Coordinated response to tragedy

NEW ORLEANS — Jeff Hundley woke up early on Jan. 1 with the usual anticipation of being in charge of hosting the annual Sugar Bowl in the Ceasers Superdome.

This time, there was an extra tinge of excitement because the game between the University of Georgia and Notre Dame University was a quarterfinal game in the expanded College Football Championship series. The winner would go on to face Penn State in the semifinal Orange Bowl held last night.

The week of the Sugar Bowl, Hundley and his wife Janine stay in a hotel near the Superdome, because of the myriad of duties he has as chief executive officer of the Sugar Bowl. He awakened at 4:45 a.m. for a long day that he anticipated would culminate in the game at 7:45 p.m. local time.

“I was showering and getting ready to go to the office for game day,” said Hundley, 1980 Creston High School graduate inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2010. “My wife had been watching TV and when she came to talk to me I could tell something was wrong. When she told me about the TV coverage, my heart went in my throat. At that moment you have a million ideas running through your head.”

At about 3 a.m. that morning, a man later identified as Shamus-Din Jabbar of Houston, Texas, reportedly inspired by ISIS, drove his pickup into a three-block stretch of Bourbon Street at a high speed. It was New Years Eve in the French Quarter, so the street was still bustling with pedestrians. The casualty list included 14 deaths and dozens of injuries.

After crashing into an aerial work platform, Jabbar exited the truck and began firing a weapon in a shootout with New Orleans Police officers. Jabbar, a 10-year veteran of the U.S. Army, was killed in the exchange of gunfire.

Early-morning call

After hurrying to the Ceasers Superdome, Hundley received a cell phone call at 6:30 a.m. from a number he didn’t recognize.

“Normally I don’t answer a number that I don’t know and let it go to voicemail, but this was from a Baton Rouge area code and considering what had just happened, I thought I should answer it,” Hundley said.

It was Gov. Jeff Landry, asking if he could meet in Hundley’s office in five minutes.

“He came in with his security detail and we sat in my office and he explained the situation,” Hundley related. “He was asking us to postpone the game. He gave me enough detail that they felt at that point there may be other people out there involved in this. They had found a couple of IEDs in the French Quarter, so it was still very much a heightened alert status at that point.”

Hundley told the governor that he understood their concerns, but that he answers to a lot of people and had to make some phone calls.

“I called Rich Clark, executive director of the College Football Playoff, Greg Sankey of the Southeastern Conference, both athletic directors of Georgia and Notre Dame, as well as our Sugar Bowl Committee leadership,” Hundley said. “With that many people and entities involved, I was getting thoughts on both ends of the spectrum. There were people who still wanted to play the game that night, and others who wanted to delay it. The reasoning behind the delay was just that we did not have enough law enforcement security to run the game when the whole force was investigating a major terrorism event. We had local and state law enforcement involved, as well as the FBI and ATF. I was talking on the phone all morning about options that might be available on when to play it.”

Press conference

Meanwhile, local and state government officials as well as Hundley representing the Sugar Bowl were preparing to hold a press conference that was held at 1 p.m. at New Orleans Police Headquarters across the street from the Superdome.

“We had to make a lot of decisions on the fly and in the press conference I announced that the game was going to be postponed, but at that time we did not know exactly when it would be played,” Hundley said. “As we were holding the press conference there were still 15 bodies on Bourbon Street, because the investigation was ongoing.”

Law enforcement reinforcements were brought in from around the state and federal agencies to provide a secure environment around the Superdome, once it was decided the game could be played on Jan. 2. Investigators eventually determined that Jabbar appeared to have acted alone.

There were a multitude of logistics that had to be adjusted for the postponement. Preparations for another event had been scheduled in the Superdome on Jan. 2. Stadium workers in concessions and other event services were offered higher pay to work the game on a day they might have been scheduled to work at their other jobs. ESPN had to be on board with a newly-scheduled kickoff.

Originally, officials considered a 24-hour postponement to the evening of Jan. 2, but ultimately it was decided to have a 3 p.m. kickoff. The winning team would be able to fly home that evening and coaches could begin preparing for the semifinal game just seven days later.

“There was a lot of concern about competitive disadvantage because Penn State had already won their game and advanced,” Hundley said. “Every minute counts when you’re a football coach. ESPN was very good about it. They take a ratings hit when it’s played in the afternoon. That’s a money hit. But they understood the importance of getting it played. We wanted to comply with those wishes as long as it was safe to do that.”

Hundley met with his staff that was faced with so many tasks in the coming hours. Previously unscheduled meals for teams had to be arranged, hotels had to be contacted to assure the teams could stay another night on the eve of the New Orleans convention season, bus transportation for them to the game had to be set up. The teams wanted a place to hold a walk-though practice that evening. The list of details to attend to seemed endless.

Bergstrom credo

Hundley was an all-state football player in Creston for coach Dick Bergstrom, and he remembered a statement once made to the team before an important game.

“Coach said sometimes you gotta stand up and be counted,” Hundley said. “I told my staff that, and said today is one of those times. I was very proud of the effort of our team, and the whole city that rallied to make it possible.”

A battalion of explosive detection dogs worked the corridor used by fans staying in some of the 30,000 hotel rooms within a walking distance of the Superdome. Some streets around the stadium were shut down to vehicle traffic. Hundley said fans arriving to the game felt a sense of security.

After all of the tension and exhausting work, the environment in the stadium at kickoff showed Hundley that the emotional healing had already begun.

“The moment of silence for the victims was powerful,” Hundley said. “It was a great national anthem, and afterward fans from both teams were shouting ‘U-S-A!’ in unison. It was goosebumps stuff. It really was a special moment.”

Notre Dame won the game, 23-10. Hundley could finally exhale after the grind of nearly 40 sleepless hours of being the information hub for all of the parties involved.

Everything had been more rushed than the last time the Sugar Bowl was affected by a tragedy. After Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, that year’s Sugar Bowl and all of the associated events were moved to Atlanta, Georgia. This time, minutes elapsed between decisions instead of several weeks.

“You’re just running on adrenaline at a certain point,” Hundley said. “This was really intense. By the grace of God we got through it. Everything had to go right to change that quickly and do it in a safe manner. This tragedy was a major hit to the psyche of the city. We hoped the game was a small step toward healing. In the end, it was a great night and a lot of positive vibes.”

Although he isn’t directly involved in those preparations, Hundley anticipates heightened sensitivies for safety and security for the upcoming Super Bowl in New Orleans on Feb. 9.

“The NFL doesn’t do anything that isn’t first class, so I know they will be prepared in all areas,” Hundley said.