They killed the games, but they couldn't kill the friendship between Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and Saginaw, Michigan.
From 1977 through until 1999, the sister cities held an annual contest of athletic brawn, alternating as hosts each year.
The Friendship Games officially ended in 1999 because of dying participation.
But two years before that, Brian Robinson and wife Roxanne Desmoulin met William and Janice Jaksa of Saginaw through their respective sons' participation in the games.
And thus began a cross-border friendship that has long outlasted the event that spawned it.
Today's edition of the Saginaw News tells about another visit by Brian and Roxanne to the Jaksa residence this week.
During their first encounter, William Jaksa and Brian Robinson discovered some freaky coincidences.
First, they shared a birthday - May 27, 1954.
And second, both families had bestowed the same names on their daughters: Amanda and Jennifer.
"They called and said, 'We are coming, are you ready for us?'" Janice Jaksa told the newspaper.
"You don't know how happy we are to see them again."