Omaha helps College World Series celebrate 50 years
Music will add to baseball anniversary celebration —
By Ted Taylor
Senior Reporter
This summer, College World Se
ries fans will mark the 50th anniver
sary ofthe event that helped put Omaha
on the map.
For 47 of those 50 years, Omaha
has played host to the NCAA College
World Series. And College World
Series of Omaha President Jack
Diesing Jr. said he hoped another 50
years awaits.
Fans from across the nation will
converge upon Rosenblatt Stadium
from May 31 to June 8 to watch the
eight best college baseball teams in
the country vie for the national cham
pionship.
“The event itself keeps going to
another level each year,” Dicsingsaid.
“We have more people who want tick
ets than we have tickets to give. We
sell general admission ticket books
like there’s no tomorrow.”
Those increased ticket sales have
allowed the organization to fund more
events leading up to the nine-day event,
including VIP golf outings, banquets
and recruitment of corporate spon
sors.
The College World Series also re
lies on sponsors—such as the Omaha
World-Herald, Bozell Worldwide Inc.
and Mutual of Omaha — which have
been around since the 1960s.
Diesing, who begins work at the
non-profit, volunteer-based organiza
tion each July, said he had ulterior
motives for being part of the group for
the past 11 years.
“I volunteer because it’s the love of
my life,” he said.
And it has become the love of
Omaha’s life too.
“This is special to us. This is our
baby. We’ve nurtured it, and we’ve
grown up with it,” Diesing said.
“We’ve taken ownership ofthe event,
and you just don’t sec that with other
NCAA events.
“There isn’t another place in the
country where you’re going to have
18,500 fans for every game over eight
days. It just isn’t going to happen.”
The atmosphere in Omaha during
those days isn’t the same as that found
surrounding a NCAA Final Four or
Fiesta Bowl.
“This is special to us.
This is our baby. We've
nutured it, and we've
grown up with it. ”
JACK DIESING JR.
College World Series of Omaha
President
“The Final Four is more of a glitzy
event,” said Diesing, who has been to
two Final Fours. “Everybody just
comes in for a weekend — it’s just
more ofa media related, glitzy event.”
But Diesing said baseball — and
especially the World Series — had
always been for everybody.
“Major league or whatever, white
collar or whoever — they all get to
enjoy it,” he said. “That’s what we
have been able to prove. We have had
tremendous fans who have supported
it throughout the years by attending
thce event.”
Aaron Steckelberg/DN
But this year’s 50th anniversary
won’t be without its own pomp and
eircumstancc. Diesing said several
events would get people in the mood
for the week and “spice things up,”
including music in the stadium park
ing lot before each session.
The all-time College World Series
team will also be announced on May
19, and there will be a reunion of the
teams that played in the first College
World Series.
Diesing might not get another 50
years, but he’ll at least get four. The
city’s current contract with the NCAA
ends in 2000.
Whatever happens, Diesing said,
his organization will still stick to its
motto: “Don’t take anything for
granted.”
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Continued from Page 1
requirements and complete a supplementary
questionnaire, they must take a two-part test,
Hawkins said.
The first part tests the applicants’ reading
comprehension, writing and grammar skills,
Hawkins said.
The second part, the Police Attitudinal Fac
tor test, determines the applicants’ dispositions
by asking questions such as, “Would you rather
be involved in assisting an injury accident or in
a high-speed chase?”
Applicants whose combined scores meet the
minimum score continue. Usually only hall
pass the tests, Hawkins said.
“That’s where We lose a lot of them,” he said.
Most applicants pass the next step, a physi
cal agility test in which applicants must com
plete a 180-yard outdoor obstacle course in
64.9 seconds, Hawkins said.
Applicants then meet Hawkins for an inter
view. He asks them about their education, past
jobs and other background information.
Applicants later conduct a phone interview,
known as a pcrcciver interview, to judge their
perception of questions, Hawkins said.
After the interviews, Hawkins rates the ap
plicants and keeps twice as many as the police
“Thepeople we want rise to the
top. ”
JIM HAWKINS,
Personnel Sgt.
department needs.
In the last stage, applicants take polygraph
tests, drug tests and a psychoanalysis test,
Hawkins said.
Hawkins makes the final cuts and the re
maining applicants go on to Lincoln’s police
academy, he said.
“The people we want rise to the top,” Hawkins
said.
Cadets attend the police academy for 15 and
a half weeks, where they learn the basics of
criminal law and crisis intervention, he said.
After graduating from the academy, officers
work street patrol for six months on probation
ary status, Hawkins said. Every month they
work under a different officer who evaluates
their performances.
Branch said the scrutiny of probation was the
most stressful part of the whole process.
“You get graded on everything you do,” he
said.
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