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I was over at my parent’s house recently when I stumbled upon some topical and pretty cool keepsakes.
I came across some old envelopes which contained ticket stubs and documents from my parent’s trip to the 1980 Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York.
Lake Placid is of course home to the Miracle On Ice, the greatest upset in sports history.
The Olympic Games are always special but they will never again have the cozy feel that Lake Placid had. Lake Placid is a small mountain town with tons of charm and was a perfect Olympic host. The Olympic Games have grown too big for a place like Lake Placid to host again and that is too bad.
Anybody who has had the opportunity to walk the streets of that town will know what I am talking about.
I was fortunate enough to play a college game in the 1980 rink and one of my favorite parts of the experience was walking around the town. You could totally picture how lively and exciting it must have been for those 2 weeks in February during 1980.
Given that we are in the height of Olympic fever and the United States has their biggest hockey game of the tournament coming up, I thought I would share some of what I found.
Included here is an official booklet that has the complete schedule of the Olympic Games, some Olympic buttons, stickers, information packet, and my parent’s parking pass.
Without the internet or cell phones this was probably one of the most important pieces of information one could have. This is the complete Olympic schedule for the Lake Placid games.
Two tickets for Olympic hockey. These tickets happened to be for Team USA vs. Romania. The United States defeated Romania 7-2 and I believe the victory clinched a berth into the Final Round, which set the table for Miracle. Buzz Schneider led the way against Romania with 2 goals and 1 assist.
Here is a closer look at the ticket. On further review the seats aren’t too shabby, lower level row K. The going rate in 1980 for Olympic hockey was $28. Not cheap for that time period but money well spent none the less.
Here is a shot from the game preview sheet they handed out each day for hockey.
Some tickets to alpine skiing.
Back of the tickets
Official program for the 1980 Olympic Winter Games.
My father had a subscription to The Hockey News, here is the Gold Medal winning edition. The person who put the address stickers on the paper could probably use a do over.
I was pleasantly surprised when I stumbled across these artifacts; I hope you enjoyed them as well.
Thanks for reading!
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