Editor’s Note: The following is the author’s personal account of his volunteer work at the NCAA Men’s Final Four, which took place in St. Louis April 2-4.
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UNMC’s Tom O’Connor, left, and his friend Larry Ortt stand at center court of the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, site of this year’s Final Four. |
It was a tribute to the North Carolina Tar Heels, who had just defeated the University of Illinois to win the NCAA men’s basketball championship. But, it also was an appropriate cap to a memorable four days I spent working as a volunteer at the Final Four. As a college basketball junkie, truly good times never felt so good.
The volunteer gig was thanks to the connections of Larry Ortt, one of my longtime friends who moved from Omaha to St. Louis in 1991. Ortt sells logo merchandise to companies and one of his best customers is the Missouri Valley Conference, which is headquartered in St. Louis and was the host conference for this year’s Final Four.
With nearly 30 years in the media relations business, I had never experienced anything remotely close to the Final Four. With more than 1,600 reporters covering the event, it was truly media relations at the highest level.
My job was simple – to distribute game statistics, shot charts and game notes to media at halftime and at the end of the game. I was assigned the CBS radio broadcast team of Kevin Harlan, Bill Raftery (former coach of Seton Hall) and John Thompson (former coach of Georgetown), as well as the local radio stations broadcasting the games for the Final Four participants – North Carolina, Illinois, Michigan State and Louisville.
It was hardly rocket science, and best of all, it gave me the opportunity to view the Final Four only three rows from the court.
The media stars are everywhere at a Final Four. As a volunteer, I ate in the same room as the media, attended the same news conferences and strolled down the halls of the Edward Jones Dome with them.
My most memorable moment came prior to the first semifinal game on Saturday. I was distributing a sheet listing the starting lineups for Illinois and Louisville. Suddenly, I heard someone next to me shouting, “Hey, Tom, check this out.”
I looked around to see that the voice belonged to the famous sports journalist John Feinstein. He wasn’t talking to me. Rather, he was talking to his friend, Tom O’Connor, athletic director at George Mason University and a member of the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship Committee.
Feinstein had seen my nametag, and wanted to let his friend know that there was another Tom O’Connor in their midst. We chuckled and I introduced myself to the other Tom O’Connor.
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Tom O’Connor with CBS courtside reporter Armen Keteyian in the background. |
What a perfect story to tell my family and friends when I returned to Omaha. Yep, I’m on a first name basis with John Feinstein. You know John Feinstein, the sports commentator on National Public Radio, and author of “A Season on the Brink,” the book on Coach Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers, and “Caddy for Life,” the book about the late Bruce Edwards, pro golfer Tom Watson’s caddy who was dying from Lou Gehrig’s disease.
The best lines of the weekend were delivered at the kickoff breakfast on April 1 at the Missouri Athletic Club. The breakfast was hosted by the United States Basketball Writers Association and was highlighted by the presentation of the Player of the Year Award to Andrew Bogut of Utah and the Coach of the Year Award to Bruce Weber of Illinois.
As part of the breakfast, coaching legends, Gene Keady of Purdue and Lou Henson, former coach at Illinois and New Mexico State, were recognized on their retirements.
Keady and Henson both are known for their “comb overs.” Dave Dorr, retired sports writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, called them the “two most famous heads of hair” in the sports world. Henson’s hair was called the “Lou-do” by the media, and Dorr said someday “they will put Lou’s hair in the Smithsonian.”
Keady, who retired at the end of this season after coaching Purdue for 25 years, was known for the incredible scowl he put on his face when he was upset during a game. Bill Benner, a sports writer for the Indianapolis Star, said that North Carolina Coach Roy Williams once said, “Keady was guilty of visually abusing his players.”
The Player of the Year Award is named in honor of Oscar Robertson, possibly the greatest player to ever play the game. Robertson, known as “The Big O,” attended the breakfast and was recognized for donating a kidney to his daughter, Tia, in 1997. Tia had been on the waiting list for five years.
At first Robertson didn’t want anybody to know he had donated his kidney. But, word eventually leaked out. In retrospect, he is glad it did, because he thinks it led to more people donating their kidneys.
I couldn’t agree more. It’s a great message and one we know quite well at UNMC and The Nebraska Medical Center.