When seeing really big events meant going to Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium

From the Crates

Kelly McCoy

Kelly McCoy is a veteran Atlanta broadcaster who writes about the days popular music only came on vinyl records, which often were stored in crates.

As I’m writing this in late 2021, Atlanta can claim only one championship team. My Georgia Bulldogs haven’t played yet.

So, the champion team I’m talking about, of course, is our Atlanta Braves. In all honesty, I haven’t really been a serious Braves fan for decades, but I watched the entire 2021 World Series.

Back in the 70s and 80s, Atlanta Fulton County Stadium was home to not only the Braves and Falcons, but a multitude of events that included everything from motocross to major concerts with world-famous artists. One of the most famous “Quixie” disc jockeys, Tony Taylor, even got to introduce the Beatles there! I don’t think that one can be topped.

I’ll touch briefly on my Braves days, and other things I did at the old stadium. Let’s go back to the days of Dale Murphy and Bob Horner. I was dating a young lady at the time whose father had season tickets. The seats were directly behind the dugout. We’d literally place our beverages on top of the dugout.

As luck would have it, I heard Dale Murphy was going to be at WQXI cutting a commercial. I thought, here’s my chance. Everyone in the place was excited he was there, and he could not have been any nicer.

After telling him we attended games on a regular basis with the dugout-level seats, I coerced him to join me on the air for a few minutes.

Once we were in the studio, this big baseball star was like a nervous little kid. I told him he’d be fine; I would make it really easy. We weren’t on the air any longer than 15 or 20 minutes. I jokingly asked how a player of his stature — who crushed home run balls in front of thousands of people — could be anxious about talking to people who he couldn’t see.

Not too long after our meeting, I met Nancy, his wife, who was pregnant with their first child. Just like her husband, she was as nice as humanly possible. That first child is now the oldest of eight children! Quite a