ThunderBowl rocks: Pueblo howls as football returns

CHIEFTAIN PHOTO/ CHRIS McLEAN -- The CSU-Pueblo football team takes the field Saturday at the ThunderBowl. CHIEFTAIN PHOTO/ MIKE SWEENEY -- CSU-Pueblo fan Mike Pusedu grills sausage patties for a tailgate party before the ThunderWolves' first game Saturday. CHIEFTAIN PHOTO/MIKE SWEENEY -- CSU-Pueblo President Joe Garcia rides his motorcycle along the track with the school mascot, Wolfie, and the game ball aboard Saturday at the ThunderBowl.

First CSU-Pueblo game in quarter- century ends in 24-13 home-team win.

By NICK BONHAM
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

The wait is over.

College football is back in Pueblo.

Thousands of folks threw on football jerseys, packed up their barbecue grills, stocked their coolers with beer and drove to Belmont on Saturday to watch a college football game - something they haven't done here in 24 years.

Colorado State University-Pueblo kicked off its first football season since the sport was cut in 1984, and closed the evening with a storybook ending - a 24-13 home-team win over the Oklahoma Panhandle State University Aggies.

Even before the game began, the quarter-century minus football was apparent. Like being stranded on a desert island all that time without food, now it was time for Pueblo to gorge itself on its new college gridiron ambiance. Students painted their bodies, faces and hair in ThunderWolves red, white and blue. Parking lots surrounding the Neta & Eddie DeRose ThunderBowl were full of tailgate parties where CSU-Pueblo flags and banners flapped in the wind over the sellout crowd.

"I've been waiting for this for five years. This is out of control," said Eric Gilliland, a 27-year-old senior and Lamba Chi Alpha fraternity member who painted his face and was decked head to toe in school pride.

A beer in his hand, Gilliland and fraternity brother, Nate Anciaux, tailgated before the game with Seth Jensen, a 21-year-old football transfer from Division I University of Nebraska.

Jensen tried out for the CSU-Pueblo team, but after a total of eight surgeries to his knees, shoulders and an elbow, the Fort Morgan native decided enough was enough.

"This is the first time I've tailgated. It's good to relax and take the lighter side of life," the psychology major said, a school flag flying high over his head and a Coors Light in his hand. "This is great. For a town that has had college football banished for 24 years; it needs this."

Up the road from where Jensen and his family were cooking bratwursts and partying, alumni and boosters with the Friends of Football program gathered under white pop-up awnings.

"Pueblo has arrived. We've been waiting a long time for this," said RaeAnn Blazer, a 1998 graduate of what was then the University of Southern Colorado.

"We're so excited we feel like we're going to play the game," injected Blazer's brother, John Pusedu, who was cooking sausage sandwiches the size of hamburger patties.

Dick Greenwood was a starting defensive lineman here when the college was named Southern Colorado State College. Juggling a cigar, Bud Light and plastic cup of liquor, Greenwood looked around at the huge party and excitement and remembered his college days.

"Football games weren't like this when I was here," the 61-year-old Colorado Springs insurance agent said. "The DeRoses have done a helluva job putting this together. I just hope folks support him (Dan DeRose) like they support the college." Greenwood was referring to Dan DeRose, a former athletic director at the school who founded the Friends of Football group which spearheaded the resurgence of college football in Pueblo. DeRose named the $13.6 million stadium after his parents.

"It's exciting. I think it's going to be great for the college and community. It's just something else. It's great. We just have to win now," DeRose said between plays of the season and home opener against Oklahoma Panhandle State.

The architect of Saturday's historic event, DeRose may have been short on words, but after almost a year-long sprint he and organizers ran to hire a coach, assemble a team and build a stadium in time for this season, DeRose was anxious to get back to his seat and watch the game as a fan.

Instead of sitting in the luxury boxes, DeRose and his family sat in the center of the western stands on the 50-yard line, high-fiving each other after each ThunderWolf score.

Jason Munoz, a 28-year-old senior who also roves the sidelines as Wolfie, the school mascot, said college football "puts Pueblo on the map."

"It increases our reputation," the mass communications major said. "We have a lot of cool stuff happening here, a lot of good juices flowing in the community and it shows the region that we got it going on."