CADILLAC — This weekend, the Cadillac community will mark 50 years since one of the best-known rock and roll bands of all time visited northern Michigan.
Jim Neff doesn’t have to spend much time at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cadillac, before the memories start rushing back.
Neff was an assistant coach for the Cadillac Vikings in 1974 when the team found themselves off to an unexpected 0-2 start.
“That 1973 team was 9-0. But the team before that in 72 was 7-2. So we had won 16 games in a row. So when we lost the first two games in 1974, we knew we had a good team. We had a talented team, except they were trying to play up to that 16 in a row. And so I decided that maybe we needed to loosen things up. And I proposed to Coach Brines that maybe if we played some music in the locker room, it would ease the tension and loosen the kids up,” said Neff.
Coach Neff had the perfect music in mind.
KISS stands for keep it simple, stupid, we’ll simplify everything. And we’ll play the music. And they’re wild and crazy and you’ll fit right in. So we started playing the music after we were oh and two. And of course we won the last seven games of that season,” said Neff.
John Coffell was on that team.
“Well, to be honest with you, I had never heard of them before,” explained Coffell.
So was Harry Hagstrom.
“It just brought a different type of atmosphere. I mean, everything everybody’s just fired up,” said Hagstrom.
Word eventually reached KISS of the bond between their music and the Cadillac football team.
“I had to stop at payphones with a pocket full of quarters and call New York. They gave me a number to call, and I call New York and tell them the score, and they’d relay it to the band,” said Neff.
By 1975, plans were in motion for kiss to visit Cadillac.
“So I asked the management, would they maybe come out to our pep assembly because we had homecoming that same weekend? And they said, well, maybe we’ll think about it. I said, well, I’ve got a brother who has a rock and roll band. If he brought up some equipment, would they play a couple of songs? And they said, yeah, they don’t really like to play music on other people’s equipment. A couple of days later they called back and said, why don’t we have them bring the whole show,” said Neff.
And bring the whole show they did.
“I remember, them pulling in and their own individual for black limousines and, right on at the high school, they drove down the sidewalk and, I’ve said this before, but Gene Simmons climbed out of the sunroof on this limousine with full attire and walked down and stood on the hood of the car. And, you know, kind of spread his wings and it kind of just went crazy after that,” said Coffell.
“When they got to the football stadium, everybody was paying it up, and they’re using that as a photo op. KISS was. And Gene Simmons comes over and jumps up and they tackle him and, that picture made it into the Rolling Stone magazine. And then a little bit later on, Ace Frehley came running over and jumped up into my arms, and I kind of carried him from the football field to the band room at the high school,” recalled Hagstrom.
“They went downtown, took pictures with police officers and firefighters and the meter maid. And then they came back, to Cadillac High and we had a concert that night for 2,000 people,” said Neff.
“I believe the football team was down right at center court, and they used all their amplifiers that they would use in any other concert, and it was just louder than loud.I mean, I, I couldn’t hear for, for days, but it’s something that I’ll never forget,” said Coffell.
And 50 years later, Cadillac’s connection to the world of rock and roll remains as strong as ever.
“Any time it’s brought up, you know, even down in Florida, you know, people are. Oh, you’re on the team. Are you kidding me? And then you go through telling me all about it, you know, about the things that took place,” said Coffell.
“It was just like a 1 in million types of thing I hear from other people. You know, I go around and I hear from other guys that were in school at the same time, and they still talk about it,” said Hagstrom.
“It changed them from a band that had just a rabid fan base to a band that could come to a small town and interact with common, every day, ordinary people and have fans that were of all ages, from kids to their parents.
And so, it turned them in from a band of, kind of a narrow, niche audience to a band of people. And, you know, kiss has always been about the fans, putting in the best shows that they possibly could. And that all started, I think, here, in Cadillac,” said Neff.