siuDE.com

Issue date: 1/24/08 Section: Campus

Starving college students fill the Arena, jostling for the perfect position to catch a Jimmy John's sandwich as they fly into the riotous crowd: or at least that is how Martin Hebel envisioned it.

Hebel said original plans for Dawgzooka, the machine that shoots T-shirts into the crowd at men's basketball games, included the distribution of sub sandwiches to amp up the audience.

However, the idea of tomatoes hitting people in the face resulted in a major change of direction for the creators of the machine, said Hebel, an assistant professor of information systems and applied technology.

Four years later, Hebel said he has heard the T-shirts described as collector's items.

Hebel said he has heard people talking about how valued the shirts are on campus because there is only one way to get a piece of this Saluki memorabilia. Audience members compete in cheering competitions, and then struggle to catch the shirts as they are fired at the crowd.

Along with the 14-foot blimp, the Dawgzooka machine is considered a staple at home basketball games by Saluki fans.

Even Paul Sarvela, dean of the college of applied sciences and arts, said he enjoys the publicity the college receives because of the machines.

"It's a great teaching tool, because they learn all about robotics and electronics and things of that nature," he said.

Dawgzooka

The Dawgzooka was built four years ago by one of Hebel's classes.

"It's good for our program," he said. "It kind of pins what we do as more hands-on, creative projects."

Hebel, however, is not alone in his quest to entertain the audience at these sporting events. He has a few students who help him.

Aaron Goss, a junior from Bloomington studying electronic systems technologies, has been helping with Dawgzooka for three years.

Goss said he has spent the last few home games teaching one of his classmates how to "work the crowd."

James Chaklos, a freshman from Makanda also studying electronic systems technologies, said he got involved simply because he was going to be in southern Illinois over break.

Chaklos said at first it was all about getting on the court, shooting out a few shirts and getting off as quickly as possible.

However, Goss has recently been teaching him to get more involved with the audience and put on a sort of show to make their time on the court more interesting.

Blimp

The Athletic Department started the blimp 17 years ago. However, because of lack of training, initial operators found it difficult to fly during basketball games without serious interference to the crowd.

That is when John Cotter took over.

Cotter, assistant professor of aviation technologies, said he started flying the blimp in the 1992 or 1993 basketball season.

However, he said from the get-go it was not an easy endeavor.

"In the beginning I was going out trying to find sponsors around town to pay for it," he said.

Finally, the Athletic Department stepped in and helped find more permanent sponsors to pay for the costs.

"I was making a new sign every week," Cotter said. "Thank God, that got me out of the business of marketing the blimp."

However, after several years of flying the blimp, Cotter said he needed someone to share the responsibilities.

Because of time restrictions, Cotter recruited his colleague, Charles Rodriguez to help with the large amount of work that comes with flying the blimp.

Eventually, Cotter stepped down as official blimp flyer and handed over all responsibilities to Rodriguez.

Rodriguez, assistant professor of aviation technologies, said he enjoys his duties.

He said it is refreshing to see how excited people get when the blimp flies around.

Cost and restrictions

Running the Dawgzooka and the blimp is not all fun and games, though.

Rodriguez said there is a lot more time, effort and money put into the operation than most people see.

The Dawgzooka currently needs a valve to be replaced. Hebel said the valve would cost around $150.

The machine requires a $4 bottle of compressed carbon dioxide to operate for each game, adding to $200 to $300 a year. The people running the Dawgzooka also have the cost of T-shirts to work into the budget.

Hebel said they count on donations from faculty, alumni, Jimmy John's and Saluki Central. Saluki Central also gives them a discount on the shirts they buy.

Although Hebel said the Athletic Department usually tries to give them around three minutes to shoot T-shirts during half time, time-restraints do not always allow for that.

The blimp is also limited to pre-game and half time flying and one official time out during each half.

At Saturday's game against Wichita State, the blimp was not flown because of a lack of helium.

Mark Gazdik, assistant athletic director for marketing, is the contact for both Rodriguez and Hebel at the athletic department.

"My role is to help them and assist them in facilitating them with what they need to do," Gazdik said.

It is Gazdik's department's job to order the helium for the blimp. However, due to an ordering mishap, the helium did not arrive in time for Saturday's game.

Rodriguez said besides making sure there is enough helium, a lot more goes on behind the scenes.

He said it takes around 12 hours for the blimp's battery to recharge before each home game, which doesn't include the time it takes to get everything set up and taken down before and after the games.

Making them better

Those affiliated with both of the Saluki game staples said there is much room for improvement.

Goss said the engineering club, of which he is a member, plans to donate money so the Dawgzooka can be upgraded.

"It's been the same design for a very long time because it works so we don't want to break it," he said.

However, Goss said he and his peers would like to give the machine a makeover.

They have discussed replacing the current pipe that directs the T-shirts with clear piping. Goss said they also want to add lights to the machine and find a way for maroon smoke to come out of the piping when T-shirts are fired.

Rodriguez said he wanted to change the blimp in a similar fashion.

Currently, the blimp is constructed of an envelope - the balloon-part everyone sees - and a gondola, the part underneath the envelope that includes the batteries, helium tanks and motors. Rodriguez said he wants to make it even more complex.

"I'm in the process of trying to do a very elaborate series of modifications to the blimp to try to give it roughly double, perhaps triple the amount of power it has right now so that we can lift heavier things," he said.

Although those who think it would be fun to have subs shot into the crowd during sporting events may never get their wish, the College of Applied Sciences and Arts continues to work towards making their appearances as exciting as possible.

Christian Holt can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 268 or cholt@siu.edu.

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