Published Saturday, January 25, 2003
will be midfield
at Super Bowl
By Joe Pinchot
When Walter Bateman hits the turf at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego on Super Bowl Sunday, he will be working as hard as any of the Raiders and the Buccaneers.
And while a television camera might pass over him as he hits the 50-yard line, Bateman won't be part of any post-game celebration.
The Sharpsville native is one of 300 volunteers who will display the speed of a wide receiver on a post pattern, the brute force of a blitzing linebacker and the precision of a pass fired into double coverage as they assemble the performance stage at halftime.
The stage, which will be graced by Shania Twain and No Doubt, is made up of 21 carts, each weighing about 550 pounds, Bateman said. The musical instruments, sound equipment, pyrotechnics and staging props are all attached to the carts, which fit together.
"It has to meet up right or there will be gaps in the stage that the performers will trip on," said the 1967 Sharpsville High School graduate, who has lived in San Diego since 1990.
The Navy was tapped to assemble the stage but, with so many service personnel shipping out to support American efforts in the Persian Gulf, it was opened to civilian employees to chip in.
Bateman, 53, is a contract specialist for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command.
The volunteers have six minutes to assemble the stage and the same amount of time to tear it down after the show. The first time they tried it, the assembling took an hour and 20 minutes, he said.
At each rehearsal, organizers came up with some way to change how they do their jobs.
Qualcomm offers the challenge of a 12-degree incline from the tunnel to the field, and Bateman said his cart will not fit under the goal post, so they have to negotiate it without cutting off any other group.
For this, he passed up a chance to see the game from the stands.
"You're giving up 30 hours of practice time and putting up eight hours on the game day missing the Super Bowl to do this, but it's fun," Batemen said, adding that he's hoping to get close enough to Ms. Twain to ask for an autograph.
Bateman said he's praying for good weather on game day, noting that a rehearsal in the rain put him off the desire for foul-weather heroics.
"I'm not sure I'd volunteer if I was in Green Bay."