Farewell to Arco: 10 not-so-obvious memorable moments from the Kings’ home court
Farewell, old friend.
On Saturday, fans young and old bid goodbye to a hulking structure that has towered on the outskirts of Sacramento for 34 years. Arco Arena is fading to memory. It will be demolished, stamping out the signature remnant of the Kings’ feel-good era and reducing to rubble a venue that hosted every act of entertainment one can imagine. From athletes to animals, rodeos and truck rallies to hollow-sounding concerts that left fans to grumble about “Echo Arena,” it happened here.
Arco hasn’t hosted a ticketed event since the circus stopped by in the fall of 2016, and that’s almost too fitting, given the wild ride that played out in the building since it was built on the cheap for $40 million in 1988 with the Kings as the primary tenant.
The Kings last played there in April of 2016, a 114-112 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, which was not an omen of things to come at the sparkling new Golden 1 Center downtown. That venue rocks but the product does not. Since the Kings arrived in Sacramento in 1985, the eight winning campaigns all happened inside Arco, under coach Rick Adelman, often in an environment so loud one could barely hear the cow bells clang.
High school sectional, Northern California and state basketball championships were a staple at Arco. The NCAA had several March Madness stopovers, until the governing body for college athletes deemed the old place too outdated to host such fun.
The building housed the Sacramento Monarchs of the WNBA (1997-2009, with a championship in ‘05), the Sacramento Knights soccer team (1993-2001, winning a championship in ‘99), the Sacramento River Rats hockey team (1994-96) and the Sacramento Attack of the Arena Football League (1992). The Sack Attack featured semi-crazed/fully enthused coach Joe Kapp, the one-time Cal great, urging fans to cheer amid their copious amounts of beer intake. That team lasted one season.
The place has been called Arco II, Sleep Train and Power Balance Pavilion, but let’s be clear: It’s Arco, one-time host venue to concerts, ice shows, wrestling and even a week of the Billy Graham “Greater Sacramento Crusade” in 1995, drawing 177,000 loyalists over five days.
Kings sellouts were the norm in Arco, a small-market city soaking in a taste of the big time. The consecutive sellout streaks of 497 and 354 games were reflective of Kings and civic pride. The first sellout was the 1988-89 home opener. Then NBA commissioner David Stern was on hand, just as he had been for the original Arco in 1985 (and as he would for the opening of Golden 1 Center in 2016). Stern called the ‘88 Arco, “a first-class facility as good as any other in the league.”
Gregg Lukenbill, the Kings owner then, went further, deeming Arco as, “the Disneyland of sports complexes anywhere in the world.”
But Sacramento’s “Disneyland” venue started to fray at the edges. It aged quickly, and by the end of the 1990s, there was talk of a building a new arena. Said longtime Kings employee (coach, front-office man, broadcaster) Jerry Reynolds a few years ago to The Bee, “It’s a dump, but at least it’s our dump!”
Kings fans have been loudly loyal, but also not afraid to boo their own for lack of effort or results.
A peek at 10 not-so-obvious but unique Kings moments at Arco:
1988, Debut game (and headaches): Only the good cheer of Jerry Reynolds, serving as coach this season, salvaged opening-night blues. Poorly worded road signs to the arena entrances led to confusion, chaos and traffic gridlock, and the Arco concourse had an antiseptic look and feel where tile and paint had yet to be applied. The Kings lost to Seattle 95-75 and were booed off the floor. Sacramento finished 27-55. Said Reynolds years later, “We got our butts kicked. There was so much excitement about the new arena, but we went out and laid an egg.”
1989, Lukenbill leak (stoppage): Powerful winds forced rain through vents on top of Arco during a game against the Philadelphia 76ers, leading to immediate action by Lukenbill, the feisty owner. He buttoned up his trademark flannel, left his luxury suite amid winks and waves and crept along the rafters and catwalks a good 85 feet above the floor, without benefit of a safety harness. This scene stimulated fans, some of whom opened their umbrellas for kicks and giggles. Lukenbill reached over to a Sacramento Sports Association banner and pulled it under the leak, hammock style, and the problem was (temporarily) solved. There was a 45-minute delay and the 76ers won to drop the Kings to 15-40, but this act raised Lukenbill’s approval ratings rafter-high.
1993, Bobby Hurley survives: This isn’t an in-Arco moment, but it’s one of good fortune and timely help. Just down the road from Arco after a night loss to the Los Angeles Clippers in which he handed out a team-high seven assists, first-round pick Bobby Hurley had his Toyota 4-Runner broadsided by a 1970 station wagon with the headlights off. Hurley was ejected and landed in a drainage ditch, suffering from a severed trachea, collapsed lungs, five broken ribs, a fracture in his back, a torn knee ligament, a fractured fibula and a broken shoulder. Passerby Mike Bathum heard the crash and rushed over to pull a barely conscious Hurley out of the water, saving him from drowning. Kings teammate Mike Peplowski pulled up and rushed to Hurley, consoling him and insisting he will not die.
Said Peplowski years later, “I grabbed that rosary and started to pray. I knew that whatever was going on at that scene, death was very present. It was very present.” One of Hurley’s surgeons said his injuries would have killed 99 percent of victims. The driver, a painter, was found coated with paint from the force of the collision. Hurley recovered to play four more seasons with the Kings and now coaches Arizona State basketball.
1996, Greatest Arco roar ever?: Longtime Kings employees and media members list an opening-round playoff game against Seattle as the loudest they have heard Arco. Fans had plenty to yell about then, having missed the playoffs nine successive seasons. In Game 3 of a series that was tied, the pregame ovation and noise throughout left Sonics coach George Karl to say later that his ears hurt for several more hours. Seattle won 96-89 and went on to reach the NBA Finals. Karl coached the Kings in 2015-16. He received an Arco standing ovation before his first game (he was hired at midseason) and was then regularly booed the next season, his last as head coach in the NBA.
2000, Stand down, Lakers (for a moment): In the first round, best-of-five playoff series against the Lakers, a roaring crowd fueled the Kings in a 101-88 throttling. Said Kings forward Chris Webber afterward, “No way were we going to let the Lakers come in here and push us around.” The Lakers pushed back, winning the clinching game days later in Los Angeles, 113-86.
2001, Setting the Suns for history: In beating the Phoenix Suns 89-82, the Kings won their first playoff series since they resided in Kansas City in 1981. Kings fans danced on the floor after Peja Stojakovic scored 37 as general manager Geoff Petrie deemed him, “big time!”
2002, Bibby shoots, Gavin Maloof soars: Two days after Robert Horry’s crushing 3-point winner in Los Angeles in this epic series against the Lakers, Mike Bibby scored the building’s biggest Kings moment. The guard curled off a Webber screen and dropped in a 22-footer with 8.2 seconds left, leading to a 92-91 victory in Game 5, inching the club closer to the club’s first NBA Finals since 1951. Kings co-owner Gavin Maloof jumped onto the scorer’s table and pumped his fists.
Said the disheveled Maloof later, “It was like, Jesus Christ, let us win! It’s our time!” The Lakers went on to win the series and three-peat as NBA champions.
2004, A victorious (and regrettable) forearm: In rolling the Minnesota Timberwolves 104-87 in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals to tie the series 3-3, Arco becomes a haze of thunderous glow sticks. A good many of those sticks rained down on the floor after Anthony Peeler of the Kings was ejected for throwing a forearm into league MVP Kevin Garnett. Without Peeler and energizer Bobby Jackson for Game 7 in Minnesota, the Kings fell 83-80.
2006, K-Mart Special: The last thrilling playoff moment for the Kings was here, delivered by guard Kevin Martin against the 63-win, top-seeded San Antonio Spurs. Down 2-0 to the Spurs in the opening-round series, Bibby stole a pass and pushed the ball with five seconds remaining, and he found a streaking Martin, who laid it up over Tim Duncan. The ball bounced agonizingly slow as the buzzer sounded, then dropped for a 94-93 victory.
2006, The last dance: Two nights after Martin’s game-winner against the Spurs, the Kings rolled in Game 4 102-84 to tie the 7-game series at three. Bonzi Wells scored 25, Bibby 15, Metta World Peace 14, Brad Miller 19 and Martin 14. Well after the game, coach Adelman was flanked by his wife, Mary Kay, and their kids as they hugged and took a slow walk out of Arco. Adelman sensed this could be his last run. He was right. The Kings’ ownership group declined to extend the coach who had led them to eight consecutive playoff showings (and later landed in the Hall of Fame). The Kings lost the final two games of the series decisively and have not fielded a winning campaign in the 16 seasons since.
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