CADILLAC, Mich, (WPBN/WGTU) — The Cadillac community takes center stage as it marks a 50th anniversary focused on the rock band KISS.
In the fall of 1975, the City of Cadillac made rock history, not with a concert, but with a high school football team and a visit from one of the biggest rock bands in the world.
It kicked off with a small-town high school football coach, a bold idea, and a little metal magic that would turn a losing streak into a legendary moment.
It all started a year prior in 1974 after Cadillac’s High School football team dropped two straight games.
Assistant coach and teacher Jim Neff believed music could change the mood, so he brought in a band most players hadn’t even heard of yet: KISS.
“So I said to our head coach Dave Brines, maybe if we play rock-and-roll in the locker room it will loosen the team up, and they could play to their capability, and sure enough, he said, ‘I don’t know anything about rock-and-roll, so you choose the band’. I chose KISS because in football parlance, it’s ‘Keep It Simple, Stupid,” explained former Assistant coach Jim Neff.
Neff had seen KISS in concert and knew their over-the-top energy might just be what the team needed.
It worked, Cadillac rattled off seven straight wins.
“I sent a letter to KISS management told them all was going on and I got a letter back from their manager and said he thought was a great idea and I was sitting in my easy chair one evening and I got a call from Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley were backstage at a concert just a way to go on and they said This is really a lot of fun. It’s a great story Please let us know how the team does every week,” Neff explained.
Then came a moment no one in the town believed would actually happen, until it did.