My daily commute to the O’Hare area included the Tri-State Tollway, a controlled-access toll road in the northeastern part of Illinois. This toll road connects Wisconsin and Indiana, going through Illinois, but avoiding the city traffic of Chicago. The Tri-State goes from I-80 in Indiana via I-94 through I-294 to I-94 in Wisconsin. Along the way, you can stop or exit in the southern, southwestern, western, northwestern, and northern Chicago suburbs, including O’Hare Airport, without going into the city of Chicago. Originally, this was an attempt to alleviate congestion in the city, by going around the city. There were no red lights but toll booths that acted like red lights. In 1958, the tolls were set at 25 cents at the main plazas and 10 cents at the exit ramps. Thus, I always had a lot of quarters and dimes in my car. However, in 1983, the tolls increased to 40 cents at the main plazas and 15 cents at most ramps. Then I had to have nickels for the 40 cent tolls. When the I-Pass system started in 2005, after I had stopped using the toll road daily, the tolls for cash payments were doubled, while rates for cars equipped with the I-Pass transponders remained the same. In 2021, cash tolls were eliminated altogether. The problem with the old cash tollway system was that you had stop every 10 to 15 miles to a pay toll, plus the exit toll. The I-Pass has made it a real tollway without stopping, and is much better. On the New Jersey Turnpike, when I grew up, you got a ticket when you got on and you paid it when you got off. The same was true on the Pennsylvania and Ohio turnpikes. That was simple enough. I still remember the time that I drove from one Illinois toll plaza to the next toll plaza stop, going 5 miles per hour. I was so mad that I was paying to drive on a tollway, only to be stuck in traffic for nearly a half hour. If I wanted congested traffic, I could get it for free on the Kennedy Expressway or the Dan Ryan. That is what made me decide to use the Mannheim Road–LaGrange Road local traffic route. I did not mind congestion, if I was not paying for it. Those red lights did not cost me anything. Do you like toll roads?
The commute to work in 1983
The couple of years of turbulence for me as a CBOE options market maker, a gulf sign outside salesman, and a Prudential Insurance agent were over. I was back working at the Montgomery Ward Outlet Store in Franklin Park, IL, with a nice steady income. My commute was as bad, if not worse, as it had been earlier. The two years that I was working elsewhere made me more sensitive to the time spent in commuting by car. Also, there seemed to be more people driving on the roads. I began to pick my times and routes differently. Monday and Tuesday were the worse commute days since I was a 9-5 guy. Wednesdays and Fridays were better because I started at noon and finished at nine in the evening. The main difficulties were an occasional bad late morning commute. My favorite commute was Saturday and Sunday morning, Saturday at 8:00 AM and Sunday at 10:00 AM. Sometimes the weekend evening coming home would be a little congested. I found various ways to go from Matteson to Franklin Park, and vice versa. The best and original way when there was minimal traffic meant I-57 to the Dan Ryan Expressway to downtown Chicago and then the Kennedy Expressway out to O’Hare with an exit at Mannheim Road. With no traffic and no red lights, this could be about a 45-50-minute commute in the best of conditions. However, reality was not like that. Even with light traffic it could be longer. It might an hour and a half and longer, if there really was a problem. The second option was I-57 to I-80 and then the toll road to O’Hare. However, the toll road started to be congested around O’Hare Airport. My final option was I-80 to LaGrange Road that turned into Manheim Road, but went through every town in between. In the end, this local traffic became my preferred way of going to O’Hare on Monday and Tuesday mornings. The tollway was my preferred way coming home, once I got out of the O’Hare mess. Finally, I would enjoy the Dan Ryan-Kennedy on off-peaks hours and hope for the best. Thus, I usually planned an hour or 75 minutes. I was lucky if my commute was ever under an hour. Did you ever have a long commute to and from work?
TV in 1982
Cable News Network (CNN) initiated an associated channel that featured an around-the-clock “news wheel” format, renamed CNN Headline News, HLN. The Weather Channel began in the USA. USA Network began 24-hour operations. The Playboy Channel began broadcasting. Surround Sound was introduced for home use by Dolby. ABC broadcast the FIFA World Cup Final between Italy and West Germany from Madrid, the first time that the World Cup’s final match was aired live on American television. ESPN televised its first college football game, the Independence Bowel. CBS televised the NFC Championship Game between the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys. San Francisco tight end Dwight Clark made “The Catch” to enable the 49ers to defeat the Cowboys, 28–27, as it became one of the most iconic images in NFL history. As part of a two-night event, ABC aired the network television broadcast premiere of Superman: The Movie. The soap opera series Search for Tomorrow broadcast for the final time on CBS, but NBC immediately purchased it and began broadcasting it the following Monday. Bryant Gumbel began his 15-year stint as co-anchor of NBC’s Today Show. John Chancellor anchored the NBC Nightly News for the final time, replaced by the team of Roger Mudd and Tom Brokaw. Mary Hart joined “Entertainment Tonight” as reporter and later co-host until 2011, nearly thirty years. Susan Stafford departed as co-host of the NBC game show, “Wheel of Fortune,” while Vanna White formally replaced her on December 13, 1982, where she is still the co-host, over forty years later. SNL began its 8th season on NBC, with host Chevy Chase and musical guest Queen, as Julia Louis-Dreyfus joined the cast for three years until 1985. The pilot episode for “Cheers” aired on NBC. Cindy Williams made her final appearance as Shirley Finney on “Laverne & Shirley.” The Peanuts special “A Charlie Brown Celebration” premiered on CBS. The series finale of “Mork & Mindy” on ABC was entitled “The Mork Report.” A number of new TV shows started in 1982, “Late Night with David Letterman,” “Chicago Story,” “The Kids of Degrassi Street,” “T.J. Hooker,” “Joanie Loves Chachi,” “Cagney & Lacey,” “America This Morning,” “The Gary Coleman Show,” “Gilligan’s Planet,” “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” “Child’s Play,” “Family Ties,” “Bring ‘Em Back Alive,” “The Little Rascals,” “The Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour,” “Pac-Man,” “Silver Spoons,” “Knight Rider,” “Gloria,” “Square Pegs,” “Remington Steele,” “CBS Morning News,” “It Takes Two,” “Newhart,” “St. Elsewhere,” and “The New Odd Couple.” Going off TV were “Late Night with Tom Snyder (1973-1982),” “The Lawrence Welk Show (1955-1982),” nearly 30 years, “WKRP in Cincinnati (1978-1982),” “The Incredible Hulk (1977-1982),” “Barney Miller (1975-1982),” “Mork & Mindy (1978-1982),” “Match Game (1962-1982),” 20 years, “Lou Grant (1977-1982),” “Laverne & Shirley” (1976-1982), “Sunrise Semester (1957-1982),” 25 years, and “The Doctors” (1963-1982), almost 20 years. What was your favorite TV show in 1982?
Music in 1982
The 24th Annual Grammy Awards were presented in Los Angeles, hosted by Quincy Jones, who won five awards. John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Double Fantasy, the final album released by Lennon in his lifetime, won Album of the Year, while Kim Carnes’ “Bette Davis Eyes” won both Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Sheena Easton won Best New Artist. The top selling song of 1982 was “Physical” by Olivia Newton-John that was played all over the place. Michael Jackson released his sixth studio album Thriller, which would go on to be the greatest selling album of all time, with 70 million units sold worldwide. Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off a live bat thrown at him during a performance in Des Moines, Iowa. He was arrested after urinating on The Alamo, in San Antonio, Texas. However, he married his manager Sharon Arden in Maui, Hawaii. B. B. King donated his personal record collection, which included nearly 7,000 rare blues records, to the University of Mississippi’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture. The Mamas & the Papas began a reunion tour with a show in New York. Comedian and Blues Brother John Belushi was found dead of an apparent drug overdose in the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles. Iron Maiden released The Number of the Beast, the critically acclaimed yet controversial album often hailed as Iron Maiden’s greatest. David Crosby was arrested for driving under the influence of cocaine and carrying a concealed weapon in LA. Then he was arrested on drug charges a second time three weeks later in Dallas. Johnny Cash hosted SNL with Elton John the musical guest. Germany won the 27th annual Eurovision Song Contest, held in the Harrogate Conference Centre, North Yorkshire, with 17-year-old Nicole singing “A Little Peace.” The first Prince’s Trust charity concert was held at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham with the Prince of Wales (later King Charles III) in attendance. Queen released their tenth studio album, Hot Space, to immense critical outcry. The Wall, a film adaptation of Pink Floyd’s 1979 album The Wall, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Four streets in Liverpool were named after each of The Beatles. Germany began the first mass production of compact discs, as the first compact discs appeared in music stores in Japan. The musical “Cats” began its 18-year run on Broadway. Madonna’s debut single, “Everybody”, was released on Sire Records. The eleventh annual “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” special aired on ABC, with appearances by The Go-Go’s, Hall & Oates, Ronnie Milsap, Barry Manilow, and Jermaine Jackson. What music do you remember from 1982?
Movies in 1982
In 1982, there were a lot of good movies but not any great movies. I loved E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, about a troubled child, Drew Barrymore, who helped a friendly alien ET escape from earth and return to his home planet. I also loved An Officer and a Gentleman with Richard Gere and Debra Winger, about Navy boot camp training. Our whole family really loved Annie, the musical with Albert Finney and Carol Burnett. I loved Dustin Hoffman as Tootsie, who was an unsuccessful actor that disguised himself as a woman to get a role on a trashy TV hospital soap opera. The World According to Garp with Robin Williams was okay. I liked Victor/Victoria, starring Julie Andrews, James Garner, and Robert Preston about a struggling female soprano in 1934 Paris who posed as a female impersonator. I also liked the quirky high school comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High that starred Sean Penn, and the odd comedy of Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid with Carl Reiner and Steve Martin. I really liked The Verdict, starring Paul Newman as an outcast, alcoholic Boston lawyer defending a client in a medical malpractice case. I also liked Sophie’s Choice with Meryl Streep as a Nazi concentration camp survivor of the Holocaust, and Ben Kingsley as Gandhi, with his revolt against the British rule in India through his philosophy of nonviolent protest. I really liked Diner, a group of college-age buddies struggling with their imminent passage into adulthood in 1959 Baltimore. They really were my contemporaries from the East Coast. I was a little disappointed in the Ingmar Berman Fanny and Alexander, about two young Swedish children in the 1900s, since I liked his movies in the 1960s. I thought The King of Comedy was okay even though it had Robert De Niro and Jerry Lewis. My Favorite Year with Peter O’Toole as an aging, dissolute matinee idol was okay. Taps was an interesting movie about a military school with George C. Scott, Timothy Hutton, Ronny Cox, Tom Cruise, and Sean Penn. I did not see Rocky III with Sylvester Stallone, nor Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan with William Shatner, nor Poltergeist, about a haunted house. I also did not see Conan the Barbarian with Arnold Schwarzenegger. However, what I did see, I liked. What is your favorite movie of 1982?
Sports in 1982
In Super Bowl XVI, the San Francisco 49ers won 26–21 over the Cincinnati Bengals in the Pontiac Silverdome, as the 49ers Joe Montana was the MVP. The first regular season strike by NFL players ended on November 16 after 57 days. The Clemson Tigers won 22-15 over the Nebraska Cornhuskers to win the college football national championship in the Orange Bowl. UC Berkeley, executed “The Play” in a game against Stanford, with a wacky 57-yard kickoff return that included 5 laterals that ran through the Stanford band who had prematurely come onto the field, to win 25–20. I remember watching it on the sports news. Paul “Bear” Bryant coached his final college football game, leading Alabama to a 21–15 victory over Illinois in the Liberty Bowl, but he died of a massive heart attack four weeks later at age 69. The 1982 NCAA Championship Game featured three of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players, Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, and James Worthy, with two Hall of Fame coaches, Dean Smith for the Tar Heels and John Thompson for the Hoyas. Georgetown had center Patrick Ewing and Eric “Sleepy” Floyd, while North Carolina answered with forward James Worthy, center Sam Perkins, and a young freshman guard Michael Jordan, who made the final shot for the North Carlonia 63-62 win. In the NBA Finals, there was a repeat of the year before. Pat Riley’s LA Lakers won 4 games to 2 over Billy Cunningham’s Philadelphia 76ers, featuring the Lakers Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul Jabar against Julius Irving and Maurice Cheeks, with the MVP going to Magic Johnson. In the World Series, the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Milwaukee Brewers, 4 games to 3, to win their 9th World Series title, but the first since 1967. The Series MVP was Cardinal’s catcher Darrell Porter. Cal Ripken Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles played the first of what would become a record-breaking 2,632 consecutive games. Montreal hosted the first MLB All-Star Game outside the United States. The National League won its 11th consecutive win over the American League 4-1, as Jose Concepción was named the MVP. Pete Rose set the record with his 13,941st plate appearance. The KBO professional baseball league in South Korea had its first official game. Tom Watson won two of the majors, US and British Open, while Craig Stadler won the Masters, and Raymond Floyd was the PGA champ. Craig Stadler was the PGA Tour money leader with $446,462, Miller Barber the Seniors PGA leader with $106,890, and JoAnne Carner the LPGA Tour money leader with $310,400. Aaron Pryor defeated Alexis Argüello in what would later be called the fight of the decade. Ray Mancini defeated Duk Koo Kim by knockout in 14 rounds in a tragic fight, as Kim died four days later. In World Figure Skating Championship, Scott Hamilton of the USA won the men’s title, while Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean, of the UK, won the pair’s ice dancing championship. Bernard Hinault of France won his fourth Tour de France. Italy beat West Germany 3-1 for their third World Cup title. At the Indianapolis 500, 1973 winner Gordon Johncock won his second race over 1979 winner Rick Mears by 0.16 seconds, the closest finish to that date. Three different horses won legs of the Triple Crown Races. The New York Islanders won their third straight Stanley Cup, beating the Vancouver Canucks 4-0. Jimmy Connors won two of the gram slam events, Wimbledon, and the US Open, while Johan Kriek and Mats Wilander won the other two. Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova spilt the grand slam of tennis events, each winning two each. Meanwhile, Billie Jean King made her final singles appearance at the US Open, losing in the first round. The AP Male Athlete of the Year was Wayne Gretzky, of the NHL Edmonton Oilers, while the AP Female Athlete of the Year was Mary Decker from track and field. What is your favorite sport event from 1982?
Famous people who died in 1982
A few important people died in 1982: Bess Truman, First Lady of the United States, and Second Lady of the United States (1885-1982); Grace Kelly, American actress, Princess of Monaco (1929-1982); Henry Fonda, actor father of Jane Fonda (1905-1982); Marty Robbins, singer-songwriter, race car driver (1925-1982); Leon Jaworski, Watergate attorney and law professor (1905-1982); Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-American pianist (1887-1982); Jack Webb, actor, television producer, screenwriter (1920-1982); Victor Buono, actor, comedian, and recording artist (1938-1982); Hans Conried, actor and comedian (1917-1982); Harvey Lembeck, actor (1923-1982); Paul Lynde, comedian and actor (1926-1982); Lightnin’ Hopkins, blues musician (1912-1982); Eleanor Powell, actress and dancer (1912-1982); Thelonious Monk, pianist and composer (1917-1982); Lee Strasberg, theatre director, actor, and acting coach (1901-1982); Murray the K, rock and roll impresario and disc jockey (1922-1982); John Belushi, comedian and actor in a drug overdose (1949-1982); Ray Bloch, composer, songwriter, conductor, pianist, author, author, and arranger (1902-1982); Rudy Bond, actor (1912-1982); Warren Oates, actor (1928-1982); Abe Fortas, jurist, and lawyer, served as associate judge of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1965 to 1969 (1910-1982); Don Wilson, announcer and actor (1900-1982); Hugh Beaumont, actor (1910-1982); Rusty Day, rock singer (1945-1982); Satchel Paige, famous baseball pitcher (1906-1982); Bob Johnson, baseball outfielder and manager (1905-1982); Lloyd Waner, Pittsburgh baseball player, MLB Hall of Fame (1906-1982); Bill George, Chicago Bears NFL Hall of Fame (1929-1982); John Maxwell, actor (1918-1982); Dave Garroway, original TV host of Today (1913-1982); Al Rinker, singer-songwriter (1907-1982); John Cheever, novelist and short story writer (1912-1982); Vic Morrow, actor (1929-1982); Jill Banner, actress (1946-1982); Joe E. Ross, actor (1914-1982); Joe Tex, singer and musician (1935-1982); Alfred S. Bloomingdale, businessman retailer (1916-1982); J. C. Hall, founder of Hallmark Cards (1891-1982); Mabel Albertson, actress (1901-1982); Fernando Lamas, Argentine-American actor and director (1915-1982); James Broderick, actor (1927-1982); King Vidor, film director, producer and screenwriter (1894-1982); Dominique Dunne, actress killed (1959-1982); Al Haig, pianist (1924-1982); Will Lee, actor (1908-1982); and Jack Swigert, NASA astronaut (1931-1982). Do you anyone who died in 1982?
Disasters in 1982
Shortly after takeoff, Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into Washington, D.C.’s 14th Street Bridge and fell into the Potomac River, killing 78. On the same day, a Washington Metro train derailed to the north, killing three in its first fatal accident. Pan Am Flight 759, a Boeing 727, crashed in Kenner, Louisiana, killing all 146 on board and eight on the ground. In January, a brutal cold snap sent temperatures to record lows in dozens of cities throughout the Midwestern United States. In April, a blizzard unprecedented in size for April dumped 1–2 feet of snow on the northeastern United States, closing schools and businesses, snarling traffic, and canceling several major league baseball games. Finally, the “Christmas Eve Blizzard of ’82” hit Denver. School teacher Carl Robert Brown murdered eight people inside a welding shop in Miami, Florida, before being shot dead by a passing motorist. Vincent Chin, a 27-year-old Chinese American, was beaten and killed by two white auto-workers in Highland Park, Michigan, who thought that he was Japanese and the cause of the declining prosperity of the American auto industry. A Unabomber bomb exploded in the computer science department at Vanderbilt University, where the secretary Janet Smith was injured. In Newport, Rhode Island, Claus von Bülow was found guilty of the attempted murder of his wife. What disaster do you remember from 1982?
Great events in 1982
1982 was a great year. Ronald Reagan became the first American President to address a joint session of the British Parliament. President Reagan also kicked off the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee, where over 11 million people attended the fair during its 6-month run. US House Speaker Tip O’Neill and President Reagan, two old Irish drinking buddies, settled one of the most unforgettable deals in US history with the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which cut the ratio of spending of three to one and added more taxes. During the summer of 1982, a rally against nuclear weapons drew 750,000 people to New York City’s Central Park, with singers Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, and Linda Ronstadt. A multinational force of French and US Marines landed in Beirut to oversee the PLO withdrawal from Lebanon. The United States placed an embargo on Libyan oil imports, alleging Libyan support for terrorist groups. The Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution of the United States fell short of the 38 states needed to pass. The United States Air Force Space Command was founded. The Garn–St. Germain Depository Institutions Act deregulated the U.S. savings and loan industry, that led to some problems later. AT&T agreed to divest itself into 22 subdivisions, as this began the new phone age. Braniff International Airways declared bankruptcy and ceased all flights. Checker Motors Corporation, an American taxicab manufacturer, ceased production. Car designer John DeLorean was arrested for selling cocaine to undercover FBI agents. Although cleared, the DeLorean Motor Company ceased production. The Institute for Puerto Rican Policy was founded in New York City to research and advocate for Puerto Rican and Latino community issues, that changed its name in 2006 to the National Institute for Latino Policy. The first edition of USA Today was published, so that it later became ubiquitous in most hotels. The severe early 1980s recession ended in November, 1982, but in the November Congressional elections, the Republican Party lost 27 seats to the majority Democratic Party in the House. In November, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged to close at 1,065, its first all-time high in more than 9 years, since 1973. The points gain was the biggest ever up to this point, while the unemployment rate peaked at 10.8%. Also in November, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C., after a march to its site by thousands of Vietnam War veterans. John Warnock and Charles Geschke founded Adobe Systems Incorporated. At the University of Utah, 61-year-old retired dentist Barney Clark became the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart, but he only lived for 112 days. The first U.S. execution by lethal injection was carried out in Texas on Charles Brooks Jr. What do you remember about 1982?
Epcot center opens
About the same time, on October 1, 1982, Walt Disney World finally opened to the public its second largest theme park, Epcot Center, for the first time. Epcot is the theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, the second of four theme parks built at the resort. Epcot is dedicated to the celebration of human achievement, particularly technological innovation, and international culture, and is known for its iconic landmark Spaceship Earth, a geodesic sphere. After Walt Disney’s death in 1966, Disney Corporation felt that Walt’s grand vision was impractical. However, it laid the groundwork for EPCOT Center, a theme park that retained the core spirit of his vision. The park was divided into two distinct areas. Future World showcased the modern innovations through educational entertainment attractions within avant-garde pavilions. On the other hand, World Showcase highlighted the diversity of human cultures from various nations. However, from the late 2010s to the early 2020s, this park underwent a major overhaul, adding new attractions. Future World was restructured into three areas, World Celebration, World Discovery, and World Nature. This Epcot Center has 305 acres, twice the size of the Magic Kingdom Park. In 2023, EPCOT attracted nearly 12 million guests, making it the eighth-most visited theme park in the world. EPCOT was an acronym for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. This community of tomorrow was never completed but will always be introducing, testing, and demonstrating new materials and new systems. Thus, EPCOT will always be a showcase to the world of the ingenuity and imagination of American initiative. Walt Disney’s original vision, sometimes called Progress City, would have been home to 20,000 residents, and would be a living laboratory showcasing cutting-edge technology and urban planning. It was to be built in the shape of a circle with an urban city center with community buildings, schools, and recreational complexes. This would be surrounded by rings of residential areas and industrial areas, all connected by monorail and People Mover lines. Automobile traffic would be kept underground, leaving pedestrians safe above ground. This radial plan concept was strongly influenced by British planner Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928) and his Garden Cities of Tomorrow. Thus, Disney created Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID), with the authority of a governmental body over the Walt Disney World land that was established in 1967. However, Walt Disney was not able to obtain funding and permission to start work on his Florida property until he agreed to first build the Magic Kingdom theme park. He died in 1966, nearly five years before Magic Kingdom opened. After Walt Disney’s death, the company decided that it did not want to be in the business of running a city without Walt’s guidance. Finally, the park was constructed for an estimated $800 million to $1.4 billion and took three years to build, at the time the largest construction project on Earth. The parking lot alone had 141 acres to hold over 11,000 vehicles. At its opening, Future World featured six pavilions: Spaceship Earth, Community Core, Journey Into Imagination, The Land, Universe of Energy, and the World of Motion. World Showcase featured nine pavilions: Mexico, China, Germany, Italy, The American Adventure, Japan, France, United Kingdom, and Canada. Notice it had a limited world. I have never been inside Epcot but only seen it from the outside. Have you ever been to EPCOT?
Gene Finnegan Remembers Living Eighty Wonderful Years 