Home {away from home} for the Holidays
Tis the season to be jolly. The songs on the radio have switched over, and we’re all finding ourselves singing “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” and “I’m Dreaming
of a White Christmas.” I’d also imagine that the decorations in your home have gone from pumpkins and candy corn to miniature sleighs with eight tiny reindeer, garland and red and green M&M’s. You might even have an extra-large cookie jar full at all times. (It’s ok; it’s legging season anyways.)
“‘Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care in hopes that St. Nicolas soon would be there…”
Here’s the catch. Since my family moved here in 1996, we’ve only been home for Christmas five times. We’ve only been able to attend Christmas Eve service at our church a handful of times. I can count, on one hand, the number of times we’ve actually “hung the stockings by the chimney with care” on Christmas Eve. It’s not that we don’t get to do all these things. It’s just that we do them in a different place each year. With the exception 2003, 2005 and 2011 when we went to Shreveport, LA.
In 1996, my family moved here from Muncie, Indiana. My dad, Rex, worked as the head athletic trainer for Ball State University for many years before taking the job as head athletic trainer for the University of Missouri. Now, in his 20th season, he is the Associate Athletic Director, Sports Medicine, a title he earned in 2011. He directs the operation of the Dr. Glenn McElroy M.D. Sports Medicine Center, which serves as the primary treatment and rehabilitation facility for MU Athletics. The only sport that he travels with is football, which means when the team goes to a bowl game, the Sharp family goes to the bowl game.
Since 1997, the Mizzou football team has attended twelve bowl games:
- 1997 Holiday Bowl in San Diego, California
- 1998 Insight.com Bowl in Phoenix, Arizona
- 2003 Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana
- 2005 Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana
- 2006 Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas
- 2008 Cotton Bowl Classic in Dallas, Texas
- 2008 Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Texas
- 2009 Texas Bowl in Houston, Texas
- 2010 Insight Bowl in Phoenix, Arizona
- 2011 Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana
- 2014 Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas
- 2015 Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida
Contrary to what the popular majority might think, a football travel party doesn’t show up the day before the bowl game. Instead, we spend up to 10 days in the host city. All the arranging for the more than 800-person travel party is done by what I call “The Bowl Team.” The Bowl Team is made up of several key people to the athletic department: Colleen Lamond, Associate Athletic Director, Facility Operations and Event Management; Bryan Maggard, Executive Associate Athletic Director; Tim Hickman, Executive Associate Athletic Director; Dan Hopkins, Director of Football Operations; and Don Barnes, Assistant Athletic Director, Equipment.
Packing Up Christmas
The Christmas spirit can go with you wherever you are. I’ve come to realize that after being away from home for several years over the holidays.
My dad told me about one of our first travel experiences. “The very first bowl opportunity we had after our move to Mizzou took us away to San Diego for Christmas,” he says. “Santa wrote the three of our children a letter that was delivered before we left for the trip and explained to the kids that even though we would be gone, he would make an extra effort to find us.”
One Christmas I remember being gone, and I wanted Santa to bring me an iPod. No, not an iPod Touch, but one of the chunky, white, spin-your-finger-around-the-dial, iPods. We left for the trip two days before Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we had our non-denominational service with the team and families who wanted to attend, went off to bed and woke up bright and early just like I would have at home. I ran down the hall to my parent’s hotel room and knocked loudly on the door. Much to my surprise, there were three presents on the coffee table in their room, two for my brothers and one for me (I hoped). Sure enough, inside that wrapping paper was the most beautiful iPod you ever did see.
Another year, Ugg Boots were the thing. I felt like the last person on the planet who didn’t have a pair of the ugly, expensive, comfortable, oh-so-practical pair of boots. I think by this point they had been popular for two years. Two years I went without a pair of these boots. Again, the trip ended up being over Christmas. In fact, I think it was the Houston trip (Texas Bowl). All I wanted for Christmas was a pair of those dang boots. My brothers, who would have been 13, wanted cell phones. So, we did our usual thing. We woke up early, ran down the hall, pounded on the door and saw the presents. I knew just from the size of the box that they had to be Ugg Boots. And sure enough, they were. I don’t think I took them off for weeks. My brothers got their cell phones too, and still haven’t put them down.
Several families have to pack up Christmas, so their kids can experience the joy of opening presents on Christmas morning. This is especially true with families who have young kids. Neisha and Casey Hairston have three young ones. They pack up a Christmas tree, presents and decorations each year we go to a bowl game. Other families that take part in bringing Christmas trees are the Barnes’, Kuligowski’s, Hill’s, Henson’s, Hickman’s and many more. Packing up Christmas wouldn’t be possible without the help of the Mizzou equipment staff. For each trip, they rent a special U-Haul just for Christmas trees, decorations and presents. Not only that, but they collect all of the luggage before we leave, drive it down to the hotel and put it in our rooms for us. Don Barnes and his staff work around the clock from the time they arrive in the host city. Once the semi-truck arrives, they unload all the bags, sort them according to room number, and make countless trips to each room. So many things have to be packed up and moved, and it wouldn’t be possible without the equipment staff!
In the past, to make my hotel room feel a bit more festive, I would usually add some Christmas lights for decorations. Not only did it make my hotel room look cute, but it made it feel like home.
The Reason for the Season
Shay Roush and Nathan Teimeyer of The Crossing Church are the team chaplains. Each year, they put together a beautiful Christmas Eve service for those who want to take part in celebrating Christ’s birth. This is something we have been doing for many years and something I look forward to each Christmas Eve. There’s something really extraordinary about getting to celebrate the holidays with those you are with during that special time.
“Our athletic administration has always been very generous and made special effort to have a non-denominational Christmas Eve service and a Christmas Day buffet for the entire travel party,” Rex says. “One bowl trip, our family did some spontaneous volunteer community service work on Christmas Day in the host community. It was a very meaningful, rewarding time to serve complete strangers, and although we were considered goodwill ambassadors for Mizzou, we were just doing what felt natural.”
Shay and his family have been traveling with the team since its Independence Bowl appearance in 2005. “The first year we were asked to join the team, I didn’t know what a bowl trip was. I didn’t understand the concept. It took me a while to know the purpose of it and the significance of it,” says Lynn Roush, Shay’s wife. “I was pregnant with my youngest son, and had a 5 and 2 year-old. Sleeping in a hotel room wasn’t fun, but it was the first year that we got to know some of the families on the trip and started to realize that we were part of something special that created new memories and experiences.”
New traditions had to be made, and family members who didn’t travel with the team had to adjust to the new plans. “My mom wasn’t very happy about us going on bowl trips because it meant that we could no longer make a trip up to Chicago at Christmas time,” Lynn adds. “It has been an adjustment, but I don’t think that we would trade those experiences out for a ‘normal’ Christmas time.”
Nathan Teimeyer and his wife, Rachel, have three young kids and the oldest is just nine years old.
“[My kids] love the trips in general, and they don’t seem to have any problem being away from home on Christmas. We just do our Christmas morning in the hotel room, and they are still really excited.”
Even though the Teimeyer’s kids are younger, Nathan says they still talk about the trips. They have traveled to the Insight Bowl, both Cotton Bowl games and the Citrus Bowl.
“One thing I’m thankful for is the fact that my kids regularly remember and talk about experiences they’ve had on those trips,” Nathan says. “Being kids, they love just playing in the pool, doing stuff with other friends, etc.”
“We find time to gather with our extended families before or after the bowl week, but we truly enjoy the time away together as a family and with our football friends,” Rachel says.
When asked what one of their favorite memories were about traveling over the years, Rachel and Nathan shared a comical story:
“Last year at the Citrus Bowl, our then four year-old son decided before anyone could stop him, to relieve himself in a planter by the pool right in front of Mike and Rocky Alden,” Nathan says. “I guess he didn’t want to have to go all the way over to the restroom. That might be a commentary on us as parents, but the Alden’s thought it was hilarious.”
Being one of the team chaplains means that Nathan gets to help plan the non-denominational Christmas Eve service we share together each year. “The Christmas Eve service is a great opportunity to celebrate the good news of Jesus with people who don’t have the option to go to their home church at a really important time of the year,” Nathan says. “That good news had a profound effect on our lives, and it’s why we got into ministry in the first place, so that’s a pretty good deal.”
“It has been an adjustment, but I don’t think that we would trade those experiences out for a ‘normal’ Christmas time.”
– Lynn Roush
One Big Family
Tim Hickman and his wife, Karen, have two kids, Chris and Anna. They have also been traveling with the football team since the 1997 Holiday Bowl.
“Being gone for Christmas is what our kids know as Christmas,” Tim says. “It’s part of our family tradition. They look forward to traveling to bowls and spending time with our immediate family and the Mizzou family. A lot of our families have been here a long time. I have fond memories of all our kids growing up together. We also have great memories of the kids getting footballs signed by the players, the hotel hospitality and the many games.”
The Hickman’s also have a bowl tree that they pack up and take on all the trips. The tree is an important part of their holiday home away from home.
Christmas isn’t the only holiday that the Mizzou sports teams miss throughout the year. Men’s and women’s basketball conflicts with Easter and spring break while football also tends to overlap with Thanksgiving each year, whether that be for a home or away game. For many years, my parents have opened up our doors on Thanksgiving for those who probably won’t get to go home to see their families.
“There is so much more that goes into the final product on the field that no one ever knows except those of us that live it every day,” Rex says. “Our family has grown up with Mizzou football, the team cast of characters might have changed every few years, but the bond lives on. Certainly the holidays, whether it be Easter, Thanksgiving or Christmas are a special time for families. When you work as closely with a team as the sports medicine staff does with Mizzou football, often a minimum of 80-85 hours per week, the members of the team become a second family. The relationship is very symbiotic, with our immediate biologic family becoming part of the players’ family as well. No different for the other support staff and coaches.”
“A lot of our families have been here a long time. I have fond memories of all our kids growing up together.”
-Tim Hickman
Fond Memories
The 2015 Citrus Bowl was the first bowl game that my brothers, Adam and Jered, and myself had to miss. To be honest, it was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. I remember finding out which bowl we were selected for, scrambling to look at dates, getting the itinerary and realizing that I just couldn’t make it down to Orlando.
That’s what sparked the idea for this story. Not only did I want to reflect and reminisce about all the fun times had on bowl trips, making new friends, experiencing new places and creating new memories, but I wanted to educate you, our reader, about what happens behind the scenes. The University is such a huge part of Columbia, and to me, this town just wouldn’t be the same without it. If you talk to enough people in your circle, I’m sure you will find someone who has been on a bowl trip, experienced it first hand and has memories of their own. Whether they traveled to Dallas for the Cotton Bowl, made the trek to Shreveport a few times, visited Houston, San Antonio or San Diego, they probably have fun stories to share as well.
“I suppose the take away from the multiple holiday bowl experiences is that as long as the family can be together, the location is irrelevant,” Rex says. “New traditions and customs can be made and blended with the old.”
Growing up as part of the Mizzou family has been a wonderful part of my childhood, and I really wouldn’t have had it any other way. MIZ!
