Football season is in full swing and while the Bears dazzle fans on the field, a great deal goes on behind the scenes to get ready for the big home games.
Fuel for the Fans
Bear fans are hungry, devouring approximately 450 hamburgers, 400 hot dogs and 100 steak sandwiches when the Bears are playing to a home crowd. They are thirsty, too, and on average down 1,558 bottles of pop, Powerade, or water, according to the The Quarterback Club’s concessions committee.
While seniors Mike Palombo, Jacob Brinlee, and Mike Schnur, run plays on the field, it is their mothers who run the concession stand for The Quarterback Club.
“Mrs. [Jana] Brinlee does most of the shopping and inventory, while Mrs. [Ellen] Schnur and I manage the 32 volunteers of moms and dads who help at each home game,” Ann Marie Palombo said. “We set up, cleanup and even open up two satellite concessions: one on the guest side under a tent and the other under the bleachers in the soccer concession stand.”
The trio’s efforts are well rewarded, bringing in $3,000 per game in pure profit for the football program, and with such brisk sales, the volunteers also work hard.
Volunteers Caryn and Ben Scaduto experienced the fast-paced environment in the concession stand at the season opener against Fremd.
“There were so many hungry and thirsty fans at the first football game that I thought I had injured my rotator cuff serving drinks!” Caryn Scaduto said. “After running out of hamburgers, my husband, Ben, was thrilled he got to see some of the game.”
Along with regular hamburgers, one of the most popular items with fans are cheeseburgers, which are the first items to sell out. The kid favorite is Skittles and when it is cold out, everyone wants hot chocolate, according to Palombo.
Side Line Management
As the little sister of former quarterback Bobby DeLeo, 2008, who led the Bears to the 2007 state football championship, Vanessa DeLeo is making her own contribution to the Bear’s football program as one of the team managers.
DeLeo takes pride in her job as team manager making sure “all the players have what they need.” On practice days she is “constantly working,” bringing all the equipment needed that day, from stacks of barrels for drills, hand shields, gator pads, bags for trainers to filled water bottles. DeLeo also films practice drills for the players to watch when they are “pulled out of study hall” to review the tapes.
On game days, DeLeo and the other team managers even bring out special items for the players, including inhalers or a towel for a player who wants to wipe his hands between plays. At halftime, the team managers wheel around a big cooler of oranges to supply extra energy for the players in the second half of the game.
The experience of being team manager has given DeLeo “a great work ethic” and says it is “rewarding to be part of this great program.”
“Ever since I was young, I didn’t know how, but I wanted to be involved with the football program,” DeLeo said. “I’m very happy I talked to the coaches and ended up doing it, because really, it is [the reason] why high school is as great as it is so far.”
Crowd Control
At any home football game, the fan support far outnumbers the number of parking spaces available on the school campus.
When on-campus parking fills, fans flock to May Whitney Elementary, Knigge soccer field, and St. Peter’s Church parking. Shuttle buses are also used to bus fans from even further destinations.
Additionally, before and after games there are four Lake Zurich uniformed police officers responsible for directing traffic over a three-hour period.
Although fans need to realize “we cannot get traffic out any faster when Church Street is backed up,” Tom O’Connell, Lake Zurich police officer, said.
It’s all in the details
The driving force behind LZ football lies in the hard work of the players and coaches, but it’s the fans, volunteers and assistants behind the scenes that add a support system to our Bears.