A 92-year-old Hunting Valley resident recalled sitting wide-eyed in the balcony of the Cleveland Public Auditorium for the 1936 Republican National Convention.
"For a little kid, it was very exciting," said Bill McCoy, who was 12 years old at the time. "You don't get to do that often."
It was nearly 80 years ago that the republican convention was last held in Cleveland. McCoy said he attended it with his parents.
"A good 5,000 people there," he added. "Bands playing, noise."
The nominee was Alf Landon, governor of Kansas, the sunflower state. Landon did not attend the convention but rather sent a telegram expressing his stance on the issues at hand. He later lost to Franklin D. Roosevelt for president. .
"I do remember sunflowers, that was a big deal," said McCoy who recalls attendees wearing sunflower buttons.
McCoy grew up on Grenway Road in Shaker Heights. He attended Hawken School in Lyndhurst. He said his mother and father would read the Plain Dealer and talk about the news with him.
Fast forward to today, after two wives and four children, McCoy is a widow. He has trouble hearing and seeing but he is still following the 2016 presidential election very closely. Like his parents, he is still a Republican. His prediction?
"They're not going to nominate Trump," he said. "They might nominate Cruz. Our own governor [John Kasich] would be the best governor of any of them."
McCoy said he does not plan to attend this year's convention in Cleveland as it will be too crowded. But for the first time, he will watch the convention in Cleveland on TV.
