Players not the only team that makes game day special

It's early Wednesday morning and already Jadwin Gymnasium is in a flurry of activity preparing for the night's men's basketball game against Rutgers. Floors are being swept in the lobby; bleachers are being pulled out on the main basketball court; and the men's lacrosse team is putting in a few laps around the indoor track. When it's game day for the men's basketball team, it's game day for John Cruser, Jr. and his crew as well.

"The biggest commitment and the biggest responsibility in here is when the men's basketball team is at home," Cruser explained. "We like to set the arena up all the way around and hope that the fans come and cheer them on."

Cruser, a University employee for almost 40 years, is the facilities foreman. He leads a team of six men, and it is the work they put in during the day that allows the basketball game to take place at night.

To facilitate the setup process, Cruser and his team have developed a routine that ensures everything will be ready in time for the nearly 7,000 fans that may pour in through Jadwin's doors on a big game night.

First, bleachers are brought out of storage, a larger task than one might think. Several bleacher sets must be transported across the rough tartan surface of the indoor track to be properly positioned before opening.

"They fold up like an accordion, and once they're folded up we jack them up, hook a small tractor onto them and pull them with the tractor," Cruser said. "Each one of these bleachers weighs a considerable amount, and you really have to be careful and pay attention to what you're doing."

The day after the game, they systematically break the bleachers down and store everything back again.

Bleachers aren't the only things that need tending to, though. The press area needs to be set up along both sides of the court, and externalities like additional TV coverage have to be accommodated.

So now the fans have somewhere to sit, the press has a place to announce, but the less obvious things like the PA system, the scoreboard, the buzzers, the shot clocks, the lights above the glass, and almost all the background electronic amenities that are part of the game need to be installed, checked and rechecked.

Cruser and his crew also lend a hand to any last minute projects that need some tending to. This may mean setting up an extra table for the special dinner near the west wall of the arena. It may also be setting up floor covering over the courts if an additional event is taking place before the game. Right before and during the game, Cruser and his team are there to help with the little odds and ends that ensure that everything runs smoothly.

"There is always something little that needs attention," he said.

The entire setup routine takes a crew of six people eight hours. The day after the game will be a race against the clock to get everything put away by the time sports teams have practice again.

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"We just try to get the structural stuff back down again because at four o'clock tomorrow afternoon there will be three basketball teams coming in here to practice," Cruser said.

The timeand labor-intensive nature of the setup and take-down process before and after basketball games puts pressure on the crew, which is also responsible for the regular maintenance of the gym.

Although casual fans may not fully appreciate the work Cruser and his crew put in to make the event happen, the athletes using the facilities generally do.

"They see what we do and realize what our responsibilities are and what we do for them every day and they say, 'The place looks great. Thanks a lot,' and it makes it all worthwhile," Cruser said.

The job has other perks too, like being able to interact with a variety of people and sports enthusiasts every day.

"I've met a lot of great people here. They're usually associated with one sport or another," Cruser said. "They're usually die-hard track fans or die hard basketball fans or die-hard fans of some sort. You meet a lot of interesting people that way."