Fight Night

The highways north of Chicago were jammed bumper-to-bumper one night last week. Said Deputy Sheriff George Bock: "It was just like Labor Day traffic." To Ray Radigan, an astonished restaurant owner in Kenosha, Wis., it was more like New Year's Eve. He had to hire extra help to cope with 484 diners, while hundreds of other customers perched on radiators or juggled drinks and sandwiches in the cocktail lounge.

The same story was repeated all along the North Shore as thousands of Chicagoans poured out of the city searching for TV sets that could pick up Milwaukee's station WTMJ-TV. They left home because none of Chicago's four TV stations were carrying the middleweight championship fight between Sugar Ray Robinson and Rocky Graziano at the Chicago Stadium; the promoters had barred the local stations to ensure a good crowd.

One tavern on the West Side made it possible for fans to stay in Chicago. Customer Syl Szajers, a technician at Zenith Radio, moved a converted TV set of his own design into the Polonia Grove bar. He rigged up a 40-foot mast on the tavern roof, perched a five-element antenna atop it, and pointed it in the direction of Milwaukee. A homemade booster amplifier brought in the signal and the Polonia's customers watched happily as Robinson knocked out his opponent. Said Szajers modestly: "Oh, the picture was a little shaky--but so was Rocky Graziano."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.