Elvis Plaque From Civic Arena Up For Auction!

 The We Remember Elvis Fan Club paid for a plaque that went up at the Civic Arena on Elvis Presley' birthday in 1982. But now, with the arena closed, the plaque is among the arena items up for sale to the highest bidder.

On more mornings than she cares to remember, Priscilla Parker woke up early for flea markets where she sold donated items to come up with the $1,157 needed to buy a plaque commemorating Elvis Presley's three concerts at the Civic Arena.
She and four girlfriends founded the We Remember Elvis Fan Club, and their plaque went up at the arena on Elvis' birthday in 1982. But now, with the arena closed, the plaque is among the arena items up for sale to the highest bidder.
"It should be placed someplace where masses of people can see it and remember Elvis," Parker, 71, of Dormont, said. "All they want to do is tear things down and destroy stuff."
The city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority gave its blessing to every item included in the auction, said Ryan Householder, project manager for AssetNation, the company hired to run the auction.
The items include an autographed locker where Hall-of-Famer and team owner Mario Lemieux hung his street clothes before games, sections of dasherboard, and seatbacks autographed by players. More than 550 items are included in two memorabilia auctions, set to close on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1.
No item has drawn more attention than the Elvis plaque, Householder said. He has been working since May to itemize items for the sale, and he kept telling people who inquired that the plaque probably never would be sold.
Sports historians from the Sen. John Heinz History Center selected a long list of items for The Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum in the Strip District. The history center ended up with lights from behind the goals, the building's dedication plaque and Coach Dan Bylsma's dry erase board, among many other items.
"Our goal is to preserve this history of the Civic Arena as well as the history of the Penguins," history center spokesman Ned Schano said. "Those collections fit in perfectly with what we do at the history center. We were very pleased that between the Penguins and the Sports & Exhibition Authority they were able to give us items."
The Elvis plaque, however, was not on the history center's wish list.
Because neither the SEA nor the Penguins grabbed the plaque for the Consol Energy Center either, it ended up in the auction, Householder said. AssetNation runs sales of public property, but they typically include vehicles and heavy equipment. The company listed the Elvis plaque as the first item in the memorabilia auction.
"I put it as the No. 1 item because it probably is the most unique item," Householder said.
No one from the SEA could be reached for comment.
Two-thirds of the money raised by the sale goes to the SEA, and a third goes to the Penguins Foundation, which supports children's charities and youth hockey programs. The first of several auctions, in December, raised $100,000 -- about $40,000 more than expected.
Parker said the fan club's founding members were inspired to make the plaque when Elvis died. They wanted some way to commemorate his concerts in Pittsburgh. Elvis played at the Civic Arena on New Year's Eve in 1976, a year before he died. People who were there say that performance was one of the best from the latter stage of his career.
The women came up with a sketch, won approval from Elvis' estate for the plaque design and received permission from the operators of the Civic Arena to hang it in the building, Parker said.
Even though they paid for the plaque the first time around, Parker said the club would try to raise money to buy it back again. They would prefer, however, for the SEA to simply return the plaque so it can be given to either the Heinz history center or the archives at Elvis' Graceland Mansion in Memphis.
"It should be seen by other people," Parker said. "It shouldn't be in somebody's house."