by Fred Seely
Editorial Director
Sunday’s halftime show, said the brain behind it, “is something you’ll see only at a Super Bowl.”
And, Randy Goodwin may be right.
Goodwin and his PRI Productions team stunned the Alltel Stadium crowd of 56,595 with a six and a half minute patriotic halftime show that had been months in the planning and about 48 hours in the making.
“I may not have slept in the last two days,” said Goodwin, “and neither have others. At least, I don’t remember sleeping.”
PRI has the contract to produce everything surrounding a Jaguars game. For instance, his company does the scoreboard, the public address and the halftime contests.
But, for the game nearest Sept. 11, the Jags wanted more. The upper management called in the team’s director of special events, Bo Reed, and said they wanted something special.
“I got with Randy and gave him some parameters,” said Reed. “That’s all you have to do with him. They know what they’re doing.”
“Bo came to me early this summer and said they wanted something really appropriate for the remembrance,” said Goodwin. ‘We batted it around and got a wish list. But could we get everything we wanted?”
Goodwin wrote a script — “I’ve always wanted to do a big halftime” — and gave it to Reed, who got it approved from above.
It wouldn’t be easy. He needed a big flag that would come together, piece by piece. He needed big inflatables. He needed 500 volunteer. He needed singers.
“We went to Terry Parker High and asked if they’d help,” said Goodwin. “Their band director was a saint. They said ‘Sure, what can we do?’ “
The band was enthusiastic. They had friends who would help, too. Goodwin got on his e-mail and sent out a bulletin. Quickly, volunteers from the Chamber and Downtown Vision were signed up. That solved some of the problem.
Now, where to get those giant inflatables? How many 30-foot Statue of Liberty balloons are there? Like most things in the world, that was solved by the Internet. Need a big Liberty Bell? No problem, said a California company, we have all that stuff.
But a flag? Yes, there are big flags, but not in lots of pieces. Goodwin wanted to build the flag on the field. Some volunteers would have red stripes, others white. Others would carry blue fields with white stars.
The flag was first built at the Osborn Center Friday. The material was cut into long pieces but they needed to stitch the edges. No problem. PRI worker Jo Maloney went home and came back with a sewing machine and an iron. The stitching was done, the stars were ironed on. She, and others, stayed in the Osborn’s big room into the early Saturday morning hours, doing the biggest seamstress project she’ll ever see.
The volunteers got their first look at the flag at a practice on Saturday at Terry Parker’s football field. The 500 or so then came back early Sunday morning to practice on the Alltel field. It had to be closely coordinated because the stripes would come from all sides of the field. If one stripe was out of place . . . well, the mistakes couldn’t be hidden.
You think the Jaguars and the Colts were nervous before Sunday’s game? The halftime crew may have topped them. Reed arrived at 5:30 a.m., a half-hour or so before Goodwin and Maloney. They went through two more full rehearsals, then went about their usual pregame duties.
An hour before the game, they huddled in their box at the stadium’s northwest corner, just under the upper deck. All were bleary-eyed as they reviewed the thick halftime script which detailed the show — with illustrations — almost second-by-second.
The remembrance really started when the game did, as the names of the known victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were slowly scrolled on the big television screens at each end of the stadium. It took the entire game to get each of the 3,002 names posted.
The flag show got going with 8:34 left in the 12-minute halftime, starting after a sponsor got his due with a punt, pass and kick promotion that ended with the entrant dribbling a placekick to the boos of the fans.
The balloons came out and were inflated. Singers stood on star-shaped stages at midfield, and the volunteers started to unfurl their long stripes. The fans slowly realized what was happening, and the buzz grew as the stripes got longer as patriotic songs came across the speakers.
The stripes finally were at full length and all started to come together, the red and white lines merging, the blue field with the white stars moving to the top left.
At 3:34 on the big clock, the volunteers had all the stripes and stars in place. On a signal, they lifted together and the flag was raised . . . you couldn’t see the volunteers, only a 90-by-120 foot flag.
There was a huge roar, soon drowned out by two jet fighters coming above the stadium. Fireworks went off, confetti streamers were shot high in the air and everyone stood and cheered.
Then, with 2:13 left until play was to resume, it suddenly was over. Everything seemed to disappear as quickly as it had come.
After the game, Goodwin and his chief assistant, Derek Eaton, walked through the halls under the stadium accepting congratulations.
“What grade do you give it?” he asked a pair of bystanders. Both said: “A solid A.”
He smiled. “It went great and the best part was when all those volunteers lifted the flag at the end,” he said. “I was right there and you could see their heads looking at the Jumbotron. It was like they let out a big ‘Ohhhhh’ all together.
“I was so proud. I had tears in my eyes. It was maybe the best feeling I’ve ever had.”