July 19th
On to Montreal, a short 97 miles or more appropriately 156 kilometers, from Burlington, Vermont. Upon arrival we turned to another form of cheap lodging. Relatives, camping … and now, a youth hostel. If my memory is accurate it was cheaper than camping. In an Olympic city within easy public transportation of the games, we paid $3 a nite for a cot in an auditorium filled with cots, access to a shower and – maybe I’m stretching now – I think coffee & Danish in the morning. You left your non-valuable possessions under the cot and off you went to the games. 1976 bears very little resemblance to 2008.
Once on site, tickets were available for most events although there were few events ongoing. Among the options of the 21st Olympiad on the 19th were aviron, basketball, boxe, gymnastique, halterophile, handball, hockey, notation, pentathalon moderne, tir, volleyball, and yachting. Tickets were available.
1:00 Boxe (Boxing) was my choice. I was fortunate to see USA Louis Curtis win his bout but later he became the first of our guys to lose. In all, I saw 15 bouts including Light Flyweights Korean Silver Medalist Li Byong Uk, Thai Bronze Medalist Payao Pooltarat, Cuban Middleweight Bronze medal winner Luis Martinez, and Polish Light-Heavyweight Bronze medal winner Janusz Gortat. We had one of the greatest Olympic boxing teams of all-time with Howard Davis leading the way and Ray Leonard, Leo Randolph and the Spinks Brothers all winning Gold.
1:00 Halterophile (Weightlifting) was the pick of Sil & Phil. My French was so bad I thought they were going to see something very gay. I’m not sure who they saw. The star was the big Russian Vasily Alexiev. The only USA medal winner was 198 lb. Lee James.
8:00 Houston Astros 3, Montreal Expos 1 behind a complete game for the great J.R. Richards. York County’s Gregg Gross was the hero with three hits, knocking in the game winner and scoring the insurance run; both in the 7th. 7.560 other fans attended at Park Jarry that evening.
July 20th
9:30 The Lutte (Wrestling) competition opened and needless to say Phil & Sil were very disappointed not to see Bruno Sammartino, Lou Albano, nor any tag teams.
9:30 Natation (Swimming) was my choice and I can’t remember who I saw compete. I do remember the immortal who was practicing next to the pool in the diving pool – the young Greg Louganis, who due to the US boycott in ’80, had to wait 8 more years for his first Gold.
2:00 now this event was a sellout but luckily all three of us were able to score tickets. Not sure if we paid a premium or not. I know I didn’t as I purchased mine off former NFL player and then actor Bernie Casey. He showed the $4 (!) ticket and being ready to pay, gosh; triple that asked how much he wanted for it. He said, somewhat insulted, what does it say? I want $4. I looked him up during the game and had him autograph the ticket – a souvenir that has long faded. If I recall the US women upset a Rumanian team on the way to a Silver. The US men beat the Puerto Rican tam lead by Butch Lee by a single point enroot to a Gold.
7:00 Football (Football) the Red Chinese rallied late to upset the Peru squad 23-21. The game ended with a blocked field goal attempt. At the game I sought the assistance of the Ecouter Chien vendeur to help me with the French words for “but then again” so we could provide Lenny Lane with greater flexibility with one of his bits. I believe the phrase was presented to us as “mais alors encore”.
After both evenings events we retreated to the cafes for some continental drafts. I don’t recall but I assume it was early to bed early to rise in the crowded gym. It was a quick, fun two days in the international village. Despite being post-Munich it was about as far away from the époque moderne as one could imagine.
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