What happened to that naked lady by the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium? | Mark J. Price
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When people are searching for naked ladies, they usually don’t turn to me for advice. Fortunately, I was able to help this time.
“I know you are mostly all things Akron and Summit County, but this question has been simmering in me for 27 years,” wrote Marty Kruszynski, a Richfield resident who owns Marty’s Classic Machinery. “Before Cleveland Municipal Stadium was demolished to make way for the factory of sadness, there was a garden out front called the Donald Gray Gardens.
“To the east of the gardens was what we called as kids ‘The Naked Lady Statue.’ Mostly because she was a naked lady. All that area was torn out with demolition and new construction. Where in the heck did the naked lady statue go?”
We found her, Marty. But first, here’s a little background.
Landscape architect A. Donald Gray built the horticultural gardens north of the stadium in 1936 for the Great Lakes Exposition, a world’s fair that attracted 7 million visitors over a two-year span. Sculptor William M. McVey’s 1934 work “Awakening” was among the public art on display.
The 6½-foot marble statue depicted a seated nude female, draped in cloth, with her right arm resting on her head. The exhibition closed but the gardens remained. For decades, Cleveland sports fans admired (and occasionally ogled) the sculpture on game days.
Workers hauled away the “naked lady” in 1996 as the city prepared to destroy the gardens to build a new football stadium.
The next time you’re in Cuyahoga County, you can visit Miss Awakening. McVey’s sculpture was transplanted in 2001 to a wooded area of Cleveland Botanical Garden at 11030 East Blvd.
After years of weathering the Ohio elements, she’s looking rather green these days, but she’s still very much nude.
Local history: Nude statue turned heads at Highland Square
Joe Louis golfed in Akron
Heavyweight boxing champions are good at throwing punches, but some can hit long drives, too.
The Rev. Joseph Kraker, 85, pastor emeritus of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Parish in Akron, asked us about something he recalls from childhood.
“I remember watching Joe Louis teeing off on the 10th hole at Good Park Golf Course,” he said. “What year was that and what was the occasion?”
At the time, Kraker’s family lived on Nome Avenue across the street from the 10th tee at Good Park. His father, Joseph, owned Kraker’s Old Heidelberg, a famous restaurant in the Flatiron Building downtown.
Louis, 33, played at Good Park on two days in August 1947. He made a surprise appearance Aug. 2 at the Akron municipal course when his barnstorming fastpitch softball team, the Joe Louis Punchers, came to Cleveland to play a game.
The boxer arrived unannounced in Akron with Clevelander Howard Wheeler, a cross-handed professional golfer. Louis shot a 73 over 18 holes to finish 2 over par in the morning. In the afternoon, he shot a 71.
“A fellow named Joe Louis came to town Saturday to play golf,” the Beacon Journal reported. “He was certainly a surprise and a shock to everybody who met him.
“When the word got around that the heavyweight champion of the world was battling par at J. Ed Good Park municipal golf course, the people flocked around. They found a guy who blasts golf balls like he throws leather — hard and straight.”
Louis returned Aug. 15 to play with his friend Ted Rhodes, a pro golfer from Nashville, against Mogadore pro Nick Lazor and amateur Joe Thacker in a pro-am tournament at Good Park. The Akron golfers won 3-2 in a match watched by about 400 people watched, including at least one future priest.
Kraker said he’s been very lucky in life regarding sports figures. When he was pastor at St. Timothy Church in Garfield Heights, one of the star players on the peewee football team was future Super Bowl MVP Desmond Howard.
“Then I became pastor of St. Vincent in Akron in 1996,” he said. “You can figure out who I met there.”
Tallmadge Circle revisited
Readers continue to offer comments about Tallmadge Circle, which we recently revealed to be one lane after years of driver confusion.
Apparently, we have it easy. Keith Buzek drew our attention to the Magic Roundabout in Swindon, England — a circle with five mini roundabouts, some going in opposite directions.
“And then drive it sitting on the opposite side trying to shift with your left hand and work the clutch with your right foot,” Buzek wrote. “Pretty scary.”
After viewing a video of Swindon, I will never again complain about Tallmadge Circle.
Carol Kotun isn’t too happy that Tallmadge Circle is officially one lane.
“We older people did quite well with it being two lanes,” she wrote. “It was easier to exit with two.”
She dislikes modern roundabouts with “horrible cement curbs,” and says that most drivers she knows choose to take other routes to avoid them.
That’s not all that’s bothering her these days.
“And I do not like them changing the Big Mac, either!”
McDonald’s is changing the recipe of its signature burger in 2024, according to USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider. Improvements include softer sandwich buns, which are toasted golden brown, “perfectly melted cheese,” a “juicier, caramelized flavor from adding white onions to the patties while they’re still on the grill,” and more special sauce, Snider wrote.
Coincidentally, there’s a McDonald’s on Southeast Avenue off Tallmadge Circle.
Finally, Jerry Stranahan pointed out that Tallmadge Circle is a bit of a misnomer.
“If you look at an aerial view of the center of Tallmadge (usually referred to as Tallmadge Circle), you might notice that it is more of an oval than a circle,” he wrote. “The north and south sides of the roadway appear to be greater than the east and west sides. Just saying.”
Let’s see if Tallmadge Oval catches on.
This and that
Talk about higher education. Kent State is offering cannabis studies online. When I went to KSU in the 1980s, I’m pretty sure that was an elective.
Barberton is nicknamed “The Magic City.” With its new mayor, Akron is now “The Malik City.”
Doritos has launched a nacho-flavored liquor. I’m waiting for Norka Beverage to introduce a sauerkraut-flavored drink.
It’s too bad that Moody Street doesn’t intersect with Joy Avenue.
Am I the only one who feels a pang of nostalgia when I recognize an oddly shaped building as a former Red Barn restaurant?
Mark J. Price can be reached at mprice@thebeaconjournal.com
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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Price: What happened to the naked lady statue at Cleveland stadium?
