IRVING — Texas Stadium is no more, reduced to rubble in an implosion at dawn Sunday that lasted less than 60 seconds.
According to early estimates, more than 20,000 people viewed the implosion either at the stadium or at other tailgate parties nearby. Thousands more watched live coverage on TV and on the Internet.
Now, after 37 years of gridiron thrills and the biggest music events, the former home of the Dallas Cowboys is nothing more than a mountain of rubble and concrete at one of the busiest intersections in North Texas.
"It's going to be missed," said Evelyn Hernandez, who watched the 7 a.m. demolition. "Everybody goes through here every day; it's going to be sad."
Forget about 3-D, Imax, Dolby surround movies; this sensory experience was the real deal.
"It was great," said Norman Jost. "It was pretty neat, especially when the explosions went off ... it went boom! Boom! boom!"
For a group of former Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, seeing their team's long-time home crumble brought them to tears.
"To put that uniform on for the first time, it just means... it's so much more than just the uniform," one of them said.
The building may be gone, but many fans are holding on to their first memories of the stadium.
"Walking into that stadium, I have never seen anything that big," one spectator reflected.
And Cowboys fans are holding on to hope that their new home down the road in Arlington can live up to the legends that will forever be linked with Texas Stadium.
"They have a big nice new stadium, but that's history," said John Houston. "We don't have anything in this new one. Hopefully, we can build memories there."
Ninety-five percent of the crumbled concrete now piled up at the intresection of Loop 12 and Highway 183 will be recycled.
The Texas Department of Transportation will be the next temporary tenant of the space when the debris is hauled away. It will be used as a staging area for highway constructino.
Irving officials hope that economic conditions will be ripe for redevelopment of the site in the years ahead as a Las Colinas-like business and residential center.
E-mail mdiaz@wfaa.com
