Bottomly makes banner crew debut at Holiday Bowl

Pastor Kirk Bottomly made his debut on the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl’s banner crew December 30.

Bottomly and Darrel Williams were part of the crew who put up and took down the official and sponsor banners on the Qualcomm Stadium field. In between their work before and after the game between Cal and Texas Tech, they spent time on the field.

“That was a blast. Oh, man, was that fun,” Bottomly said of being on the field for the game.

Williams has been on the banner crew since 1995, or before he moved to Fallbrook. Williams grew up in Michigan and is a fan of the University of Michigan football team, which appeared in the 1994 Holiday Bowl. Williams attended that game and saw some of his co-workers on the field, and the following day he asked one of those co-workers how they ended up watching the game from the field.

The co-worker responded that he had been on the banner crew since he was in high school and that the banner crew was looking for people to work on subsequent crews. “I told him I’d do anything to get down there,” Williams said.

Williams, who has been a member of the Old Mission Bay Athletic Club for the past 21 years, reached a deal in which he would provide wristbands to OMBAC’s over-the-line world championship in exchange for banner crew positions.

In 2002 Williams was accompanied by his son, then ten years old.

In 2003 a policy prohibiting anyone under 18 from being on the field was enforced, so his son was outside of the tunnel for the game. Williams’ first thought for the other 2004 ticket was Jim Schwartz, who like Williams is a Fallbrook Pop Warner coach; Williams saw Schwartz on the field in 2001 and 2002 but not in 2003.

“I had to hear back from Jim as to whether or not he could make it,” Williams said.

Williams didn’t hear from Schwartz, and the day before the game he received confirmation of the extra ticket. Williams, who attends Fallbrook Presbyterian Church, thought of his pastor. “I knew Kirk was a Cal alum,” he said.

Bottomly actually graduated from the University of California, Riverside, but he earned his Master’s degree in comparative literature at the original University of California campus in Berkeley. Bottomly attended Cal from 1976 through 1978, and his wife attended Hastings Law School in San Francisco. The couple lived in Berkeley for 12 years; Bottomly was in public relations for the banking and high-tech industries before entering the seminary at Princeton.

After being ordained as a minister, Bottomly served at a church in Thousand Oaks for five years before joining Fallbrook Presbyterian Church eight years ago.

Bottomly’s audition for Fallbrook Presbyterian Church included preaching at a neutral pulpit, and since the pastor of Oceanside Presbyterian Church had recently retired Bottomly was invited to speak at the Oceanside church. During that time several pastors were also interviewed and auditioned for the Oceanside vacancy.

Darrel and Janice Williams were living in Oceanside at the time and attending Oceanside Presbyterian Church. “Kirk really stood out,” Williams said.

Williams had hoped that the Oceanside church would hire Bottomly. He was disappointed when Bottomly wasn’t hired until he learned that Bottomly wasn’t actually being considered for the Oceanside position.

A few months later the Williams family moved to Fallbrook, and Williams saw a photograph of Bottomly in a local publication. “It’s been our church ever since,” he said.

Janice Williams is now an elder at Fallbrook Presbyterian Church. Darrel Williams was formerly a deacon at the church but stepped down from that position when his wife became an elder. Darrel Williams still plays bells in the church choir. “I play the bells in the church choir ’cause I can’t sing a lick,” he said.

It didn’t take long for Bottomly to accept Williams’ offer of a position on the banner crew and a spot on the field. “I jumped on that one,” Bottomly said.

That put Bottomly on the banner crew. “I was wondering who those guys are and how they get to be on the field. Well, now I know,” he said.

Williams and Bottomly moved along the field to get optimal views of the action, and they stood behind the back judge when he signaled the success of each extra point attempt. “I’ve never been that close to a football game, not even a Fallbrook High game,” Bottomly said.

Although Texas Tech defeated Cal by a 45-31 score, Bottomly still enjoyed the game. “I’m not so partisan I can’t appreciate a good game or a good team,” he said.

Bottomly’s associate pastor, Jerome Marroquin, is from Texas and was there on vacation during the Holiday Bowl. “I’m going to have to face him when he returns,” Bottomly said.

Marroquin actually attended Baylor, but Marroquin’s wife, Terri, is known as a “Texas nationalist.”

The 2004 Holiday Bowl was the first one since 1997 to be decided by more than eight points. “It’s generally close, and there’s usually some kind of fireworks going on,” Bottomly said.

The fireworks are part of the halftime show. The banner crew arrives at the stadium three hours before kickoff, which is traditionally 5:00 p.m. A typical ten-member banner crew puts up approximately 15 banners, which consumes approximately one hour.

After the banners are in place, the banner crew members are entitled to a pre-game meal in the press box. After their meals they return to the field, where they are free to seek the best available position for the pre-game pageantry and the game itself.

“I think it’s a great deal,” Williams said of being on the sidelines. “It’s a whole lot of fun.”

While traversing the sidelines Williams recognizes professional athletes, media members, and entertainers with school affiliations.

“It was a blast,” Williams said. “It’s the best deal going. Two hours of work to get on the field; it’s great. It’s work, but it’s fun and a great group of guys.”

Taking down the banners after the game requires an additional hour of work. The banners include the Holiday Bowl banner which covers the entire western end zone. That banner takes approximately 15 minutes to remove and fold.

“It was easy,” Bottomly said of the work.

The removal process begins following the final whistle of the game, and the most difficult part is removing the banners in the eastern end zone, where the bands and the most vociferous fans meet the players for photos and conversation. “The losing side usually clears out pretty quick, but the winning side stays there for a while,” Williams said.

The banner crew now starts removing banners from the rest of the stadium before finishing with the eastern end zone.

Michigan has not returned to the Holiday Bowl since 1994, which was the last year the Big Ten conference was part of the bowl arrangements. The Big 12 conference, which includes Texas Tech, has been part of the Holiday Bowl since 1995, while the PAC-10 conference, whose members include Cal, has sent a team to San Diego since 1998.

Williams still enjoys the games. “It was an entertaining game,” he said of the 2004 Pacific Life Holiday Bowl. “Even though it wasn’t necessarily close scorewise, it was an entertaining game and interesting to watch.”

Being on the field gives Williams a better perspective of the game. “On the field it looked like Cal was bringing the house on most plays. They were just blitzing,” he said.

Williams himself was an offensive lineman; after graduating from Pontiac Central High School in Pontiac, Michigan, he began his college career at Central Michigan before transferring to Palomar College and finally to San Diego State. He was on the offensive line on all three college teams.

“Tech had a smaller team, I think, in the trenches,” Williams said. “Tech’s O-line outplayed Cal’s D-line.”

Williams considered the situation similar to the 2000 Holiday Bowl, when Oregon had a smaller line than Texas but still dominated the line of scrimmage.

“They did an excellent job of building their blocks. Drive blocking, too,” Williams said of Texas Tech. “I thought they were real effective at chipping.”

Bottomly cited similar observations. “Texas Tech looked great,” he said.

Cal entered the Holiday Bowl ranked fourth in the nation. “They weren’t prepared,” Bottomly said of Cal.

Bottomly said he would serve on the Holiday Bowl banner crew in the future if he received an invitation from Williams. “He’s my ticket to excitement,” Bottomly said.