Each week, we’ll being you a selection of notable stories that happened this week in Dayton history, chronicled by the same newspaper that continues to serve the community today.
Here are some headlines from the week of Jan. 4 - Jan. 10, 1976.
Jan. 4, 1976: Sex magnate Flynt gets ink in publishing, scandal in Cincy
While former Daytonian Larry Flynt was hitting the big time in magazine publishing with his sexually explicit men’s magazine, Hustler, he was also getting attention in one of the biggest scandals in Cincinnati’s history.
Hustler magazine was making a national celebrity out of the 33-year-old Flynt as it challenged Playboy and Penthouse for the lead among men’s magazines.
Also the owner of a chain of Hustler bars in Ohio, Flynt had been indicted by a Hamilton County grand jury on charges of bribery and sodomy.
Flynt denied the charges against him and termed them “harassment.”
IN 1969, Flynt pleaded guilty in Dayton to pointing and discharging a firearm and was sentenced to a year in prison and fined $100, but the prison sentence was suspended. This charge stemmed from an incident in which Flynt allegedly shot a bar patron in the foot during an argument.
His Hustler magazine was expected to make $20 million that year.
Jan. 4, 1976: Cassano’s growing - 20 new Pizza King outlets expected in 1976
Cassano Enterprises, Inc. had moved into a new phase of growth and development for 1976 after a cautious approach in fiscal 1975 as a result of economic conditions.
During fiscal 1974 the company opened 15 new Pizza Kings, and it opened eight in 1975. For the fiscal year starting March 1, the company expected to open 20 company and franchised stores, according to President Howard J. Neff Sr.
A number of older stores were being remodeled to present a new concept, with table service and salad bar.
Neff said for the remodeled 4593 N. Main St. store, the fourth in the chain and first to be remodeled in the Dayton area, seating had been provided for 82 people. The menu then included pizza, other Cassano pasta specialties, seafoods and drinks. All of the units were to have carryout service, also wine and beer.
Chairman Vic Cassano, who started the business in 1953 on Schantz Avenue in Kettering, was to take part in special opening festivities. Pepperoni the Clown was to entertain children.
Cassano Enterprises then operated 95 stores, including 90 Pizza Kings. Of the 90 Pizza Kings, 32 were in the Dayton market.
Jan. 8, 1976: Snowfall sends Valley’s cars skidding
Three to five inches of snow in the Miami Valley shut down most schools, including Dayton city schools, but there were surprisingly few personal injury accidents.
The dispatcher of the Ohio State Highway Patrol summed up what other county and state law enforcement agencies reported, “We had a lot of snow but people drove accordingly.”
The Piqua post of the highway patrol investigated 17 crashes. There was “nothing of a serious nature,” the dispatcher said.
At the height of the icy problems Wednesday night, state patrol dispatcher Nancy Wolfe said, “I’m going crazy. Cars are out there all over the road in the strangest ways. I don’t know why anyone in their right mind would be out on a night like this.”
The highway patrol reported investigating about 100 “cars in trouble” through the night, but no serious accidents.
For the first time in years, the Dayton Automobile Club turned down requests from members who wanted to be towed.
Cab companies said calls were “slow, but steady” throughout the night, and customers were told they would have to wait up to one hour for a cab.
Jan. 8, 1976: Pete Rose starts year with Hickok Belt
Cincinnati Reds third baseman Pete Rose received the S. Rae Hickok belt in New York as Professional Athlete of the Year in 1976.
Rose received 31 first-place votes and 155.5 points. Golfer Jack Nicklaus, who won his fifth Masters and fourth PGA National titles in 1975, received 29 first-place votes and 138 points while Muhammad Ali, the 1974 Hickok winner who made four title defenses, got 21 first-place ballots and 121 points.
Rose, the 15th baseball player to win the award, received a belt valued at more than $15,000 at a luncheon at a midtown hotel.
Rose made major contributions to the Reds’ romp to the National League pennant and then their tough seven-game World Series victory over Boston.
The switch-hitter moved from the outfield to third base to eliminate what appeared to be a weak link, batted .317 with 210 hits and drove in 74 runs during the regular season. He was named the Most Valuable Player in the World Series after batting .370 with 10 hits.
Rose said he felt more comfortable with this prize than the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year urn he received the previous week.
“I am not a good sportsman,” he said. “If I get my rear end kicked, I don’t congratulate the guy who did it. I go to the dressing room and kick the door off my locker.”
Jan. 10, 1976: NCR to cut 380 factory jobs
NCR Corp. announced in 1976 that it would eliminate 380 additional factory jobs in Dayton, leaving 800 here by early April.
The company had employed up to 10,000 factory production workers in Dayton as late as 1970.
NCR attributed the latest job cut to faster-than-expected transition from mechanical products to electronic cash registers and business machines.
A “sharp fall-off in customer demand for all types of mechanical business equipment” in late 1975 was cited by Darrell L. Clark, general manager of NCR’s Dayton Terminal Systems division.
The cutback was another in the series of sharp blows to NCR workers. Members of United Auto Workers union Local 1616 voted the previous year to accept a wage cut for many of their workers.
Employees 55 years old or older with 25 years service were given the option of early retirement and the promise of stabilized employment was held out for the remainder.
The alternative, NCR officials told the union, was to close the Dayton production facilities and move the work to newer plants.
NCR, once a bellwether of the Dayton economy, retained its world headquarters here.
Jan. 10, 1976: Avery is chicken, and so is his bird
Comic Avery Schreiber and his magic chicken gathered their courage together for a ride on the Blue Racer at Kings Island during filming of the NBC special, “Just for Fun,” which was soon to air on Channel 2.
Schreiber acted in a variety of roles, mostly on television sitcoms, and was well known for a series of popular advertisements for Doritos.
A dozen NBC crew members spent a week at the park over the summer filming the show.
In the program, Schreiber wins a prize by knocking bottles off a shelf. The prize is a stuffed chicken, which proves to be magical, and they are magically transported from Kings Island to Opryland in Tennessee and then to four other amusement parks around the country.
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