk, and 6 RBIs. He ended the day batting .403. Glenn Adams went 4-for-5 with a home run (a grand slam) and 8 RBIs.
The South Side Hit Men got homers from Lamar Johnson, Eric Soderholm, Jim Essian and Chet Lemon. Brian Downing did not hit a home run, but went 4-for-4 with an RBI.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-0 at Busch Memorial Stadium. Jim Kaat allowed 9 hits, but no walks, in 8 innings, and Gene Garber finished a 10-hit shutout. The Phils' runs came on solo home runs by Mike Schmidt (no surprise) and Garry Maddox (a bit of a surprise, since he was a contact hitter and better known for his defense).
* The California Angels swept a doubleheader from the Texas Rangers, each game ending 4-3 in the Halos' favor. Ron Jackson singled Gil Flores home in the bottom of the 11th inning to win the 1st game.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros, 2-0 at the Astrodome in Houston. Ed Halicki pitched a 6-hit shutout, and helped his own cause by going 2-for-3 with an RBI, to outpitch Ken Forsch.
* And a doubleheader was split at the Oakland Coliseum. The Oakland Athletics won the 1st game, 7-3. The Kansas City Royals won the 2nd game, 9-3. Over the 2 games, George Brett went 3-for-9 with a walk.
