World Series Is an Annual Festival for Omaha

OMAHA, Nebraska--Omaha isn't the kind of place many people would choose for a vacation. A weekend in June is hot, dry and boring. On a Saturday afternoon there are few cars on the streets in the downtown shopping district and many of the city's throughways have no traffic at all. The dusty heat, blown in off the great plains, is arid and uncomfortable.

If Omaha is traditional in its social entertainments it is even more so in its athletic ones. And baseball, the most traditional American sport of them all, still reigns here.

The College World Series has been held in Omaha for the last 24 years, and it is a very big thing to the people here. Virtually everybody gets into the act, and the 9500 seats in Rosenblatt Stadium are invariably soldout for the Series night games.

In Omaha, baseball appeals to nearly everyone. And the crowds at the series games are a striking cross section of the people who live in the city. High schoolers are as avid fans as the little leaguers. Older people, even the woman (many of whom come along to take in the afternoon contests), are dedicated enthusiasts.

The involvement of the high school group is particulary surprising in an age when American high schoolers are supposedly growing more cynical. Local tenth and eleventh grade girls sell programs at the stadium and the ground crew is made up largely of high school boys.

In Iowa Too

According to one girl selling programs, just outside the main entrance to Rosenblatt, "the high school kids really get into it here." She said that interest in the World Series runs high not only in Nebraska but in Iowa as well.

The city of Omaha wholeheartedly embraced this 27th College World Series. The Chamber of Commerce has enthusiastically backed the affair and local businesses have taken an active role in supporting the eight college teams. Each team is sponsored by one or more local businesses which house, feed, entertain, and encourage that team for the duration of its sojourn in the city.

Downtown Omaha is pocked with other visible signs of support for the World Series. Most of the major businesses sport World Series posters in their display windows. Some integrate the World Series with their own advertising. "Relax here after the game World Series fans," the marquee for the Bavarian Lounge on 13th St. suggests. It is a typical Omaha response to the event.

The hoopla of the World Series buildup here is considerable. At the opening day banquet for the players, the city imported American League President Joe Cronin as keynote speaker. And on Sunday morning, at a breakfast sponsored by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Congressman Wilbur "Vineagar Bend" Mizell addressed the group. Mizell is a former National League pitching ace.

Omaha has been hosting the World Series now since 1949, and it has become a matter of civic price that the event be successful. During the games, as attendance is announced, the public address man keeps a line score on how the attendance figures compare with a year ago and he "cheerleads" the crowds to outdo the old mark.

The carnival atmosphere at Rosenblatt Stadium stands in sharp contrast with the hot somnolence of Saturday in downtown Omaha. And perhaps this is why the World Series has been a success for such a long time. For the people of Omaha the College World Series is an annual festival, bringing diversion and a chance for community involvement into the everyday routine of the other 51 weeks of the year.

Here, perhaps more than any other place in the United States, the College World Series is an extension of the attitude of the people of the city. And in this sense Omaha and the Series are made for each other.