It's Big Fred's Night!
It is a state track meet tradition dating back to as long as Mom and Dad have known each other: Big Fred's Night.Big Fred's is a local pizza joint near Burke Stadium, where the Nebraska State Track Meet is annually held on about the third weekend in May. Dad covered the meet for the Grand Island Independent from 1987 through to at least about 2001 or 2002 (he doesn't quite remember). It's a pretty amazing event that draws about 20,000 spectators and includes nearly 1,500 athletes.
The weather typically plays an interesting role. Usually, one day is really nice or really hot and the other day is cold or nasty or stormy. One of the first years that Mom and Dad knew each other, Mom rounded up a bunch of rain jackets and coats and brought them to the track for Dad's fellow sportswriters, who were unprepared for 40-degree weather and rain. Mom also used to take lunch orders for the sportswriters and fight the bumper-to-bumper traffic near the stadium to deliver the food to the press box.
So tonight, after the evening session concludes at the track, we will meet the sportswriters for pizza and drinks at Big Fred's. Bob Hamar of the The Grand Island Independent - our favorite - will be there, along with Stu Pospisil of the Omaha World-Herald and Ryly Jane Hambleton and Ron Powell of the Lincoln Journal Star. We also expect to see sportswriters from the Kearney Daily Hub (Buck Mahoney) and Hastings Tribune and Norfolk Daily News.
posted by Unknown at
4:45 PM
4 Comments:
Hey, if you could, please pass along my 'hello' to Ryly Jane & Ron from one of their old helpers.
10:21 PM
Bridget and I had a good time with Sean, Veronica, Olivia, Julia, Lauren and Emily at Big Fred's.
It was nice for Dad to take the girls out for pizza. I had the opportunity to meet the journalists covering the state high school track meet. They were very nice.
By the time we arrived, Sean had already ordered and the girls were standing at a driving video game that involved Hummers and wheelies. I don't know what the name of it was, but Em had me take a turn. It was fun.
Sean had given them an "Abe Lincoln" to stuff in the machine, and the girls had good time with it!
It was nice to go out with Sean and the girls. It'd been a while since we'd gone out to eat with them.
Some of my fondest memories over the past 15 years have been spent with the Weides.
We really became good friends with the fam back in 1995. That was the summer Sean gave me a job at Bellevue University. I needed a job (for college) and Sean found funds in his PR budget to pay me to help format the course catalog and take photos.
I've said many times that experience in 1995 was very beneficial in the business that I run today.
Visiting with the sports reporters on Friday reminded me of the days when Sean used to be a freelance journalist for various newspapers in the state...covering various sporting events.
Thanks for the invite, Sean!
It was great to spend time with you and the girls.
10:13 AM
Geez Jon, you made it sound like I died or something.
Anyway, it was fun having you and Bridget join us.
And Aunt Annabelle, unfortunately I didn't see your post until we returned home so I didn't get to send your well wishes on to Ryly Jane and the crew.
1:28 PM
Sean wrote: "Geez Jon, you made it sound like I died or something."
Keep me in mind to be your epitaph writer someday when you do finally kick the bucket. My wisdom should be etched in marble. ;)
A good time was had by all (there...I got the cliche out of the way...)
It is rather ironic that we are discussing Ryly Jane on this blog. The reason it is ironic has to do with the fact that Ryly was railing (like that bit of alliteration?) on blogs last night.
Apparently, things like blogging and message boards -- that feature user submitted commentary -- are the bane of the newspaper world.
I didn't argue, but I was glad we left prior to the inevitable conversation on how the telegraph machine was a far superior technology to wireless broadband internet.
Anyhow, I did enjoy the evening. When I was a kid living in the Rockbrook neighborhood, the only pizza my dad would get was Big Fred's (there used to be a location near 108th and Q). He was a big fan of Fred's creations.
The pepperoni we had last night was okay, but Big Fred's is really best when you have hamburger as the topping.
(My random musings on the pizza are likely the very reason that Ryly Jane has soured on blogs.)
5:50 PM
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