Train in the Rain
As countless as the rain drops that fell in West Lafayette over the weekend of Oct 24-27, 2019, I was as grateful for the wonderful experience to participate in NACMA’s 3 Pillars At Work program. There was nothing the soggy conditions could do to dampen my spirits – although they did dampen my shoes, socks and pants quite a bit. With each rain drop that fell, my respect and appreciation for Purdue’s Associate AD/Marketing & Fan Experience Chris Peludat and his staff grew just like the puddles of the side of the field at Ross-Ade Stadium grew throughout the day.
The way the entire staff – interns and all – went about their business on a rainy Saturday was truly inspiring. I’ll get into the details later, but when I say inspiring, the best example of inspiration from my time at Purdue was watching them put up the large train inflatable the football student-athletes run through for their team entrance. With the rain already causing puddles in the corner of the field where the team enters, it could have been easy to not wrestle the train. One game a year, 125 members of Boilermaker Kids Club and one parent get to come on the field and form the tunnel for the team to run out of the train. Assistant Director of Marketing Bailey “Shelby” Schlotfield was determined to get the train inflated and set up “because there are hundreds of kids here today who want to see it!!” It took the train nearly six minutes to inflate – I timed it – with Chris really working the zipper connecting the train to the blower. When the team exploded out of the front of the train behind the cheer team with flags that read P-U-R-D-U-E, four 20-gallon canisters of CO2 nearby blared their effect in the air, flanked by about 40 yards of kids and parents on each side mixed with a blast of pyro from midfield - I got that all too familiar feel of pure enthusiasm I feel for my team when they enter the field. But this wasn’t my team. It made that 60 second experience - set up by hours of planning by the operations and marketing staffs finished off by the decision not to let the rain stop it all and the marketing staff getting the train up in the rain- truly inspiring.
Upon arrival to West Lafayette around 7p on Thursday - Chris, Bailey, Assistant Director of Marketing Haley Pfeil met Washington Assistant AD/Marketing, Game Presentation, & Fan Experience Rachael Doyle and I for dinner. Along with the introduction to the rest of Purdue’s marketing and fan experience team the next day, we were also about to be introduced to Tropical Storm Olga and forced to hang out with her all day on Saturday.
One of the many reasons I was excited about the opportunity to visit Chris’ team at Purdue was I’d never been there before and I didn’t know anyone who worked there. Everyone I encountered at Purdue was very welcoming – but a special shout out to Chris, Haley and Bailey who spent the most time with Rachael and I. The vibe of the people within that office is outstanding. They all know their work impacts thousands of people on game day.
Bailey picked us up at our hotel at 8a on Friday (5a Pacific Time, Rachael was a trooper). We had a series of meetings with administrators and external department heads throughout the morning and afternoon with a downtown lunch with the marketing and fan experience staff sandwiched in between. It was great to see how Purdue operated from an external operations standpoint. I enjoyed hearing about meeting structures of each department within Purdue’s external group along with how the staff handles the various deadline/content pressures. One takeaway was, even though Purdue’s marketing, communication and creative staff is four or five times as large as ours at North Dakota, they deal with the same things we deal with – prioritizing all of the projects various people expect and then finding the time to accomplish the most important/pressing. While the size of the staff is much larger and the tools/technology are more plentiful and powerful – the conversations around video board content, social graphics, feature videos and the like are the same at Purdue and North Dakota.
Friday night Purdue volleyball hosted Iowa in Holloway Gymnasium. It was a thrill for me to see a match live in a place I’d watched several matches on TV over the years. Prior to the season, Purdue installed video boards in Holloway for the first time. They didn’t arrive and get set up until August which placed undue but real pressure on Chris’ staff. It was a great environment with almost all of the nearly 3000 seats filled and dozens of people standing on the end nearest the doors. The band was loud, the cheer team and Purdue Pete added to the excitement along with a fantastic intermission performance from Purdue’s 30th Golden Girl with all three of her batons. Purdue dropped the first set but bounced back to win the next three to take the match. We returned to the hotel around 10:30p.
Chris picked Rachael and I up at 7a (4a Pacific for Rachael) on Saturday. We drove through the dark to park a couple blocks away from campus- then walked through the dark to the office. In the middle of the week, Chris gave us the heads up that there is a chance of rain – which increased each day and even turned into the aforementioned Tropical Storm Olga. That was the topic of conversation on the way to campus. The culture within Chris’ group at Purdue is strong and inspiring including the interns who all met us at 7:30a to get instructions for the day. Even though it was an early call time, I could feel the excitement of game day in the air and the work the group knew they had to accomplish. The first task was to set up Boiler Crossing – a main thoroughfare through the athletic facilities near the stadium with interactive games, sponsorship activations, Boiler Kids Club tabling, a live radio pregame show and a live band. Kim, the office administrative assistant passed out Purdue branded ponchos and bags to keep shoes dry to the student interns. Chris made a point to say that all the interns had to help get the inflatable train working properly and assure it wouldn’t blow away. If you’re still reading this, the chances are high you’ve wrangled with an inflatable or two in your day – but the emphasis Chris put on this was intriguing. The pride that group takes in putting on a great fan experience was evident. The rain started during the briefing which caused Chris to call his first weather related audible of the day – moving Boiler Crossing inside. The staff executed this with a great attitude everything out of the rain. On a normal game day Chris said between 3,000-5,000 fans pass through the Crossing. Purdue is fortunate to have their main athletic facilities – football, basketball, volleyball, wrestling all within about a hundred yards of each other which provides great alternatives when weather related audibles are needed. After all the tables, chairs, staging, and equipment were moved inside, Chris took Rachael and I for a stroll through campus to check out tailgating and the team walk. With the rain, there weren’t many fans as usual congregated near the north end of the stadium for the team walk, so Chris communicated with the Director of Football Operations and the leaders of the band and cheer team to shorten the team walk. The parked just outside the football facility which shorted the walk by about 150 yards. One thing that struck me is Purdue athletics runs two golf courses, one of which near Ross-Ade Stadium parks up to 800 vehicles for tailgating. Despite the 100% chance of rain, the ops staff forged ahead with parking on the golf course. I was impressed with the amount of vehicles and tailgating spirit despite the steady rain.
As we entered the stadium and walked through floors 3-6 of the press box and suites, the game approached. Shortly after checking on Director of Marketing & Fan Experience Justin Rogers who was calling the game, we made our way down to the field. We saw Senior Director of Operations Katie Egloff who we met with Friday. Around 9a, she mentioned she was already in her third set of cloths on the day. I didn’t even want to ask her if she was on a fourth or more but odds are she probably was. She had a smile on her face despite the rain as she monitored the scene which included the pyro set up at the 50 yard line. Haley’s boots seemed to be sinking in the grass as her and the team wheeled the CO2 carts into place in the end zone. She had a grin-and-bare-it grin on her face while communicating to the interns. This was the moment I really took stock in the culture of the people on the front lines of Purdue Athletics. They were truly having fun putting on the event in the steady rain. While I was certainly excited to be there – even I was starting to get cold and wet. Everyone on our side of the field knew they had a job to do and did it with a positive approach even though the ground was completely saturated.
Earlier I mentioned the team intro was fantastic. The game was the opposite for Purdue as Illinios dominated. Purdue’s offense went over 100 yards rushing and 100 yards passing on the same drive with 8:00 left in the game. With the game not going well combined with the weather – Rachael and I noted adjustments to the script Justin made on the fly which included a heavy dose of tagboard on the video board. Rachael had a great line – people are always smiling in pictures before the game. There weren’t any Purdue fans smiling after the first quarter.
We spent the first quarter standing on the field and I was very relieved when Chris took Rachael and I up underneath the east side of the stadium to check out their CO2 carts with wheels that were built by someone on campus. I was grateful to throw down a chick-fil-a sandwich, the same thing Chris, his interns and many other game day workers probably ate. Rachel and I watched the rest of the game in the dry press box while the rain became heavier.
One of the promotions was kids could form a tunnel for the team as they left the field on the way back to the locker room. There were five kids there. Chris loaned Rachael and I radio so we could listen to their operation. With a couple minutes left in the game someone said there were a small number of kids getting ready to line up. Chris asked his staff to go to his office and get a couple things for them. Seeing the five-or-so-year-old girl’s face when she was handed a mini helmet warmed my heart.
With the noon kickoff and our second volleyball match in as many nights not starting until 8p due to TV, Rachael and I drove back to the hotel. I took advantage of this by warming up, drying off and changing. While we did this Chris’ staff stayed in their offices and ate pizza. It was evident they are a true family – spending the entire day working together in adverse conditions.
Upon arrival back at the facilities about an hour prior to volleyball we went to the pregame “situation room” with head coach Dave Shondell who addressed approximately 125 fans. 20th-ranked Purdue was about to beat number five Nebraska in five sets. Bailey called both volleyball games and did a nice job mixing all of the elements mentioned above from the previous night’s game. It was another great atmosphere. Even with the match tied at two sets apiece, Rachael and I retired to the hotel as we an early wake up call the following morning.
Sunday, my alarm rang at 3:30a Eastern which was 2:30a Central. I felt bad for Rachael as she also set her alarm for 3:30a Eastern, 12:30a Pacific. We were both on the same flight out of Indianapolis to Minneapolis departed at 7a – which will put me back in Grand Forks after a layover in Minneapolis just in time to get to our soccer match with major post season implications on the line.
Luckily, there is no rain in the forecast.
