Hearne: Westport Harnesses Strippers, Mounts Threats to Lure Chiefs

Think of it as an R-rated Chiefs rally…

The year was1994 and Westport sparkplug Bill Nigro and his pal Stanford & Sons main man Craig Glazer were out to make a statement. The Chiefs under the watchful eye of general manager Carl Peterson just having scored a home playoff game victory at Arrowhead earlier that year on January 8, Nigro’s birthday.

Wanting a piece of the action, Nigro and Glazer plotted a rally in Westport the Friday before the season opener in September

Over Peterson’s cold, dead body.

The Chiefs’ big chief was down on the party zone because of some high profile player incidents that had gone down there. Westport had promoted that superstar Chiefs quarterback Joe Montana and other players would be on hand for the shindig. But after thinking they had the Chiefs in the bag, Nigro and Glazer heard Peterson had forbade Montana and the players from attending.

That’s when things started to get interesting.

"Craig and I rented two limos, filled them with strippers and sent them down to the Chiefs practice," Nigro says. "And they recruited 13 players, even though they were not supposed to come."

But it took more than mere strippers to lure Montana.

"He wasn’t going to come," Nigro says. "So I called up Coors and told them to come down to Westport and take all of the Coors out of the Beaumont Club. And after that, they could do the same at Torres Pizza.  And after that Stanford & Sons. And after that they could go to Buzzard Beach. I was more bluffing than anything, especially in the case of Buzzard Beach.

"But I was really mad because you had you had already written in the Star that  Montana would be there. We even had the Navy Seals parachute in. And we were on this mission after you called us Outlaw Red Friday and wanted to make sure it was really special."

Sure enough, Montana – who had an ownership interest in the local Coors distributor – showed up.

"I was standing next to him while we were waiting to go onstage," Nigro says. "And I heard him say to these police officers that he wasn’t going to come but then this guy Craig Glazer called and threatened to take all the Coors out of Westport. So Craig took the heat, I got the laughs and Joe Montana showed up."

And that’s the way it went down in the year 1994 – the year of the Chiefs last playoff win – boys and grrrls.