Favorite Saints Tulane Stadium Story...

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Was there for the Dempsey kick as well.

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thats mine

although, it isn't my memory, but yet numerous accounted stories

the stadium was quite empty when the kick had actually occurred, but VERY few people admit they actually left before his kick

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Was there for the Dempsey kick as well.

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11/8/70. I was at that game. After the Lions scored late to take the lead, lots of people left (including me, my dad and brothers), thinking it was to become another Saints meltdown. As we are walking outside Tulane Stadium, we hear a deafening roar. There is a man standing on the street corner trying to listen on his transistor radio, but you can`t hear anything. When we get back to the car, we realize what had happened. I had a friend who lived next door to me and that was the onky game he had ever been to.

Not a favorite but I think that one of the colder nights I have ever spent was the Steelers-Saints Monday Night Football game. Man, it was frickin' cold. My parents and I left at the end of the third quarter.

My father never left a game early, and I always argued with him to leave games. We witnessed the Dempsey kick, and I learned a lesson that day. Worked out the other way in the dome with 19 seconds left for the Falcon's Big Ben. I wish I had left early for that game.

Another memorable game in Tulane Stadium was a Philadelphia game where the fans booing the referees shut the game down for about 20 minutes. That was so much fun.

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You went to the 1st game, and didn't mention what happened with the opening kick-off.

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I have MANY memories from that game. Of course the Gilliam opening kickoff was one as well as my brother's infant son...YES, INFANT, screaming after the kickoff in total fright from the noise level. He had to leave the game after the kickoff because the child was in utter hysterics.

I was also there for the the Dempsey kick. My mother got so excited that she swung her arms up in celebration. Problem was, she was holding her stadium seat and knocked the crap out of a man with it and he fell down to the ground. He got up, laughed his butt off and joined the celebration as everyone around was going monkey nuts.

Back in the early years when Billy Kilmer was quarterback, there was usually a point in most of the home games when the entire stadium would chant...WE WANT HARGETT...WE WANT HARGETT. Edd Hargett was the backup quarterback and sometimes got a chance when things were really bad. Tulane Stadium would really get loud when the fans really got worked up!

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Back in the early years when Billy Kilmer was quarterback, there was usually a point in most of the home games when the entire stadium would chant...WE WANT HARGETT...WE WANT HARGETT.

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I remember that...I would actually get upset and cry when Saints fans booed Kilmer. I loved it when he left the Saints and QB'd Washington to the Super Bowl.

I thought Steve Stonebreaker was the greatest name for a football player. My dad and I loved hearing the radio announcer say, "Stonebreaker CRUSHES him into the ground!"

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The early Saints games used to have really big halftime shows. One game against the Rams in the late sixties, maybe early 70s had a Battle of New Orleans re-enactment at halftime. Soldiers from each army were firing cannons at each other and soldiers were racing horses across the field. Suddenly, one of the cannon loaders got too close to the muzzle and the cannon fired its charge. It blew him several feet across the field and his hat went tumbling on the field. People started screaming that his head was blown off. Smoke from the cannons filled the air and the horses were out of control. Meanwhile, parts of the cannon loading equpment were shot across the field and injured some people in the North endzone. It was absolutely crazy and a total cluster. Oh...and the Saints lost the game.

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I was not there, but, I can add some detail to your story.

The cannoneer's injuries were very severe. He lost some fingers and suffered 3rd degree burns.

Here's how the explosion happened: With that kind of antique cannon, one must carefully and fully swab the inside of the cannon after each shot, because there are burning embers inside the cannon after each shot.

The first step in re-loading that cannon with ammo is to put in a bag of black powder. If you don't swab out those burning embers completely, that bag of powder is going to explode as you use that ram stick to shove the powder bag all the way down the cannon.

This is what happened to the poor guy. The reason why parts of the cannon loading equipment flew across the field: it literally became the artillery projectile, along with the guy's fingers and part of his hand.

Sad day.