Game volunteers on the ball

PHILIP CARLSON/The Capital-Journal

Topeka resident Bill McCarter has been volunteering as an usher at Kansas football games for 37 years. He said he hasn't missed more than half a dozen games at Memorial Stadium. College officials say the volunteers help cut down on costs.

Listen to Jim Brandenburg discuss why he volunteers at Kansas State football games.

www.cjonline.com

By Steve Swartz

The Capital-Journal

Jim Brandenburg's volunteer work puts him directly in harm's way.

It also puts him in the enviable position of having an unobstructed view of Kansas State University football games.

Brandenburg, 51, owner of Manhattan Motors, has been a member of the chain gang at KSU Stadium for the past 14 years. He is positioned on the sidelines marking the spot on the field with a red arrow where the next first down will be. He is one of the several hundred volunteers who spend their Saturdays throughout the fall making college football games happen across Kansas.

Most of those volunteers aren't at risk of being flattened by a 230-pound linebacker moving at full speed. The majority are in the stands helping fans find their seats, selling hotdogs out of concession stands or working in the VIP boxes. Selected others are keeping time on the scoreboard or announcing to the stadium who made the last tackle.

Despite varying degrees of reliance on unpaid workers at Kansas colleges and universities, athletic department officials who work with volunteers all speak enthusiastically about their contribution to game day.

"It would be a financial impact if we did not have those people," Darren Cook, director of facilities for The University of Kansas Athletic Department, said of KU's large contingent of volunteers. "It means a great deal to us."

The payoff for the volunteers is more than giving something back to their favorite program. It is, of course, a free ticket to the game.

"When you do something on a volunteer basis, we want to do something we can have fun at, as well as give something back," said Jeff Steele, assistant athletic director for event management at K- State, which uses 35 to 50 volunteers a game.

To keep them coming back, K-State gives the volunteers jobs where they "don't have to tell people 'no,' " Steele said.

K-State pays most of its usher corps, using volunteers in fan accommodations, guest relations and handicap seating areas. KU, however, relies on volunteers for all of their ushers. The KU athletic department contracts with Manpower to recruit and manage the 85 or so ushers needed each week.

The benefits of ushering KU football games include free admittance to the game and two free passes for guests. And, perhaps most attractive to some of the ushers, they can then usher at basketball games, which require about the same number of ushers as football games.

For 37 years, Topekan Bill McCarter has been part of the KU football usher crew. He ushers at the basketball games as well and has volunteered at baseball games and track meets. In that span, he probably hasn't missed more than half a dozen home football games, he said.

For McCarter, 68, who is in his 50th year working for the city of Topeka, the game is only part of the attraction.

"It's just become part of my life now," he said. "I enjoy being around the people, and I enjoy the people I work with. It's just a fun activity."

Although McCarter has frequently been assigned to areas of Memorial Stadium where visiting fans are seated, he says he has never had a bad experience with the crowd. About the worst that has happened was when his usher hat was taken by a fan. But he chased down the culprit and recovered his hat.

"I've got to be honest with you. I think they're (football fans) all the same," McCarter said. "They're all football fans. If we handle it properly as an usher, they are all the same."

Some of the success of the volunteer operations at Kansas schools can be attributed to the fact that many of the volunteers return year after year. Brandenburg's chain gang at K-State has been together for so long that he is one of the "new" guys --- and he has been part of the crew since the 1987 season.

He has learned how to avoid being wiped out on plays that end out of bounds. In most cases, he said, staying safe is simply a matter of courtesy. If you are staying out of the way of the staff and players, a sideline worker is usually in a position to find safety quickly.

But even the most conscientious sideliner is bound to run out of luck sometimes. In the Big 12 conference, said Brandenburg, the players are big, strong and fast, and they go full-speed until they are past the out-of-bounds lines.

"Last year I got buried pretty good," said Brandenburg, who thought it was during K-State's game against the University of Nebraska.

Emporia State University depends on its student-athletes in other sports to help fill volunteer slots at football games. Track athletes are ushers, softball players sell programs and tennis players sell ESU merchandise, said Kent Weiser, ESU athletic director.

At Washburn University, all of the workers at the Ichabod games are paid, but at one time the school used some volunteers, said assistant athletic director Janet Degginger.

But, she added, "We would welcome a volunteer list."

Steve Swartz can be reached at

(785) 295-1194 or sswartz@cjonline.com.

See VOLUNTEERS, page 11A

Volunteers: Jobs at college football games 'just a fun activity'

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