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How Duke’s Coach K Was Almost Fired in 1983 and The Unexpected Visitors of Toledo

Our American Stories / Lee Habeeb
The Cross Radio
July 5, 2022 3:05 am

How Duke’s Coach K Was Almost Fired in 1983 and The Unexpected Visitors of Toledo

Our American Stories / Lee Habeeb

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July 5, 2022 3:05 am

On this episode of Our American Stories, John Feinstein tells us the story of how Duke University's legendary basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski almost didn't become who he is today. Tedd Long of Holy Toledo History tells the story of three famous and unexpected visitors to Toledo, Ohio.

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Time Codes:

00:00 - How Duke’s Coach K Was Almost Fired in 1983

35:00 - The Unexpected Visitors of Toledo 

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Our American Stories
Lee Habeeb
Our American Stories
Lee Habeeb

This is will you be Mrs. L American stories that show her America's store and the American people search for the our American stories podcast go to the iHeartRadio F forever you get your project. John Feinstein is a sportswriter of 42 books 23 of them New York Times bestsellers.

His first book about Bobby Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers a season on the brink is the best-selling sports book of all time is also the friend of Duke University's legendary basketball coach Mike Majeski, otherwise known as coach K15 national titles it to three consecutive gold medals as the head coach of the US men's Olympic basketball team dons here to tell the story of how that almost didn't happen. I actually first met Mike HST and Jim Valvano on the same day when I was a senior in college.

It was playing Connecticut in New York City at Madison Square Garden Duke was bad in those days people refuse to believe it was ever bad basketball that they were bad infected Duke Yukon game was the first game of the garden double-headed the feature game was foreman rockers that have different times work and I flew into New York, which is my hometown with Bill Foster, who was then gives coach Tom Nichol who was the sports information director Kate Armstrong who was the started team would played on a 1976 Olympic team for Dean Smith and there was a media lunch every TuesdayNew York for the New York basketball coaches and Jim Valvano was coaching at Iona and Mike Chesky was coaching at Army's alma mater where he had played for Bob Knight and when the lunch was over, God now came over to see Bill Foster because he played for him at Rutgers and he brought along with interest. Chesky and Tom Henderson was then the coach at Columbia would go on to win 648 games in his career, and as we were talking I mentioned this to Chesky that I had seen his greatest game in the 1969 and 19 when I was a kid in New York when Army had upset South Carolina and guarded John Roche, South Carolina's All-American whole game and Calvin's 11 points out that sort of got us off to a good start. Although we did vehemently disagree on the subject of the Cubs and Nats.

He's a Chicago kid Cubs fan. I obviously New York had not spent but after I got to the Washington Post. A year later I kept in touch with Moshe Chesky in downtown so I knew them both when they were hired respectively at Duke and North Carolina State in 1980's and by then I was covering ACC basketball for the Washington Post and so I dealt with them a lot and I think it's fair to say, I became close to both annihilator years and years later I wrote a book called legends club which was about. She Chesky Valvano and Dean Smith also my hat. I was fortunate enough to deal with quite a bit in the 1980s when there were coaching against each other in the research Triangle in North Carolina and Valvano of course was a rocket's team won the national championship in 1983, the famous surviving advance team. The championship ending with Lorenzo. Charles is dunk off of what Derek Wittenberg still insists was a past and Seville Valley because of his personality because of his success was a huge star.

She Chesky not so much.

He used to joke about how he had to follow Valvano at ACC media days Jim would get up to 20 minutes to stand up and leave everybody on the floor and Mike would follow and talk about the battle for the center position between Mike Hsieh and Alan Williams, which didn't exactly rock the room so she Chesky's first recruiting class was with the boss. They finished second for a bunch of very good players. The most notable being Chris Mullen went to St. John's but in the second year they had a better recruiting class of very differently class. In fact, but that man in Mike's third season 1983. The team was divided seniors and freshman presenting one another. They lost a game early in the season to Wagoner at home and the drumbeats were getting louder that the alumni thought that she Chesky was a bad hire and go back to real heroes of the story other than my art. Tom utters the athletic director and Stevie Sendak who was the number two guy in the athletic department who been a star at Duke in the 1960s under the will displayed on final four teams that and it was the Sendak who first brought Chesky to bladder's attention bothers me that Bill Foster was going to leave for South Carolina in the 1980 season and he put the Sendak in charge of the coaching search because the Sendak was a basketball player and there were a bunch of names that were out there Bob Wallach was at Mississippi Bob Knight was pushing him hard while the kickplate coached under under nice as had she Chesky a course Bob Wenzel was Bill Foster's number-one assistant help build the program people forget that the year Foster left the Boston elite eight. They were good but most of their key players graduated off the team. Not all the most and there was a gun and Paul Webb who had great success at Old Dominion. In fact, the day the Duke hired its coach during morning Herald had a storage tank that the Nugent coaches last name would start with a W Wenzel Webb allelic but Sendak had met.

She Chesky when she Chesky was coaching Army. He was living in Annapolis when spent some time with him as he was preparing for a Navy game Army-Navy game and was blown away by his very young, but very much in command of his team and was clearly in Steve's opinion a great defensive coach so he brought she Chesky his name to butters, but is never heard literally had never heard a said okay what was his record in Army this year and Sendak went 917 and butters. I can hire a coach to do was just 917 Army the Sendak convinced him to meet she Chesky and he did twice and was blown away by and said of the Sendak at one point, I think this is the next great coach and sees a good hire can hire a coach along with a 917 record and that is indeed true, nine and 17 Army is exactly what you want to bring to her ACC program that just gone to the elite.

A true they were losing many of those star players got into the elite eight. But my goodness, nine and 17 from Army no powerhouse when it comes to NCAA basketball, that's for sure when we come back more. This remarkable story of how coach please career almost didn't come to be here on our American story American stories we bring you inspiring stories of history, sports, business, faith and love stories from a great and beautiful country need to be told we can't do it without you are stories are free to listen to with her not free to make you love are stories in America like we do. Please allow American stories.com and click the donate button give a little devil what help us keep the great American stories coming our American stories.com I know everything there is to know about running a coffee shop for small business insurance. I need my State Farm agent and make sure my business pays piping hot people and confident the business owners to help the vast State Farm is in your corner and on like a neighbor.

There call your local State Farm agent for quote today doing household chores can Artie be time-consuming and tedious. And there's nothing more daunting than facing piles and piles of laundry that need to be done can be overwhelming for anyone. If you want to get those larger laundry loads done right and get back to your life.

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It will what about Mike she Chesky because the descendent had brought them up and makes it well.

I don't think this is the time for Mike but he's got all my good qualities and none of my bad, which is a very accurate statement and as it turned out, but the other thing is that when she Chesky got the job he literally had to spell his name for the media at his opening press conference and he said that one of his goals as a coach was for his players to be able to spell his name.

By the time they graduate course this is in the days of players that actually graduated the next day the student newspaper.

Duke the Chronicle which is where I started my career had a headline that said not a typo. She Chesky and most people had not heard of the guy basketball junkies like me had heard of them in new him, but nobody in the ACC had any idea who he was and again he took a lot of guts for Tom butters to hire him at that moment in back after she Chesky's third year when butters the environment he got death threats literally from boosters and, in fact, I met with him Tom butters when I was working on my book legends club, she Chesky Jim Valvano indeed said, and he brought with him a box and in the box will let letters and one stack of the letters were from boosters in 1983 to 1980 through 1984 saying fire him or I will never do another dollar to do in this second stack of letters or letter sent in 1990 after you could turn it around and she Chesky them, a star, and he was offered the Boston Celtics stop by none other than red Auerbach and the letters were from essentially the same group was written in 1983, 84's and get rid of this guy saying whatever you have to do whatever you have to pay him.

Do not let him leave and fortunately for Duke.

It wasn't about the money. Mike felt he had won a national championship. So even though you grown up a Celtics fan and worship read our back. He said the job is not done yet and turned down the course.

One is first national title. The next year and that's how much a turnaround. When Mike was offered Lakers job in 2004, he was offered $40 million for five years and he wasn't going to take it. But EE had to give it some thought, given the money and is Lakers and he called butters anyway think Tom and he said I think you should give me a 10% finders fee. If you take the job. Mike said okay I'll send you $4000 because his first your salary was $40,000 and so that they flailed for three years and in 1983 Mike's third year they lost their last game of the season hundred 966 two Virginia in the ACC turn Ralph Sampson if you walk up to my Chesky right now and save what was the score of the game against Virginia and the ACC tournament 1983.

He can tell tell you what was in an instant he never forgotten and the fourth game that night. First night of the ACC tournament was Georgia Tech and Maryland and I was the Maryland beat writer for the post and Bobby Dwyer was Mike's number one assistant at the time come with him from Army came into the Omni. The old arena there, which is now long gone and found me and Keith drop who was a sports jar morning, Harold. At the time and was probably the only member of the North Carolina media who had an attack. She Chesky and hadn't called from the five North Carolina media then as now is made up largely of North Carolina graduate school has great journalism school, and in many if not most stay in the state. Keith also down in North Carolina but he likes Chesky like respected Dean Smith to be like.

She Chesky and thought she was going to be a great cook subject Keith Keith ended up being at an NBA scout so his level of understanding of basketball was different than most sportswriters.

So Dwyer came to the press table were Keith and I were sitting in said when this game is over. You both need to come with me back to our hotel's and why and he said because Nikki Mike's wife is in the room crying because she's convinced they're going to get fired all the alumni and boosters have Tom butters back up against the wall in the lobby, demanding the fire she Chesky immediately and Mike is pacing around trying to figure out who kill first because he so angry with everybody. And so when the game was over. Keith and I was after midnight. By then got a car with Bobby and we drove to the perimeter of Atlanta were Duke was staying and went to the hotel and was pouring down rain and we drove to a Denny's nearby. It was Mike. It was Bobby. Keith made Tom Mikell the sports information director. Chief wife Barbie and Johnny Moore was Tom Nichols assistant walked into the Denny's. We sat down and they give us water and by mastering one and Tom Mikell held up his glass and said here's to forgetting tonight and she Chesky held up his glass and said here's to never blanking forgetting tonight blanking is one of his favorite works for the record, and so we ought we needed a laugh because he was dead serious and and in the discussion went on and Dwyer mentioned that Tom Sheehy, who had verbally committed to Virginia very good player might be thinking twice about that commitment. And maybe they could get back involved and try to recruit Sheehy and Shasta shook his head and said not not fertile. We don't do that. Second of all, if we can't win next year. With these four freshmen Valerie Phyllis Dawkins and David Henderson and Tommy Amico who was coming in is the point guard, and we should get fired, and in many ways that statements to me. Having known Mike for as long as I have that too much Chesky is is never someone else's fault Mike she Chesky is always taken the approach. What did I do wrong.

How do I get better.

Some of that is his West Point train because when you're up leader West Point and an upper class and speaks to you. Your allowed three answers yes or no sir, no excuse or and she Chesky's life is been built on no excuse. I've never met a coach who uses failure to his advantage more than fish just and that night was a perfect example. So the next year course with those five guys I mentioned, they went 24 and 10 may be North Carolina with Michael Jordan in the ACC tournament and that was the turn around and you been listening to John Feinstein tell a heck of a story about how Coach K's career at Duke almost didn't happen after your three still not winning the heart of tobacco Road. The heart of ACC basketball country Coach K loses to the University of Virginia in Ralph Sampson's team by epic epic blowout 109 to 66 does not get worse than that and losing it, and of all places in the ACC tournament.

Everyone was sure that was it.

The boosters were coming after coach. Everyone was wife was crying and he was just mad was he mad at Ms. Mehta, coach K in the end he was taking responsibility and ownership for theft loss, as he was taught to do that.

West Point, three answers to a question it.

West Point by an older person that is an older student folks when you're a freshman, a senior has to be addressed as sir yes sir no sir or no excuse. Ernest John Feinstein said no excuse or those were the words the coach. Lived by and by the way, I love that scene in that Denny's. It's pouring rain and there's one coach toasting to forgetting the game.

What is coach K say, reflecting his true character is competitive nature and a little bit of his Irish Catholic well… Say fanciful nature with some swearwords.

He says here's to never blanking forgetting tonight, never forgetting that and that's what animated coach K that lost that failure drove so much of his life.

When we come back to more of this remarkable piece of storytelling by the great sportswriter John Feinstein. On our American story. I know everything there is to know about running a coffee shop for small business insurance. I need my State Farm agent make sure my business days piping hot people and confident they are small business owners to help the vast State Farm is in your corner and on like that neighbor is there. Call your local State Farm agent for quote today doing household chores can Artie be time-consuming and tedious.

And there's nothing more daunting than facing piles and piles of laundry that need to be done can be overwhelming for anyone. If you want to get those larger laundry loads done right and get back to your life.

Try all free clear maggot packs all three clear mega packs are bigger packs with two times the cleaning ingredients compared to a regular packs of that you can tackle any laundry load without the worry free, clear, mega packs are also 100% free of perfumes and dyes and their dental and skin which is great for any families sensitive skin needs my family.

We definitely have sensitive skin. The next time the whole family gets home from long vacation or you get the kids back from summer camp or whatever the situation is. That's because this big pile of dirty clothes and all free clear maggot packs have your back purchase all free, clear mega packs today and conquer any laundry load for all fabric types continue with our American stories and with John Feinstein's head basketball coach coach K was almost fired in 1983 as we learn the following year he went 24 and 10.

This was the turnaround season for coach K was returned to his friend and sportswriter of 23 New York Times bestsellers, including the one who wrote about coach religions quote. Let's return to John Feinstein from their again they made the turn at the next year and in 1986 and 137 and three went to the national championship game lost. I will say on a bad call, just he would never say that, but I will and became college basketball's next great dynasty. It's my opinion that the only coach who you can put ahead of she Chesky on Mount Rushmore is John would, but five national championships 13 final force more than one even and ACC championships in what to 23 Sweet 16. That's just stupid. 23 and every one of them because in the old days. Of course you know before they expand attornment conference champions went straight to the Sweet 16. But starting in 1985, five you had to win two games to get to the Sweet 16 and six to win a championship. So 23 Sweet 16's are you coming Dean Smith great coach longevity. All went to 18 which is a great number and but the first three did not win a game to get there because they once he won the ACC they were in the Sweet 16 cell's numbers are just ridiculous.

1205 wins on the numbers just go on and on and but to me the one thing about she Chesky that shouldn't be forgotten.

He went to his first final four 1986. Once his last final four, 36 years later in 2022 and think about how much college basketball change during those 36 years.

There was a 45 second clock for the first year in 1986.

There was no three-point shot 1986 there was no snow in an ever heard the phrase one and done in 1986 in the game the way the game was played has changed so much since Mike first started coaching, which was an Army in 1976 and he adapted the Say if I want to continue to coach I have to change not. I'm going to sit here and say it's terrible. The changes taking place on like that myself but 2022. His last year he goes the final four with the youngest team he ever coached so I could see that in him very early on.

I really believe if you gave him the time he was going to become a great coach that night at Denny's was sort of a key moment. In fact, so it 1991 when they won the national championship for the first time I walked on the court after the game and I walked up to Mike and I put out my hand.

I say congratulations I'm so happy for you and he pulled me in and he said come along way from the blanking Denny's have an 20 years after that I was working on a book called one-on-one, which was sort about my experiences with people I dealt with in my first 10 books. It was a professional semi memoir and one of the people.

Obviously I wanted to talk to with my and I called them and I said look next week when you play at UNC Greensboro. You're going to go past Dean Smith on the all-time voiceless and if you go back to those early days of Duke. There's no way we would've never thought about you and Dean Smith in the same sentence, much less broadcasting set and I like to come down just hang out with you and talk to you about those early days and things like that suture come on down leaving my office at 230.

You could ride the bus to Greensboro with us will talk then once we get there, will have time in the locker room before the game starts is that is that okay for you great. So I drove down to Durham and met two friends for lunch. One was Bill Brill who was also do graduate and the other was my crate was now the athletic director at St. John's but back then he was kind that she Chesky's and Friday. He was the chief fundraiser. It is if you watch Mike walk off the court after a game to see behind him was my credit at all times and so we went to lunch and my Craig said. So when he got to talk to coach K and I saw on the bus going Greensboro and he said you came all the way down here just to talk to my cell phone number. Talk to him from the next seat and he said none of them know you misunderstood something nobody who's not part of the team rides that bus except for Mickey is I don't even write that bus so that you misunderstood something so I walked him through it like it said that's what I misunderstand any Mike crick shaken his head and he goes, I don't understand why we let you do that why we let you do that and I said as I was in the blanking Denny's and an end to this day Mike will bring that up to me when were just talking about how important that night was in his life.

Mike will tell you and Dean Smith said the same thing about his first three years at North Carolina that in today's world with with with social media.

With the Internet with sports talk radio with 24 hour sports networks. He probably would have been fired by the end of his third year that you know I got emails and tweets from North Carolina fans. During this past season when North Carolina was 16 and 16 of seven, but they just lost to Dubai. 20 at home.

Secular Davis can't do this. Davises was wrong.we got everything he were dead as well. They ended up in the national championship game and be due twice along the way to get there. So that's the way the world is today. It's knee-jerk reactions.

It wasn't that way to work nearly as many games on television.

In those days sports talk radio hasn't started yet. 1987, WFAN was the first all sports talk station in New York City. The West no social media.

There was no Internet so Mike was able to fly pretty much under the radar other than what do people during that time, and even then it took a lot of guts for Tom butters to stand by him throughout that.

And I like I always I will say this, the people that she's a better guy than he was a coach and that's a hell statement. If you think about it, but he still digging out right now from all the emails and cards and letters that he's gotten from people the city at 3000 of them after the season ended any of these you must answer every one of them and the things that he's done for people that nobody knows about goes on, the list goes on and on and on that. I'm not my brother had cancer 21 years and he's also do graduate and I called Mike and I said listen, would you mind giving my brother a call in Elko suture mob just to hear from you right Mike said sure so we called them and they were on the phone for about an hour and my brother is a typical sand and on he knows better than the coach so he said coach. Can I give you some advice and Mike said yes sir Bobby and he said you need to play Casey Sanders more Casey Sanders was the backup center and Mike's okay I'll give that some thought well in February. Carlos boozer got hurt so Sanders became a starter while boozer was out and him and boozer came back because they've been playing well.

Sanders continued to startle the boozer still got the bulk of the minutes and when they won the national championship that year and to this day. My brother takes credit so that national championship every once in a while the clemency she Chesky should do this in a safe hears his cell number you give him a call and tell and a terrific job on the production and the editing by Greg Hagler and a special thanks to John Feinstein for sharing this remarkable story about his friend and what a thing to be able to say after years of writing sports as if these were their subjects were writing about friends, and it shows the character or nature of John's work and his commitment to telling the story of American sports and the people who make it home and it's a business, but it's more than a businesslike goodness. We learn that from the passion from the friends there knee-jerk reactions to losses. It's overwhelming I was to sports talk radio sometimes and I just pity any head coach of anything. The relentless criticism and the desire for immediate gratification is almost unrelenting and how to manager in today's environment both kudos to the people in that night that Danny Beck spoke with coach faith all the way through.

You never did forget John Feinstein. The story of Coach K and how his career almost didn't happen here. Now American stories. I know everything there is to know about running a coffee shop for small business insurance. I need my State Farm agent make sure my business days piping hot people and confident the small business owners to help the vast State Farm is in your corner and on like that neighbor, State Farm is there. Call your local State Farm agent for quote today doing household chores can Artie be time-consuming and tedious. And there's nothing more daunting than facing piles and piles of laundry that need to be done that can be overwhelming for anyone south if you want to get those larger laundry loads done right and get back to your life.

Try all free clear maggot packs all three clear mega packs are bigger packs with two times the cleaning ingredients compared to a regular pack so that you can tackle any laundry load without the worry free, clear, mega packs are also 100% free of perfumes and dyes and their dental and skin which is great for any families sensitive skin needs my family. We definitely have sensitive skin. The next time the whole family gets home from long vacation or you get the kids back from summer camp or whatever the situation is. That's because this big pile of dirty clothes is not all free clear maggot packs have your back purchase all free, clear mega packs today and conquer any laundry load for all fabric types.

This is an old American stories. We like to think that we know our home towns like the back of her own hands. Do we partnered stories about the famous and important visitors were forgotten to time made an impact on one particular American city in Ohio is on Monty Montgomery with the story hometowns the places we know best. We've grown up there after all. Every street corner has a story, even if we've left we know how to get around. We even know who lives where we know who's visited headlong of holy Toledo history assured us that he wrote a book about them. But why so my names Ted long and I've been around the local history scene here in Toledo for 20 years. Years ago, got started doing daylong regional tours for leadership Toledo classified 50 young executives that you want to learn more about the community that kind of suck me into all the different local history stories as I took them around the community and told the stories I got more and more intrigued and the idea for the book forgotten visitors really came from just kind of a serendipitous thing that I was reading a story in the New York Times and it was essentially a theme about why it and in it he talked about the Willard Dempsey heavyweight championship fight that happened in Toledo in 1919 and how when Jack Dempsey stepped into the ring to start that fight.

He looked out in the crowd and saw Wyatt Earp and bat Masterson taking guns from the tough guys in the crowd and I was blown away a meal just donned like I had no idea these two icons from the old West ever visited Toledo on top of that I never would've imagined they did it together in 1919. So I started to scratch my head and think you know what other visitors came through this area that you don't know about that. You never heard about one that I feel is really fascinating is the Mark Twain story, you know, it's not surprising to me, the Mark Twain visited Toledo. Frankly, it's kind of makes sense in terms of him traveling the Midwest and promoting his his books but was interesting. It was 1869 so it was really early in his writing career, no it was at a time to where he was pretty still unsure of himself and the real twist in that chapter is his own fear of visiting Toledo and making a presentation because it was the hometown of David Ross Locke, whose pen name was petroleum.

The nasty and nasty. At that time was probably the most famous newspaper columnist United States and Locke had recently purchased the Toledo Blade newspaper and was running out of Toledo is his weekly column and so if you read the letters that Twain was writing to his future wife and some of his partners. He was really worried about coming here and then having to perform in front of an audience that's very familiar with petroleum view nasty. He ends up hits a homerun does a fantastic job but afterwards he writes these letters were he's all of a sudden cocky and he's real sure of himself that you know he really brought the house down in Natalie's hometown and that really made him proud of himself and he wrote this immediately after his performance in Toledo. He said it was splendid tonight. The great hall was crowded, full of the pleasantness and handsomest people and I did the very best I possibly could and I did better than I ever did before. Then he says I felt the importance of the occasion, for I knew that this being mass B's residence. Every person in the audience would be comparing and contrasting me with him. I'm satisfied with the performance. Eventually he's offered a position at the Toledo Blade and there's another letter where he writes to his mother and explains no just not sure what he wants to do next, including taking up mass B's offer to move to Toledo and right for the Toledo Blade in his decision not to take that job was probably the best thing that could happen for the writers world and the reader's world because he went on to write such great books so that's that that's an interesting chapter that has a twist. You wouldn't expect you know Mark Twain visits Toledo.

So what then you get the back story you find out there's really a lot to and then there's the story of runway Corrigan. I fell in love with runway Corrigan when I started to research that story, I was aware of the idea of runway Corrigan but I wasn't really sure what the whole story was he was in a pilot who had actually worked on the Lindbergh project and you know this is a workmen in the meantime was flying at night and he had the idea that he wanted to fly from the East Coast to Ireland any particular want to go to Ireland to pay tribute to his family background and he builds this monstrosity of an airplane that people call the Frankenstein. He took pieces and parts of always different planes. He builds this monstrosity and he was not able to get licensed teacups submitting request for this big trip and they kept the aviation ministration kept turning them down and finally I think as you read in the story they felt sorry no form that they said look give you a cross-country license so he was given license to fly from California to New York and back, and he flies to New York and decides to take off from New York supposedly go to California makes a wrong turn and ends up in Ireland and that's how he got the Nickname Wrong Way, Corrigan courses read individual find that is a pretty sharp guy. He did make a wrong turn in all he knew exactly what he was doing.

I found out just weeks after he came back from Ireland the other tickertape parade in New York that was place a bigger than Limburg's.

He did end up flying into Toledo for a quick lunch and then back out to the airport for his next trip. Another famous visitor to Toledo Harry Houdini himself strip became quite instrumental in the development of his daring feats of escape.

Later on, will Houdini is an interesting subject because he he was in Toledo quite often. Frankly, it came here early on in his career with his brother right after they had a first appeared at the Chicago world's fair and that had many many appearances here. Several of our theaters. Interestingly, as an unpublished biography that he wrote in which he described his most harrowing or most difficult escape. And he said it happened in Toledo where he had the Toledo boiler company, and essentially weld him into a boiler on a stage and then he escaped.

It took him 90 minutes that night when he got back to his hotel. He wrote the diary he has to find some other big trip because this will just take much out of them and he went on to say that was his most difficult trick and it happened in Toledo. The other thing that happened in Toledo. It's interesting is he started off working with his brother but eventually runs into his wife in New York.

She becomes his lifelong partner as the Houdini's and early in their career they were having difficulties of people were looking at different types of entertainment and they were really attracted to them that the magic kind of act. Houdini was doing and frankly he was shut down in a Toledo show halfway through the word enough tickets sold and he tells a story of being totally dejected and heading back home, thinking he may just quit the business entirely and was right at that time that he runs into this Minnesota-based production giant who convinces him, you gotta change your program move into these big bold escapes and know that became know the Houdini that we all know today and it turns out when you research your city enough, you'll find out what makes it so interesting and special in the first place. I learned a lot of different things, but the one thing that I think really stuck with me was that Toledo was really an important transportation center quite a few. These visitors came to Toledo because of its size. It was a real good sized city, but many of them showed up here because it was unavoidable and you are drawing away from Chicago to New York to stop in Toledo if you're on your way from Detroit to Pittsburgh to come through Toledo all the railroads know that we were's one-time second only to Chicago. The number of railroads coming in to town in the country and that really played a big part nominally visited here, but who moved here and it says a lot about kind of that whole idea of the mixed bag of Americans that came to the Toledo area and made up no what we have today, which I think is Toledo, with signature flavorants the city with a lot of variety and a lot of cultures and I think that's still today. What makes it for me. A great place to work, live and play. Great job on the production and the story to Monty Montgomery and also thanks to Ted long by the way, send your stories about your towns to our American stories.com we want to hear them. And again all American stories.com Ted long stories of famous Toledo visitors MS everyone from Mark Twain, the Houdini here on our American story