Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Lost Memphis Dowdle Sporting Goods' Great Neon Sign
Posted by Vance Lauderdale on Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 3:57 PM
But for some reason, though I am usually as keen-eyed as a hawk, I have no memory of the store's wonderful neon sign, as shown here in an ad that ran in the 1977 Bartlett High School yearbook.
Too bad it's in black-and-white, but you can see a basketball and football, and look carefully and you can see neon tubes that — when lighted in sequence — would have shown the basketball bouncing and the football arcing through the air. Definitely a very cool sign, made here in Memphis by the Balton Sign Company.
I called the nice folks at Dowdle, who told me that a customer backed into the pole one day, sometime in the late 1970s, and knocked the whole thing down. All that neon was far too expensive to repair, and from what I understand the city (at least back then) was beginning to express concern about moving signs that distracted drivers, so the old neon sign wasn't replaced.
Too bad. But at least we still have a picture. Close your eyes and imagine how it might have looked. But NOT while you are driving!
Comments (4)
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Vance, if I'm not mistaken, that sign was originally at their Walnut Grove Rd. location, just west of Racine St. and east of the viaduct. I do recall the bouncing balls.
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Wasn't there a Dowdle Sporting Goods across the street from Crump Stadium, on the Cleveland side, in the early '70s?
I don't remember it but you can tell from the photo it was at the Walnut Grove store. The address is shown (2896).
Looks like a hefty sign to be knocked down by someone reversing ... says something about the size and heft of those 1970s (or earlier) American cars! Nice to know there is always SOMETHING that "they" are concerned will distract drivers.
