“It feels like we were just here, but it’s 23 years ago. That’s a long time...”
-- Andrew Lewis
-- Andrew Lewis
In the summer of 1995, Bridget and I had the opportunity to do internships in the public relations department at Bellevue University.
For those unfamiliar with Bellevue University, it is a small, nonprofit school nestled in … where else: Bellevue, Nebraska. The school serves various demographics, including non-traditional professionals working on their degrees, with special emphasis on military personnel. (Bellevue University's website boasts that the school is "routinely ranked among the nation's top military-friendly institutions.")
At the time we worked there, we were in the midst of earning journalism degrees from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Bridget’s oldest brother, Sean, was the director of public relations at Bellevue University in the mid 1990s. He brought in both of us to help him with projects and programs under his charge (the biggest being an updated student handbook).
I learned a great deal during that summer.
The experience planted the seeds for us to start our own marketing communications business the following year (a business that keeps a roof over our heads to this day).
It also allowed us to experience an often “unheralded” achievement in the annals of Nebraska sports history. The Bellevue University Bruins baseball team won the NAIA College World Series that year. They were known as the "Cardiac Bruins" for their ability to come-from-behind and keep the dream (and season) alive. The team became only the third team in NAIA history to come back and win the World Series after losing the opening game.
After the team won the national championship, Bridget and I helped Sean design t-shirts and signage and assisted with the planning for the team’s victory party at the university’s student center.
The 1995 team was recently honored at the 6th Annual Bellevue University Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Aug. 4 at the John B. Muller Adminstrative Services Building.
Life is full of serendipitous moments. One of the members of that team is our friend Andrew Lewis.
AJ (as Bridget and I know him) is someone we met after our time at Bellevue University. We know him through UNO Hockey — and our fan site MavPuck.com.
He acted as a quasi-SID during his time as a player on the Bruin team — a role that took on significant importance during the team’s magical run in the 1995 NAIA College World Series.
One of the things I love about sports — no matter what your role — is how they forge lasting bonds between disparate people.
It was wonderful catching up with AJ during the festivities in August. He and his family live in Kentucky these days, so it was nice to chat in person.
AJ spoke on behalf of the team during the ceremony. He is a passionate speaker and did a terrific job capturing the essence of the team’s championship run.
He even gave a “shout out” to Bridget and I during his talk: “Jon and Bridget were along for that ride... and it was a blast! I know them from UNO Hockey, and we have a great time talking about those days.”
My brother-in-law, Sean, died unexpectedly last year at age 49 from undiagnosed diabetes. He would have loved attending the ceremony — and likely would have had unique insights surrounding the baseball team’s 1995 run.
“Sean Weide was my help in the front office here at the U,” AJ told attendees. “Sean passed away last year. He was a wonderful friend.”
Bridget and I are the same age as the players on that 1995 team. It is amazing how fast 23 years fly by... and how different life looks at 45 than it did at 22.
The ceremony featured a highlight compilation from the team’s 1995 run in the NAIA College World Series — with player commentary interspersed throughout.
“No matter how much destiny you think you have, and it is a game of inches, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t,” AJ said in his speech.
AJ described the 1995 Bellevue Bruin Baseball team as being “scrappy as hell” — a team that was angry about a missed opportunity to win a championship in 1994. “We learned our roles, we acknowledged our roles, we did not accept our roles. And there is a huge difference between acknowledging your role and accepting your role.”
AJ said that while his teammates didn’t always accept their role, they worked within the framework to make sure they were the “best damn” players they could be in those roles.
While Bridget and I weren’t part of the heroics brought by 1995 Bellevue University Bruin Baseball team that summer, we were still part of a team at the university.
As I mentioned earlier, my brother-in-law Sean was kind enough to give us internships working for him in public relations at the university.
Sean wasn’t a warm and fuzzy guy in the work environment. He demanded the best when you worked for him — mainly because he demanded the best from himself.
He only had the resources to pay one of us an hourly wage. As a result, Bridget was the bread winner because she started there a couple weeks before me.
Even though I didn’t get paid for all the hours I put in, Sean came up with “creative ways” to pay me that summer. For example, he found money in his “freelance photographer” budget, and would periodically surprise me with a check for my work.
Much like the experience those young men had winning the NAIA College World Series, that experience — which only lasted a few months — had a profound impact on the professional I would eventually become.
As AJ says, “It always ends. And that goes for our team, to every team in the past, to every team in every sport... if we could give one piece of advice: Just enjoy it, enjoy each other.”
Nebraska is 151 years old. Sports aficionados here in Nebraska likely don’t realize that of the 17 colleges that have fielded a baseball team, there have been 938 seasons worth of teams.
All but one failed to win a national championship.
“One team out of 938 did what they set out to do,” said AJ. “That’s amazing, fellas.”
It is amazing, and I’m happy to have had a small part celebrating that team’s accomplishment in 1995... and recognizing the feat in 2018.
Bellevue University posted video of the 6th Annual Bellevue University Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on its YouTube channel:
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