Glory, glory, hallelujah! When 40,000 souls filled the Rubber Bowl in 1956, the Rev. Billy Graham prayed to save as many as possible.
The famous evangelist, broadcaster, author and confidant of U.S. presidents shattered the attendance record at the Akron stadium when he held a crusade there 60 years ago.
“I am not a great preacher nor am I a great intellect or theologian,” Graham, 37, confided to the audience in his opening remarks, urging listeners not to idolize him. “I am a simple servant of God, and you’ve come to hear a message from God.”
Tall, tan and charismatic, the North Carolina minister preached the Gospel during a free, 2½-hour program that was billed as his first-ever outdoor rally in Ohio. The event Sunday, Sept. 16, required more than 4,000 local volunteers, including a 2,500-voice choir, 900 ushers, 425 counselors and 200 ministers.
The night before, 28,201 fans attended the Cleveland Browns’ 31-14 loss to the Detroit Lions in a soaking rain at the Rubber Bowl. The storm clouds parted by dawn and the sun beamed on a bright, blue day.
Stadium gates opened at 1 p.m. with the crusade at 3 p.m. Special city buses shuttled throngs of people to the event. Parking lots near Akron Municipal Airport filled in a neat, orderly fashion.
Dressed in Sunday-best clothes, a diverse audience — young and old, white and black, affluent and disadvantaged — streamed inside the Rubber Bowl and rapidly filled 35,000 seats until there was standing room only. A capacity crowd estimated at 40,000 broke the previous attendance record of 35,964 from a Browns’ preseason game Aug. 30, 1946, against the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Before the program, a goodwill offering was accepted as “an investment in the kingdom of God.” Yellow envelopes with monetary offerings were collected in small pails, which were emptied into Polsky’s shopping bags and delivered to the field. More than $26,000 in envelopes, plus $707 in loose change, was gathered to support the ministry’s work, Graham’s Minneapolis headquarters tabulated. The crowd averaged about 65 cents per person.
The audience gave Graham a thunderous ovation when he was introduced and then listened in rapt silence as he began a 30-minute sermon based on the Gospel of John. Clad in a three-piece suit, the minister spoke from a platform that rested on two flatbed trucks parked at the 10-yard line in the closed end of the horseshoe stadium.
“The Bible tells us what kind of a God there is,” Graham said. “He is everlasting to everlasting, the eternal, mighty creator of all things.
“God also is a spirit. He can be all over the world at the same time. He is a holy God. His eyes are too pure to behold evil. He hates sin.
“God also is impartial. You may have white skin or dark skin, but it makes no difference in the sight of God. We are all the same in his presence. We stand before God naked. God loves the Russian as much as the American. He loves the Indian as much as the Negro.”
Amplified on loudspeakers, the minister’s voice echoed in the far recesses of the stadium and competed with the occasional passing airplane.
He acknowledged global tensions in the Cold War, wondering how it ever became normal for each generation to face one world crisis after another. Men must improve themselves before Earth will improve, Graham said.
“Why have all our peace conferences and wars failed to bring a solution to the world’s problems?” he asked. “It’s because we’ve neglected God. Man will be forever restless until he gets back to God. Living a decent, moral life is not enough. To receive his love, you must dedicate yourself to God.”
At the end of his sermon, Graham called on members of the audience to repent and “receive Christ.”
Men, women and children stepped forward from all sections of the Rubber Bowl, and Graham told them that “you don’t have to understand Christ” to accept him. “There are 1,000 things I do that I do not understand,” he said.
About 960 people left their seats and walked toward Graham, who waited 20 minutes for the audience to “come to a decision” as the choir sang behind him.
“This is a big stadium and it takes time to get down out of the stands,” he said. “It’s a long walk. I wished it were farther. Jesus walked all the way to the Cross.”
As nearly 1,000 people gathered in front of the platform, Graham urged them to bow their heads and repeat the prayer: “Oh, God, I am a sinner. I acknowledge my sins. I am sorry for my sins. I receive Christ as my savior. I confess him as my lord. From this moment on, I want to follow him and serve him in the fellowship of the church.”
Before the gathering broke up, Graham advised the audience to read the Bible every day, pray every day, go to church regularly and be witnesses for Jesus.
“The Bible has an answer to the problems of the world today, and it has an answer to your problem,” Graham said.
Graham said it was one of the largest commitments to Jesus at any rally he held.
Akron was another pinpoint for a ministry that circled the globe many times over.
According to his official biography, Graham preached to nearly 215 million people in more than 185 countries and territories before stepping down from the pulpit in 2005. Today, Billy Graham is 97 years old, retired from the public eye and living in the mountains of western North Carolina.
Closed in 2008, the Rubber Bowl remains vacant, a crumbling stadium that is losing its battle with time and weather. Vandals have chipped away at its former grandeur, leaving a shell of a local landmark.
With nary a soul to save, it has witnessed its final crusade.
Beacon Journal copy editor Mark J. Price is the author of the book Lost Akron from The History Press. He can be reached at 330-996-3850 or mjprice@thebeaconjournal.com.