In the fall of 1974, the Cadillac Vikings football team from the local high school in the tiny town of Cadillac, Michigan, had just lost two games in a row. The boys needed a boost, and it came in the form of KISS. One of the team coaches had the bright idea to blast KISS music in the locker room before games. Tracks like "Strutter," "Firehouse," and "Nothing to Lose" became team anthems. Suddenly, the Vikings went on a winning streak. They didn't lose a game for the rest of the season.
When KISS and the band's management got wind of the situation, they decided to make it official by playing the Cadillac High School homecoming in 1975.
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On October 9, 1975, KISS rolled through the small, Midwestern town in grand fashion, taking over the football field and meeting the players and cheerleaders--all done up in KISS makeup for the occasion.
"We never imagined the entire town would dress in KISS make up. And the street would be renamed KISS Boulevard," Gene Simmons told MLive back in 2015. "It was almost as if we were on a KISS Spaceship and landed on Planet KISS."
Later, they commandeered the gymnasium for a performance.
"When the band started playing, it was so loud, one person said it was like swimming against the current,'' retired assistant football coach Jim Neff told the Detroit Free Press in 2015. Neff is the person credited for getting KISS to Cadillac on that fateful day. "People in town got to hear the concert even if they didn't attend.''
The next day, the band met up with the town's mayor for breakfast, a parade and a massive send-off from the high school. That's when the band took off in a helicopter that dropped thousands of postcards that read, "KISS Loves You."
Now, Jim Neff leads a tour of Cadillac for KISS fans who want to visit the hallowed place and time in "KISStory," including a six-foot-tall granite monument memorializing the moment. Watch him in action below.
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