Miami Stadium Memories

In 2009, we started a new project – IF SEATS COULD TALK. We interviewed and transcribed people’s stories about experiencing the Marine Stadium. Over the years, we have collected 170 stories – boat racers, concert performers, people who worked at the Marine Stadium (and helped build it) and of course, the many spectators. We even interviewed five Mayors of Miami!

If you attended events at the Marine Stadiium, this will feel like a walk down memory lane.

If you have never been to the Stadium…read a few memories and you will understand why the Marine Stadium is special, often referred to as “magical”, and unlike any other venue. 

And if YOU have a great story about the Marine Stadium, please get in touch with us and maybe we can add your story to this list.

Jerry Powers

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The Publisher and Founder of Ocean Drive Magazine, Jerry was also an event producer. He produced poet Allen Ginsberg at the Stadium. This is some story!

Buddy Byers, boat racer 

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Buddy was one of the great boat racers of the era and he loved the Marine Stadium. You can read how he almost ran into a water skiing elephant.

Kevin Kaufman

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Kevin Kaufman’s dad ran the Concessions Department at the Marine Stadium. Kevin has stories!

Peter Rivera and Gil Bridges, Rare Earth

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Performers loved playing at the Marine Stadium. Rare Earth was extremely popular, and their hit song “I Just Want to Celebrate” is one of the anthems of the 1970s. Most of their album “Rare Earth in Concert” was recorded at Miami Marine Stadium.

Mark Diaz

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Mark is an interior design professional who has worked on many entertainment spaces and high profile brands such as Jaguar, Chanel and Tiffany. He knows how to make a space “tick”. Read this memory to understand why the design of the Marine Stadium design provides such an extraordinary experience.

Cookie Thelen

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You could see all kinds of things at the Marine Stadium-including water skiing. Cookie was a skier who sometimes performed “on the top of the pyramid”. The Miami Water Ski Club performed at the Marine Stadum and Cypress Gardens.

Mary Cotto

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Kenny Rogers, Ray Stevens, Mitch Miller, Ronnie Millsap, Dionne Warwick, Vicki Carr….some of the great mainstream acts of the 1960s-1980s. Mary saw them all.

Atomik

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Artists kept the Marine Stadium alive when the Stadium closed after Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Graffiti artists, especially loved the Marine Stadium. In fact, there are 200 coats of Graffiti on some parts of the Marine Stadium. Atomik is one of Miami’s most well known painters. Here is his story.

David Sokol

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A journalist from New York City, David beautifully compares the Marine Stadium to the High Line.

Randy Harris

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Randy Harris learned boat racing from his dad and had a lifetime of memories. Boat racers were pirates and risk takers-and there were plenty of great stories. Read this one to learn about “George Washington crossing the Marine Stadium Basin”-aka Buddy Plumo, President of YES Bank.

Neil Harden

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Attending a rock concert at the Marine Stadium was really quite an experience. Neil saw Lynyrd Skynrd there. To say that this was a wild experience is an understatement.

Don Bennett

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Jimmy Buffett was, of course, the most famous-and most loved-performer to ever play at the Marine Stadium. Don was Jimmy’s head “load in guy” (rigging and lighting director) and had a front row seat to all of it.

Lester Johnson

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Lester was a member of the Orange Bowl Committee in the 1950s and 1960s. He had a prominent role in the creation of the Marine Stadium. This is his story.

Dr. Frank Jacobs

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Easter Sunrise Services were an annual event at the Marine Stadium. From 1976 to 1992 when the Stadium was shuttered, Frank was the Music Director and featured soloist.

These Sunrise services were spectacular and helped bring the community together. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could start them again at the Marine Stadium?

Charles Strang

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Charles is a legend in the development of boat engines. He had senior positions at Mercury Marine and Outboard Marine Corporation. He attended opening night at the Marine Stadium, December 27, 1963-and helped plan the event with Karl Kiekhaefer, the legendary founder of Mercury Marine.

Aaron Underwood

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When you walk into the Miami Marine Stadium for the first time, it’s simply an awesome experience. It’s that combination of the origami like roof (it’s the length of a football field!), a flat mirror of water, and the “Emerald City” of Miami that feels so close. There is just nothing like it.

Aaron travelled from Indiannapolis just to visit the Stadium. He wasn’t disappointed.

Neil Harden

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The Marine Stadium and Basin were built for boat racing.-but it has become a haven for all kinds of athletic activities, including a world class triathlon course. Triathlon participant Neil Harden used his memories of watching boat racer Lou Nuta drive his boat, Roman Candle to victory-to power his own victory in his triathlon division.

A few years later, we saw the Roman Candle, refurbished, at the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, NY.

This is a beautiful memoir, combining traithloning, boat racing-and growing up. Read it!

Jack Meyer

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Jack was the structural engineer of the Marine Stadium. He actually did the first design of it. Jack said: “Hilario (Candela) made it beautiful, I made it strong”. Jack-and the workmen who built it-did a magnificent job on the Marine Stadium. If it was not for their great work, we wouldn’t be able to save this building.

Nereida Garcia Ferraz

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Artists have always been fascinated with the Miami Marine Stadium. Nereida used pieces of wood from Marine Stadium seats as the basis for her sculptures. She was inspired by the colors, landscapes and architecture of Cuba. Read this story to see her impressions when she entered the Marine Stadium for the first time.

On this website, you can see 57 other Marine Stadium seats that have been reimagined into artwork.

Frank Mercado-Valdes

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Attending a rock concert at the Marine Stadium was really quite an experience. Neil saw Lynyrd Skynrd there. To say that this was a wild experience is an understatement.

Pablo Norberto Podermo

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The Miami Marine Stadium was host to many community events-and can be, again.

Our Lady of Charity is a revered title of the Virgin Mary and Patron Saint of Cuba associated with a small statute discovered in the early 1600s. According to tradition, the image of a small statute was found floating in the water by three fishermen. The event was seen as miracolous and a sign of divine intervention venerated by the Cuban Community.

The Miami Marine Stadium hosted a service for “Nuestra Senora de la Caridad” for many years. These are Pablo’s memories of it.

Susan Mary Hangge

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Susan, an engineer, worked with Jack Meyer (engineer of the Stadium) at Dignum Associates. Although she did not work on the Marine Stadium with Jack, she does have some stories about it.

Mayor Maurice Ferre

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Maurice Ferre was Mayor of Miami from 1973-1985. He has some great stories about the early days of the Marine Stadium. He described Miami City Manager, Mel Reese, the driving force behind the Marine Stadium, as a ” benevolent military dictator of a Caribbean island nation.”

Al Diaz

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Miami Herald photographer Al Diaz was inspired to become a photographer by his experences at the Marine Stadium. Read all about it…..

Mayor Xavier Suarez

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Xavier was Mayor of Miami from 1975 to 1983. He has some great stories about the Stadium. When we started our initiative to restore the Stadium in January, 2008, he was the first person to respond.

George Gutierrez

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Attending a concert by boat was a very popular pastime at the Marine Stadium. That’s how George saw and coming rock group called Queen, with its lead singer Freddie Mercury.

A restored Marine Stadium will renew this tradition.

Anonymous

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This is one of our favorite concert stories. Dave Brubeck played numerous encores at the Marine Stadium even though the crowd didn’t care. Read the memory to find out why he did that. This could only happen at the Marine Stadium

Steve Brown

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Steve was Pastor of Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church-the church that initiated Easter Sunrise Services at the Marine Stadium. Easter Sunrise Services were a very important community event at the Stadium.

Mark Fried

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Mark saw The Who in concert at the Marine Stadium. He almost recovered Keith Moon’s paisley covered bongo drum which had rolled off the floating stage. Here’s the story.

Johnny Reed

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Boat racing was-and continues to be-a dangerous sport. The Marine Stadium is considered hallowed ground as at least five boat racers (including one on opening weekend) have died.

Johnny had a great boat racing career. But he had his share of crashes. Read his memory to see what driving a raceboat is like.

John Valentino

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John produced many concerts at the Marine Stadium-great acts such as Willie Nelson and the Beach Boys. Then there was the time that singer Al Jarreau refused to perform because the  floating stage was wet from rain and Al was worried that he would get electrocuted.

Read the story to find out how John solved this problem.

Anthony Ascenzo

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Anthony was a carpenter’s apprentice working on  the Marine Stadium. He helped build the wooden molds that were used to form the concrete.

Because of the great construction work done by people like Anthony, we are able to save and restore the Marine Stadium.

Dick Crippen

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Dick was the announcer for boat races at the Marine Stadium. There are some great stories here.

Carlos Fernandez

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Have you ever attended a concert by surfboard? Carlos Fernandez explains how he did it at the Marine Stadium

Bill Seebold, boat racer

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The photo below is “The triple flip”-part of the most famous sequence of photos in boat racing history. This took place at the Marine Stadium and Bill was one of the boat racers.

Ben Harris

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Ben saw famous jazz clarinet player Benny Goodman at the Marine Stadium. Benny was a bit drunk (he played the same tune twice!)-this is a nifty story.

Bill Brothers

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Photographers love the Marine Stadium. We constantly get requests to provide access to the Stadium (sorry, we can’t do this). When Bill discovered the Stadium, he immediately recognized how unique and spectacular it is.

Rod Glaubman

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Rod probably knew the Marine Stadium better than anyone else. He produced 25 concerts at the Stadium and he played there as a bass player with the Florida Symphony. 

Ian Deleon

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Ian sneaks into the Marine Stadium and reacts to it. This is a beautiful set of impressions.

Stuart Blumberg

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In 1972 entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. hugged President Richard Nixon at a campaign rally. A black man hugging a white man? This was a key cultural moment of the 1970s. It happened at the Marine Stadum-and Stu was there-with Richard Nixon’s entourage.