Welcome home: Omaha rolls out welcome mat for College World Series

Clay Latimer, Rocky Mountain News

Published June 23, 2006 at midnight

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OMAHA — The door in the Omaha hotel opened and out came Tyler Henley with a swagger in his step, eager to get down to business at the College World Series.

Before the Rice University slugger could even make it down the hallway, though, he found himself surrounded by a pack of autograph-hungry kids clamoring for his attention.

"They treated me like some kind of celebrity," he said. "It was surreal."

Actually, it was a routine scene in Omaha, where, for 12 days every summer, a "minor" college sport becomes a major spectacle in a state normally smitten with football. The tournament this year culminates starting today with the best-of-three championship series.

It starts with a burst of fireworks during opening ceremonies at Rosenblatt Stadium and ends with a celebratory dog pile — the ritual in which the national champs leap into a happy heap.

In between, Omaha turns itself into one of the world’s largest diamond districts, an all-American mecca for fans who pour into the midsized river city from across the country.

Buzzing with possibility, the cast of tens of thousands includes frat rats and farmers, major league scouts and little leaguers, sports and media celebrities and proud parents of jittery players — all bound by friendly, even familial feelings.

"This place reminds you of that movie, the Field of Dreams," Oregon State fan Dave Hoccalker said. "This is baseball country."

There is Dingerville, a makeshift village of RVs situated outside the outfield fences, where revelers swap beer and barbecue beef and horsehide tales with amiable neighbors.

"My LSU Tigers aren’t even playing," said Ron Daigle, of Rayne, La. "But that didn’t stop me from coming.

"I watched the College World Series on TV for years and I never realized what went on outside the gates. That’s where all the fun is."

There is 13th Street, opposite the third base grandstand, where thousands of fans stroll past beer gardens, memorabilia shops and street merchants who hawk everything from baseball caps to necklaces to CWS shot glasses.

At a rented house on 13th, down the hill from the 9th Inning Ministry, Cal State Fullerton fans gather at the Titan House, where school spirit and liquid spirits go hand in hand in the giddy carnival air.

"You can’t beat this," said Cal State Fullerton fan Matt Helm, 65.

There is Pauli’s bar, the unofficial CWS headquarters, and Zesto’s, whose legendary milkshakes have fortified sun-baked fans since 1950, when amateur baseball’s premier pageant made its Omaha debut.

"We’ll probably do 80 percent of our (annual) business during the College World Series," Zesto’s manager Sue Trumble said.

And then there’s Rosenblatt, rising on a hill west of the Missouri River, a retro ballpark with perfectly manicured natural grass and an organ player who pumps out wholesome classics such as Que Sera Sera and How Much Is That Doggie in the Window.

Streaming into the park each day are college kids with faces painted in school colors and local families with no particular rooting interest. But first, many gather around a bronze statue, the "Road to Omaha," for group photos.

Series a mainstay in Omaha

It’s pure Norman Rockwell — easy, relaxed and comfortable, like an old sweat shirt.

"You could not now take this event anywhere else and expect this to happen," said Jack Diesing Jr., president of CWS Inc. "To have 18,000 watching a game at 1 o’clock on a Monday afternoon — with no home team ... "

In fact, Omaha has hosted the CWS for 57 years, the longest an NCAA championship has been at one site, and is the only one that works in five-year deals with college sports’ governing body. The CWS, in its 60th year, moved to Omaha after two years in Kalamazoo, Mich., and one in Wichita.

With ESPN televising every game, and SportsCenter beaming nightly broadcasts from the brick concourse outside Rosenblatt, the CWS also is a pot of gold for the city, a blue-ribbon event that is fixed in the national consciousness — in the manner of Indianapolis and the Indy 500, Pasadena, Calif., and the Rose Bowl, and Louisville, Ky., and the Kentucky Derby.

"We’re in the big time. We’re with the big boys," Diesing said. "But this isn’t corporate baseball here; it’s true baseball. Money is important, but this event isn’t all about the money, (although) it’s an endless pipeline for the NCAA.

"It’s more about the ambience, more about the people in the stands, more about the flavor of the game itself."

Added Helm: "I really believe this is one of the last bastions of amateur sports. Omaha is the perfect venue. This is the event of the year here. They like us, so we like them."

The CWS alumni list includes Dave Winfield (Minnesota, 1973), Roger Clemens (Texas, 1982-83), Barry Bonds (Arizona State, 1983-84) and Nomar Garciaparra (Georgia Tech, 1994).

But the majority of amateur stars never will play for pay, so Omaha is their version of athletic nirvana.

"Coaches don’t talk about the College World Series," legendary Southern California coach Rod Dedeaux, who died during the winter, said several years ago. "They talk about getting to Omaha."

Before his three-hit shutout victory against Clemson, North Carolina pitcher Robert Woodard marveled at Rosenblatt Stadium, then told his parents that he was destined to play in Omaha.

A sign at Oklahoma University’s home field reads: "College World Series, 540" — the distance in miles to Omaha. After every home victory, Sooners players run out and touch the sign; if they blow a play in practice, they also go out and touch it.

"Every practice, twice a day, our team (chants) ‘Omaha,’" University of Miami second baseman Jemile Weeks said. "It reminds us what our goal is."

But the games are only part of the show. Teams are lavished with homespun attention as soon as they step out of their planes at Eppley Airfield, where signs prominently trumpet the CWS.

"Then you walk in your hotel and everyone is there greeting and clapping for you. The employees, everyday people. Everywhere you go, people seem to know who you are," Rice’s Henley said.

The state’s largest paper, the Omaha World-Herald, puts out a special section each day of the tournament. Local service clubs coddle the eight teams, serving as tour guides and chauffeurs. Even the man in the street turns into a PR pro during the annual carnival, which adds about $34 million annually to the local economy, according to a 2003 study conducted by Creighton University.

Series is ‘All about friendly people’

"The College World Series is all about friendly people. Everybody stops to say hello, everybody introduces themselves, everybody tries to offer something to the other person," said Bob Foral, a retired fireman and Nebraska native.

"You hear about the hicks from the Midwest. They might be a little hickish. But we like to be a little slower, maybe stop to think about things a little longer. Maybe we like to think a little before we give an answer."

During the opening ceremonies this month, each team was introduced as highlight footage appeared on the video board.

After welcoming remarks from Mayor Mike Fahey, the best student-athletes on each team took a bow and then the fireworks started exploding in a spectacular finish, which, actually, was the start of the high-profile affair.

"One of the challenges here in Omaha is that you get so caught up in everything you’re doing you don’t have as much time as you do at home to dig into scouting reports and preparation," Cal State Fullerton coach George Horton said the Titans suffered a 7-5, 13-inning loss to North Carolina in a first-round game. "So the second guess for me is that I got too caught up in the barbecues, buses and plans that I didn’t think about the baseball side of it."

For years, the CWS chugged along, a marginal event on the college scene. But Diesing’s father, Jack Sr., created a nonprofit corporation in 1967, and a board of directors consisting of Omaha’s power brokers; soon, service clubs were enlisted to sell tickets and oversee teams.

"We started cash flowing positively in the late ’70s, early ’80s," Jack Diesing Jr. said.

With the advent of ESPN coverage in the ’80s, the College World Series began to take off. In 2003, ESPN persuaded the NCAA to switch from a one-game championship final to a best-of-three format, a move that helped the network reach more than 1 million households, a 27 percent increase from the previous year.

Since 1989, more than $30 million in improvements have been made to Rosenblatt Stadium, much of it at the NCAA’s request, making it a more fan-friendly venue.

On June 16, the 6 millionth CWS fan walked into Rosenblatt, only four years after the arrival of the 5 millionth. Last year, the tournament attracted a single-year attendance record of 263,475, an average of 23,952 a session.

But then, who can turn down $6 dollar bleacher seats, 11 days of games, a free rock concert, funnel cakes and fireworks, and gentle summer nights at the ballpark. Not Daigle, a 49-year-old Cajun who packed meat, crawfish, crabs, beans and sausage into eight jumbo ice chests and then drove 1,000 miles on the Road to Omaha.

"I’ve come to love this place," he said.

Yet some worry the NCAA might move the College World Series to a major metropolitan area, although NCAA officials rewarded Omaha with another five-year contract in 2005 and express nothing but admiration for the way the city runs the event.

They also realize they’d have a major rebellion on their hands if they deserted Omaha.

"If they ever do that, I’ll lay on the road so they can’t," Clemson coach Jack Leggett said.

"Like I’ve said: This is the greatest venue in all of college sports."

latimerc@RockyMountainNews.com

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