The date was October 19, 1980. The Green Bay Packers were playing an afternoon game against the Cleveland Browns. The game was at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, a building that was commonly called “the mistake by the lake”. And rightfully so. The designers had constructed a horse shoe-shaped facility, with the open end facing Lake Erie. The idea was fans could sit in the stadium and enjoy the game, and in the distance have a scenic view of the lake.
What they apparently didn’t account for were the powerful, frigid winds that would sweep into the horse shoe from the lake.