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Local businessman enjoys Shrine Bowl officiating honor
Area sports fans probably recognized a familiar face during the NET Television broadcast of the 2011 Nebraska Shrine Bowl.
McCook businessman Bob Elder was the referee for this year's Shrine Bowl, the annual all-star event that matched outstanding Nebraska senior high school football players from last fall.
Elder, owner of the Sports Shoppe sporting goods store in downtown McCook, got plenty of air time during the Shrine Bowl broadcast from Memorial Stadium in Lincoln June 4. Elder was the "white hat" -- the head official who led a five-man officiating crew -- and the voice that announced all the penalties during the game's broadcast.
Elder is a veteran high school sports official. Officials apply each year for selection to the Shrine Bowl crew. Elder, who heads a prep football official's crew that works many games around southwest Nebraska each fall, was selected for this year's game after several tries in years past.
"I applied the last four or five years just because they never really picked a 'white hat' (referee) from out west, they usually came from back east," Elder said. "Then they started switching it back and forth. I applied for it. They kept telling me every time I applied, 'Keep applying, keep applying.' This is probably the fifth year (he applied) and I got it this time.
"The first time I did it (applied), I don't think they really knew who I really was. But then I knew people down there (in Lincoln), I got to know people down there from state championship games. Once I did that, they got to know me and I guess I got picked."
Playoff experience
Elder said Shrine Bowl officials contact area high school coaches for references on game officials that apply to work the Shrine Bowl. Elder is well-known in the area, and now around the state. He has headed the local crew that has worked several high school playoff games in recent years, including several semifinals game and a Class D-1 state championship game at Memorial Stadium several years ago.
"We've done a lot of playoff games," Elder said of his officiating crew.
Unfamiliar faces
Elder was teamed with four officials from the eastern part of the state for this year's Shrine Bowl. He got to meet his cohorts a week before the June 4 Shrine Bowl when the crew worked scrimmages for the respective North and South Shrine Bowl squads at the respective training sites at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln and Doane College in Crete.
Elder and his crew work many small-school games in the area during the season, so his past experiences were much different that the other four officials who work mainly Class A and Class B games in the eastern end of the state.
"That's the first time I got a chance to work with them," Elder said. "They were talking names of coaches that I've never heard of before. They were saying, 'Yeah, so-and-so on the sidelines, we have trouble with him, or he has certain things he likes to do.' They were all telling stories.
"The funniest story I had for them was one of my employees hid my car (at an area game). They knew where my keys were at and they hid my car behind a bus. So they (his Shrine Bowl partners) got a kick out that."
"You guys are talking stadiums and how many people are there, you ought to see some of the fields I work at, I said."
Small school experience
Elder said one of the officials was familiar with Dundy County-Stratton High School in Benkelman. Elder said that person defended him on the sideline during the Shrine Bowl when Elder forgot to flip the switch on his microphone before explaining an infraction. Elder recalled the conversation.
"Someone on the sideline said, 'Why doesn't that white hat explain what happened?' " Bob said. "Well, (his defender said), probably he was explaining it, but when you go to Dundy County, you can just yell and everybody hears you. He doesn't have to turn on a microphone there.' He was kind of defending me a little bit."
A great experience
Elder said the his Shrine Bowl experience was a memorable one.
"It was a great experience," he said. "I didn't know what I was going to get into officiating with strangers, people I'd never worked with before. I didn't know what it was going to be like. I just didn't know what to expect. When we got done, those guys were pretty complimentary, and said they'd work with me anytime."
The main reason for the Shrine Bowl is to support the network of Shriners Hospitals for Children located across the United States. Shrine Bowl players and coaches paid a visit to the St. Louis facility a few days before the game. Elder attended a special banquet the Friday night before the game, and he got a taste of why the Shrine Bowl is played.
"I thought (the banquet) was the best part of the whole week. It was an eye-opener," he said. "They had a girl that was supposed to be there, she was 14 years old (and a Shriners Hospital patient). She has had four surgeries, just had rods put in her back. She was supposed to be on her first flight, she got the OK to make her first airplane flight from St. Louis to Lincoln and perform in front of the group (at the banquet), sing a song. They showed a tape (from the hospital visit), she sang in front of everyone down there. It was great. She had 20 percent lung capacity and she sang a beautiful song.
"She was going to fly up, and 10 days before she was coming, the screws popped out of her spine and she had to go right back in for surgery. So she sent a DVD (to the banquet), she did it all herself -- she sang the song and played the piano. If that doesn't open your eyes nothing will. Puts new light on what that's all about."
Elder said it costs a total of $1.7 million per day to run the Shrine hospital facilities all over the country.
"That just floors you when you hear that," he said.
One-time chance
Elder said the Shrine Bowl officiating experience will happen just one time. Shrine Bowl officials said officials are selected just one time, so that others around the state get a chance to work the game.
"If they ever asked me to come back and do it again, I'd love to. That would be fun," Elder said. "Just to do it once is a privilege."