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Events and Attractions

Remember The Time: Sports Execs Continue To Reflect On Super Bowl Memories

SportsBusiness Journal asked dozens of execs throughout sports to share memorable moments from the various Super Bowls they have attended. From encounters with entertainers, to last-minute field repairs, highlights of their responses can be found both in this week's issue and throughout this week in SportsBusiness Daily. Previous installments ran on Wednesday and Thursday. Also see a timeline of major Super Bowl events since the first game in '67.

* Dick Pope -- Chair and CEO of licensed hard-goods company WinCraft
His first Super Bowl was XIV at the Rose Bowl in 1980 and he has since been to all but two.

The Super Bowl ring tradition was started by Vince Lombardi in Green Bay when the Packers won the first world championship against the Chiefs. I sold four of the first five Super Bowl rings when I was working for Jostens. The first two were to Vince Lombardi in Green Bay. I also sold Jack Steadman and Hank Stram in Kansas City the Super Bowl IV ring and Don Klosterman in Baltimore the Super Bowl V ring.

* Bob Pascal -- Centerplate CMO
Pascal has been to eight Super Bowls and worked five of them.

In Indianapolis, we launched this special all-local, certified, farm-to-fan chili with Live Aid and John Mellencamp. I was trying to get some press shots leading up to the game, and found myself escorted out of Lucas Oil Stadium because the security officer couldn’t believe I was taking photos of our chili portable cart and not Madonna’s final run-through of her half-time show.

* Jerry Anderson -- Populous Senior Principal
Anderson has been the NFL’s planning consultant for Super Bowls dating to 1985.

My first Super Bowl (XIX) was up at Stanford Stadium, so it’s come full circle for me personally. It’s really rewarding to come back to the Bay Area and do this, but to also think about all the things that have happened in the past 31 years to the game and what we do. It’s monumental, the changes. The other part to that story, though, is the guy that’s day to day for us, Todd Barnes, who lives in the East Bay. For Todd, it’s the first Super Bowl where he’s been able to drive to work. That’s unique for our little group. We’re mostly far from home, so that’s a nice little personal twist to the story.

* Rich Eisen -- NFL Network
Eisen attended one Super Bowl as a fan in 2000 and has worked every one since Super Bowl XXXVIII.

I’ve been lucky enough to be on the field in the fourth quarter for the ending of some really dramatic games. (David) Tyree’s catch. I remember a bunch of us next to the field saying to each other: “Did Tyree just catch the ball off his head?” Favorite game: As a Giants fan, it’s gotta be one of the times they beat the Patriots -- they were both special. But last year’s game came awfully close to that.

Milt Arenson -- FMI President & CEO
Arenson has been to 30 Super Bowls, first as a spectator in 1983. This year will be his 25th working the Super Bowl.

Out of 30 games, I have probably seen less action in total than someone who went to one game and watched the whole thing. Another memory: Bringing my father to Super Bowl XXIX, when he had pancreatic cancer. He passed away months later.

Leo Kane -- NFL Senior VP/Consumer Products
This will be Kane’s 24th Super Bowl.

Integrating the game to specific areas within the host city has made it better for fans and for merchandising. You know where the crowd’s going to be within a downtown area, so we can put together a better fan and merchandise experience for them.

* Gary Jacobus -- Head of business development, sports and entertainment, Aramark
Jacobus has worked or attended 15 Super Bowls, his first being Super Bowl XXVI in Minnesota.

My first Super Bowl, I remember getting grief from clients, because the weather was awful. We had a freezing rainstorm and their guests were falling all over the place as they walked from the buses to the Target Center for the Saturday night event. But they were yelling and I was not happy. Until I went into this green room for a TV show we were doing and there was Joe Namath sitting alone at a table, all by himself. I talked to him for 20 minutes. And I got a lot happier, because I was in the business about six months at that time.

* Carolyn Lesley -- Game day facilities construction manager for the NFL

Noel Lesley Event Services Inc. has been affiliated with the past 30 Super Bowls. I personally have been involved in the last 15, and attended 29 of the 30. My first Super Bowl was in 1987 at the Rose Bowl where my mom and I forgot where we parked our car and searched for it for hours after the game. The Super Bowl has been a significant part of my life for the past 30 years. For my late father, Noel Lesley, it was his life, and the job he was most proud of. His passion was infectious, and he became known as the “go to guy.” Everyone knows they can come to the NLES Compound and we will solve their problems, a legacy that lives on today.


* Dennis Lewin -- Former ABC Sports and NFL exec, current board member of Little League Baseball

The first one I went to was Super Bowl V in Miami. I went down there with [Howard] Cosell and we sat with Colts GM Don Klosterman and [Colts and later Rams] owner Carroll Rosenbloom in the stands. Can you imagine any of the 32 owners today sitting in the stands, much less the owner of one of the teams playing in the game? After the game was over and the Colts had won, Don asked me if I would mind helping him to the field, because he had a severe limp. So I was down there with the Colts for the celebration.

* Mike Frost -- Regional VP, Spectra Venue Management and Food Services & Hospitality

At a Super Bowl in San Diego about 15 years ago, I was on the upper concourse checking concession stands and making notes of needs when I laid my clipboard down to move a portable cart. At that time, a helicopter flew in to dry the field. For anyone that’s ever been that close to a helicopter, you know how strong the wind is. By the time the helicopter left, all of the notes I had just taken had blown over the wall of the stadium and were gone.

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