AKRON, Ohio (AP) Billy Graham saved souls there. Karl Wallenda once walked on a tightrope above the gridiron. The Rolling Stones performed there in 1972, getting fans so worked up that a couple dozen got arrested. And there was football. Lots of football.

In the end, the Akron Rubber Bowl's splendid past couldn't save it from the wrecking ball. Allowed in recent decades to crumble into a public health hazard, the landmark 78-year-old stadium will start to come down next week.

Like the booming local tire industry that inspired its name, the Rubber Bowl once stood as a shining source of civic pride in the modestly sized Rust Belt city that lived in the shadow of larger Cleveland - with its pro teams and 80,000-seat stadium - to the north.