CHAMPIONS ALL - Reseating Lawlor, part II

By Harry Spencer
Once again this space is dedicated to the long time loyal fans and boosters of University of Nevada athletics. When our first column dedicated to those “Champions” appeared here several months ago it generated a call from one Jerry Cail, Director of Sales and Fan Relations at the U.

He stated that he would like to meet with me personally, as well as members of the early morning Kaffee Klatch table at the Gold and Silver restaurant in order to explain the University’s position on the proposed reseating program at Nevada for the 2009/10 basketball season in Lawlor Events Center.

I noted that the best individual to take him to the “round table” would be AD Emeritus Dick Trachok and that I would be happy to meet with him on any given Thursday morning at the G&S.

The following Thursday a.m., as I was having coffee with friends David Farside and Jack Joseph, I noted Trachok approaching our booth with an individual, who turned out to be Cail.
The latter introduced himself around and settled in for some discussion. In person Jerry is a very friendly and affable individual who was the former owner of Bear Printing locally. He noted that he had volunteered for his present position at the University and that it was his intention to allay the fears that many of the longtime seat holders at Lawlor had about someone outbidding them for their cherished seats when the proposed reseating program went into effect (seats were going to be allocated on a “points” basis, with one point for every $100.00 contributed to Nevada Athletics. Bonus points also were to be given for Varsity letters earned and being a graduate of the school).

Cail had a layout of the seating at Lawlor and a sheet on the “points” program. He noted that the amount of points to be given had changed from those I quoted in the first article. When he asked where I had gotten my figures I told him they were from a small handbook handout from the U that his company, Bear Printing had produced.

Nonetheless, we agreed that the new “points” system was more equitable than that which had been originally published. When I asked him who had authored the reseating program he replied that individual was no longer employed at the University.

From there we went into the basic allocation of seats at the 11,000 plus capacity at Lawlor.
Of the 9,300 season ticket holders that Nevada had in the 2007/08 season, Cail pointed out that only 83% had renewed for the current season by the June, 2008 deadline.

When I asked him how he was going to reach those holders that had not renewed he responded, “One by One”, the three of us at the table noted that would be a Herculean task at best.

He said he was determined to do so and that the University was putting in the reseating program to meet its ever increasing expenses.
Even after that meeting the deluge of letters to local papers continued from fans incensed about the reseating and it was still the major topic of conversation wherever longtime Wolf Pack fans gathered.

The brouhaha came to sort of a halt on November 26, 2008 when University AD Cary Groth announced that due to the “economy and in response to our fans” the reseating program had been put on hold for the present.

[Editors Note: Harry’s first article on this matter was published in the September 2008 issue of Wolf Pack edge ( volume 12, issue 1)]

the Senior - Lyndale Burleson (pictures by Fielding Cathcart)

BOISE ISN’T PASADENA BUT HUMANITARIAN BOWL STILL MAKES DISTINCTIVE MARK

It is understandable that there would have been some skepticism about a college football bowl game in Boise, Idaho. After all, bowl games started in the era of leather helmets as an end-of-the-season reward for highly successful teams who, through their excellence on the field of major college sports, had earned their trip to a warm-weather destination to match up with other great teams.

Dallas, New Orleans, Miami, Pasadena. There’s something to be said for pool time and suntans in January.

But Boise? Idaho? At the end of December?

What those skeptics may not have understood is that Boise has always had an entrepreneurial streak that shaped one of the most important business centers in the West. There were dreamers at work in Boise in the late 1990s – can-do hard-drivers who weren’t afraid to take a risk on laying down blue turf or thinking outside the ice box to find novel ways to entertain visitors who had never laid their eyes on snow.

Boise had a role model to emulate right here in the interior West. In Phoenix, where corporate leaders and other fans got frustrated with USC, UCLA and Washington having all the fun, a bowl game for the home team Arizona State Sun Devils was nurtured and refined into the Fiesta Bowl we know today – a Bowl Championship Series event that each year helps to decide the national champion.

Those dreamers in Idaho took stock of the Fiesta Bowl, cooked up concepts like a huge steak fry, bowling for charity and play days on intertubes and snowmobiles, and launched the Humanitarian Bowl.

Dynamic matchups have come from the Humanitarian Bowl’s unique competition of Atlantic Coast Conference, Conference USA and Western Athletic Conference teams.

The Humanitarian Bowl has earned a lasting relationship with ESPN in part because producers know something explosive is likely to happen. Just as Boise State established an identity as a program competitive at the national level with imaginative, explosive football teams, the Humanitarian Bowl has captured lightning in a bottle. Boston College, Miami, Georgia Tech, Boise State, Clemson and Fresno State have each won Humanitarian Bowl trophies.

Come Dec. 30, for the third time in the last four years, the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl will be featured on ESPN’s flagship station.

A Dec. 30 game isn’t so preposterous in Boise, and we invite you to visit the bowl game’s website (www.humanitarianbowl.org) to reserve tickets so you can see for yourself. Snow doesn’t often stick in the scenic and relatively low-elevation Boise River valley. But just a few minutes from town, in the western Rockies, dozens of athletes from the ACC have had the opportunity to experience snow for the first time in their lives. They snowmobile. They go tubing. They make snow angels. They get to be kids again – if only for an afternoon.

“The whole town is awesome. My expectations weren’t that high. But this is the best bowl trip ever,” one veteran ACC bowl game attendee said after his first trip to the Humanitarian Bowl.

“The University of Miami football team had an excellent experience at the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl when we played Nevada in 2006,” Miami Coach Randy Shannon said. “The hospitality we received from the Bowl Committee and the City of Boise was second to none. Both the student-athletes and the staff had a tremendous time.”

The Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl is one of those experiences in a young person’s life that will leave a lasting imprint. The bowl game is affiliated with the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame, whose members include Mel Blount, Pele, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Steve Young, Jesse Owens and Tom Landry.

Heisman Trophy winners have established a new tradition at the Humanitarian Bowl by addressing the two teams on humanity and leadership at a pre-game dinner event.

Now, in their 12th year, the dreamers who launched the Humanitarian Bowl have solidified their bond with ESPN, have become the post-season destination of some of the strongest programs in football, and are reaching out to leading conferences in the West as bowl relationships across college football are reset for 2010. We can’t wait to see what will happen next.

So if it’s something outside the ice box you want this bowl season, get to Boise for some affordable and memorable fun.

(Dirk Koetter is the offensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars and served as head football coach at Arizona State and Boise State, where his teams played in two Humanitarian Bowls. Karl Benson is commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference.)

The 08/09 Nevada Dance Team Doin’ Their Thing

NEVADA FOOTBALL HANDS OUT 2008 AWARDS

RENO, NEV. — Sophomore quarterback Colin Kaepernick was the recipient of the Golden Helmet Award at the 2008 Nevada

Football Awards Banquet held Wednesday evening at the Eldorado Hotel.

Sophomore running back Vai Taua and senior center Dominic Green shared Outstanding Offensive Player honors while sophomore

defensive end Kevin Basped was the Outstanding Defensive Player. Senior kicker Brett Jaekle was the team’s

Outstanding Special Teams Player. Senior defensive tackle Mundrae Clifton was the Wolf Pack’s Nevadatude winner as the

best representative of the program’s beliefs and ideals.

The awards were based on voting from the players and coaches.

Nevada is preparing for its fourth consecutive bowl appearance as it will take on Maryland in the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl

in Boise, Idaho on Dec. 30.

Golden Helmet Award (MVP)

Colin Kaepernick, sophomore quarterback

Outstanding Offensive Player

Vai Taua, sophomore running back, and Dominic Green,

senior center

Outstanding Defensive Player

Kevin Basped, sophomore defensive end

Outstanding Special Teams Player

Brett Jaekle, senior kicker

Nevadatude Award (best representative of the beliefs and

ideals of the program)

Mundrae Clifton, senior defensive tackle

Basalite Big Blocker (given the offensive lineman who

grades out the best in victories)

Grambling State: Greg Hall, senior guard.

UNLV: Alonzo Durham, junior tackle.

Idaho: Mike Gallett, sophomore tackle.

Utah State: John Bender, sophomore guard.

Fresno State: Dominic Green, senior center.

San Jose State: John Bender, sophomore guard.

Louisiana Tech: Clayton Johnson, senior guard/tackle.

Blackout Award (big hitter)

Jerome Johnson, senior linebacker

Full-speed, Effort and Habit Awards (scout team players of

the year)

Offense: Brandon Wimberly, freshman receiver

Defense: Kaelin Burnett, freshman linebacker

Striker Awards (dominating play over a period of time)

Vai Taua, sophomore running back

Dominic Green, senior center

Fireman’s Award

Jerome Johnson, senior linebacker

WAC Players of the Week

Colin Kaepernick, sophomore quarterback, vs. UNLV

Vai Taua, sophomore running back, vs. Fresno State

Colin Kaepernick, sophomore quarterback, vs. San Jose St.

Colin Kaepernick, sophomore quarterback, vs. La. Tech

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