---

NORTH ATTLEBORO - When a catastrophic fire put an end to Jack Witschi's Sports Arena on Sept. 20, 1979, it rang down the curtain on a nostalgic era of pro wrestling, marathon dancing, big bands and country music stars.

It also took its place in firefighting annals as one of the most spectacular blazes in the town's history.

Beginning about 11 p.m., flames that many suspected were ignited by an arsonist began flickering in the northwest corner of the 2,000-seat wrestling and boxing arena.

Soon they were rolling throughout the empty wooden building.

Witschi's, launched by entrepreneurs Jack and Anna Witschi as a Depression era music and dance hall, had hosted many of the 20th century's biggest stars, from Red Skelton to Glenn Miller and Johnny Cash, not to mention boxing and wrestling greats like Jack Dempsey and Chief Jay Strongbow. Now it all seemed to be going up in a viking funeral every bit as luminous as its past.

"When we got there, it was already heavily involved and soon it was fully engulfed," said retired fire Lt. Al Chabot, who was among those who fought the fire that night.

"It wasn't long before you could see right through the building - from one end, right through the other."

Irving "Rab" Meyer, who was the captain on the scene that night, remembers the quick realization that nothing short of a miracle could save the storied building.

"When we got there, it was already going pretty well in the northwest corner of the building," he said. "By the time we got set up, there was not much we could do."

Although firefighters showered the burning building with streams of water from multiple hoses, towering flames erupted through the roof and blazed hot through the main entrance.

Smoke eaters could only try to contain the fire and keep it from spreading to nearby properties.

"The heat was tremendous," Meyer said. "It was like a fire at a lumberyard. You couldn't stop it."

None who worked in the fire service at the time will ever forget the spectacle.

John Hickman, a retired fire alarm technician from North Attleboro, distinctly remembers the fire, which coincided with his birthday. "I was working the 14-hour night shift," he said. "Around 10 p.m., a guy from the Peg Leg restaurant, which was next door, called the station saying that Witschi's was on fire.

"Before the first truck even got there, there were several more calls saying that the fire was already through the roof."

Bill Park, a retired deputy who was a firefighter at the time of the blaze, answered the call for all off-duty personnel after beginning his normal two days off.

"I lived in MacDonalds Trailer Park on Washington Street," he recalled. "Even opening my mobile home door to get into my car, the sky was lit up so much it looked closer than it was."

Bill Witschi, son of the arena's founders, had been alerted at home to the fire by a passerby, and initially tried to contain the flames with a fire extinguisher.

It was no use.

Firefighters did manage to turn off the valves on a set of propane tanks that were used to supply the kitchen in the refreshment stand.

In all, about 40 firefighters from North Attleboro and nearby communities battled the blaze.

The fire came late on a Thursday, less than 24 hours before what would normally have been a scheduled wrestling card at the arena that regularly attracted hundreds of fans.

However, the Witschi's had moved that week's show to the Providence Civic Center, where pro wrestling was only beginning its evolution into a major prime time TV attraction.

Only the wrestling ring, which had been removed for transport to the Civic Center, survived from Witschi's 50-plus-year grappling and fistic tradition.

Even the many autographed photos and other memorabilia collected by Bill Witschi and his family disappeared. Witschi said he gave many to an insurance adjustor, and never got them back.

For Witschi, the memory of the blaze still burns hot.

"It was like watching your whole life go," he said.