From Katharine Hepburn to Randy Savage: 5 interesting guests of the Evansville Coliseum

EVANSVILLE — As the push to renovate the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Coliseum in Downtown Evansville continues, it's hard not to look back on events that filled the seats in years past.

The Coliseum has been home to wrestling matches, circuses, stage productions, dances and concerts. Proponents of the revitalization hope to see a few of those again, such as the stage productions.

In the meantime, here are some of the famous faces to come through the doors.

Ray Charles

On Nov. 14, 1961, Ray Charles was arrested in Indianapolis on a narcotics charge after police allegedly found a cold cream jar of marijuana, empty gel capsules with heroin residue and a hypodermic syringe in his hotel room.

He got out on $1,000 bond. And that evening, he played to around 800 people at the Evansville Coliseum. According to a report in the Evansville Press, he and his two managers had said they would start for Evansville immediately after he was released.

Charles, who was topping the carts at that time with “Hit the Road Jack,” took stage around 10 p.m. — but only after winning some money in a dressing room craps game.

“Charles, as he waited around in the dressing room under the Coliseum stage, kept moving in a constant rhythm, though no one else heard the music,” the Press reported the next day. “He shuffled from one foot to the other, his arms, whole body kept a beat with added loud drumming on the wall to mark a crescendo.”

The singer reportedly told reporters he would “deny everything” when asked about the charges from the incident earlier in the day.

“And you can quote me,” he said.

The next morning, he returned to Indianapolis for a court date.

Randy Savage

Gruff, yet soft-spoken.

That’s how Evansville Courier Sunday staff reporter Chris Bates described "Macho Man" Randy Savage in a piece recapping wrestling at the Coliseum in 1984.

Crowd-favorite Savage was rushed by numerous autograph seekers, Bates wrote, and he took the time to talk.

“I wrestle for myself and do the best I can,” Savage said. “I try to please myself and not worry about anything else. Some of the fans like me and others, well, they don’t like me.”

Savage recounted to Bates that he’d been attacked, even knifed, by fans. He pointed to a scar on his forearm.

“Macho Man” was in town for a tag-team match, paired with Handsome Jimmy Valiant, to take on the Dirty White Boys. They closed out the night with thrown chairs, chains and lots of blood.

Katharine Hepburn

In town in 1941 to perform "The Philadelphia Story" for one night only, Katharine Hepburn showed allegiance with picketers and gave high school journalists the slip.

Hepburn was set to take the Coliseum stage Jan. 20, and had booked a room at the Hotel McCurdy until that time. That was until she spoke with George Van Horn, publisher of the Labor Forum.

Sixty hotel employees had quit and formed a picket line outside the McCurdy that morning after two members of the kitchen staff had been fired due to union activities.

The Evansville Courier reported that after talking to Van Horn, Hepburn agreed to leave the hotel. The movie star, who was sympathetic toward unions thanks to being a member of the Screen Actors Guild, ended up staying at the Vendome instead.