KTJ
08-05-2005, 12:08 AM
I'm sorry the spacing is off of this. I tried to fix it but my computer said "no."
Plans Being Made For Sizzle Bowl
With temperatures hovering around 100 degrees in Texas, the word “sizzle” has no doubt been used quite a bit lately. But in the next five weeks, you are going to hear it even more because the Si zzle Bowl is coming to Gainesville.
The Sizzle Bowl is the name given to the Aug. 26 football clash between the Gainesville Leopards and the Scotts Valley Falcons, a team from California.
The Leopards will open the season against the Falcons at Leeper Stadium in the first-ever meeting between a GHS football team and a team from California. But the actual game will be just one of the highlights of the week as local officials plan several fun things to showcase the two schools who happen to be from states that love high school football.
The Gainesville Leopards Booster Club is working with the Gainesville Chamber of Commerce, the City of Gainesville, and anyone else they can think of to make this a big event.
Robbie Baugh, the booster club president, and Doug Wade, the booster club secretary, have taken on the lead role in trying to create a fun atmosphere for the visitors from California as well as the Leopards and their fans.
Wade said that the first discussion about the Sizzle Bowl came back in May at a booster club meeting. Diane Baugh, Robbie’s wife, came up with the idea to name the game and a t-shirt design was created. Since then, countless meetings have taken place to plan events for the week of the game and to try and draw as much attention to Gainesville, since it’s not every day that a Texas high school plays a California high school. In fact, only one other school in Texas is scheduled to play a California school this year (Midland Lee).
The Falcons and some of their fans will arrive in Texas on Wednesday. They are planning on practicing at Texas Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, on both Wednesday and Thursday. They will also attend a Texas Rangers game on Thursday afternoon. On Thursday night, the Booster Club will host a barbecue dinner for both teams and the general public. That event will take place at the Gainesville Civic Center.
“We will sell tickets to the public after we know how many will be available,” Wade said. “I anticipate a fire-code allowable crowd.”
The booster club also wants to use newspaper, radio and television advertising to draw attention to the game. They estimate the costs to advertise and host the dinner will be around $10,000, so they have been busy raising money.
“Our efforts to obtain the money have been through advertisement sales in our football program, anticipated t-shirt sales, and a request from the City of Gainesville,” Wade said.
This past week, the Gainesville City Council agreed to give $2,000 to help advertise the game. “We are pleased they (the City) had the foresight to see the benefits to our community as well,” Wade stated.
Local businesses are jumping on the bandwagon as well by purchasing ads in the football program.
“Raymond Root has gone the extra mile four our football program advertisement sales by putting together a sample package of sizes and prices,” Wade added. “Our entire club has been totally astonished and excited at the great reception we received from area businesses.”
The booster club has also taken the t-shirt design and will incorporate it on an circus-type poster to advertise the game. They are planning to distribute the posters to businesses in the community as well as other towns like Sherman, Sanger, Nocona and Marietta, Okla.
Leopard coach Jeff Cordell and booster club members hope they can attract a crowd of between 5,000 to 8,000 people for the football game. They are going to offer remote parking with a free shuttle bus service to help alleviate parking problems, since there is very little parking around Leeper Stadium.
“We want people to exit from I-35, pull into a close remote parking area and have a free ride to the front gate,” Wade said. “It just couldn’t get any more convenient than that.”
There will also be several political dignitaries that will be a part of the festivities. Congressman Michael Burgess has agreed to attend the dinner and might handle the coin-toss before the game. Senators Craig Estes and Rick Hardcastle, along with Governor Rick Perry, have also been invited and might attend depending on what is going on in Austin that week.
“We will know within two weeks of the game who will actually be here, but I’m very optimistic,” Wade said. “You never know what will happen if you don’t try, so we are trying our best.”
But no matter what political dignitaries are there, everyone involved in the planning of the event hope that the fans of Gainesville show up to watch history being made and to cheer on the Leopards.
Plans Being Made For Sizzle Bowl
With temperatures hovering around 100 degrees in Texas, the word “sizzle” has no doubt been used quite a bit lately. But in the next five weeks, you are going to hear it even more because the Si zzle Bowl is coming to Gainesville.
The Sizzle Bowl is the name given to the Aug. 26 football clash between the Gainesville Leopards and the Scotts Valley Falcons, a team from California.
The Leopards will open the season against the Falcons at Leeper Stadium in the first-ever meeting between a GHS football team and a team from California. But the actual game will be just one of the highlights of the week as local officials plan several fun things to showcase the two schools who happen to be from states that love high school football.
The Gainesville Leopards Booster Club is working with the Gainesville Chamber of Commerce, the City of Gainesville, and anyone else they can think of to make this a big event.
Robbie Baugh, the booster club president, and Doug Wade, the booster club secretary, have taken on the lead role in trying to create a fun atmosphere for the visitors from California as well as the Leopards and their fans.
Wade said that the first discussion about the Sizzle Bowl came back in May at a booster club meeting. Diane Baugh, Robbie’s wife, came up with the idea to name the game and a t-shirt design was created. Since then, countless meetings have taken place to plan events for the week of the game and to try and draw as much attention to Gainesville, since it’s not every day that a Texas high school plays a California high school. In fact, only one other school in Texas is scheduled to play a California school this year (Midland Lee).
The Falcons and some of their fans will arrive in Texas on Wednesday. They are planning on practicing at Texas Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, on both Wednesday and Thursday. They will also attend a Texas Rangers game on Thursday afternoon. On Thursday night, the Booster Club will host a barbecue dinner for both teams and the general public. That event will take place at the Gainesville Civic Center.
“We will sell tickets to the public after we know how many will be available,” Wade said. “I anticipate a fire-code allowable crowd.”
The booster club also wants to use newspaper, radio and television advertising to draw attention to the game. They estimate the costs to advertise and host the dinner will be around $10,000, so they have been busy raising money.
“Our efforts to obtain the money have been through advertisement sales in our football program, anticipated t-shirt sales, and a request from the City of Gainesville,” Wade said.
This past week, the Gainesville City Council agreed to give $2,000 to help advertise the game. “We are pleased they (the City) had the foresight to see the benefits to our community as well,” Wade stated.
Local businesses are jumping on the bandwagon as well by purchasing ads in the football program.
“Raymond Root has gone the extra mile four our football program advertisement sales by putting together a sample package of sizes and prices,” Wade added. “Our entire club has been totally astonished and excited at the great reception we received from area businesses.”
The booster club has also taken the t-shirt design and will incorporate it on an circus-type poster to advertise the game. They are planning to distribute the posters to businesses in the community as well as other towns like Sherman, Sanger, Nocona and Marietta, Okla.
Leopard coach Jeff Cordell and booster club members hope they can attract a crowd of between 5,000 to 8,000 people for the football game. They are going to offer remote parking with a free shuttle bus service to help alleviate parking problems, since there is very little parking around Leeper Stadium.
“We want people to exit from I-35, pull into a close remote parking area and have a free ride to the front gate,” Wade said. “It just couldn’t get any more convenient than that.”
There will also be several political dignitaries that will be a part of the festivities. Congressman Michael Burgess has agreed to attend the dinner and might handle the coin-toss before the game. Senators Craig Estes and Rick Hardcastle, along with Governor Rick Perry, have also been invited and might attend depending on what is going on in Austin that week.
“We will know within two weeks of the game who will actually be here, but I’m very optimistic,” Wade said. “You never know what will happen if you don’t try, so we are trying our best.”
But no matter what political dignitaries are there, everyone involved in the planning of the event hope that the fans of Gainesville show up to watch history being made and to cheer on the Leopards.