During the introduction to the rally, Rose-Hulman President Gerald Jakubowski explained how Rose has been the host for the training camp for the last eight years, and now it can be called the “training camp of the World Champion Indianapolis Colts.”
“When the Colts were here for summer training camp in August, Polian made a public promise that if they won the [Lombardi] Trophy, they would bring the [Lombardi] Trophy to Rose for the faculty, staff, and students to see,” explained Jakubowski. “This is their way of saying thanks to Rose-Hulman for all our efforts in helping prepare for the training camp.”
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| Photo: Andrew Carlson Gerald Jakubowski, President of Rose-Hulman, and Bill Polian, President of the Indianapolis Colts, present the Lombardi Trophy, the trophy won by the Colts at this year’s Super Bowl, to the Rose-Hulman community on Tuesday. |
“We’re extremely proud of the Indianapolis Colts for winning the Super Bowl and the fact that Rose-Hulman serves as the summer training camp for the Colts,” expressed Jakubowski. “Rose-Hulman is taking part of the credit for the Colts success. We believe that we played an instrumental role in helping them win the Super Bowl.”
“We want to say thanks to all of the Rose-Hulman employees for all their efforts in making the Colts training camp a reality here at Rose-Hulman,” commented Jakubowski. “There is a tremendous amount of effort that takes place in preparation for the Colts arriving for summer training camp. There are tremendous amounts of effort into preparing the SRC, the locker rooms, and the weight rooms,” explained Jakubowski. “They literally use the entire Hulman Union.”
President Jakubowski thanked the various members of the Rose-Hulman campus for their support. He thanked the housekeepers, support staff in the SRC, Public Safety, [ARAMARK] food service, athletics, facilities, and the staff in the Student Union.
Pete Ciancone, Communications Director for the City of Terre Haute, was presenting on behalf of Mayor Kevin Burke. “It’s a great treat to see that skill and effort be rewarded…I want to thank the people of this community…on behalf of Terre Haute, thank you.”
David Patterson, Executive Director of the Terre Haute Convention and Visitors Bureau, also expressed his thanks. “[We’re] excited that we’ll be hosting the ninth training camp of the Super Bowl Champions, and we want to say thank you.”
Jakubowski introduced Bill Polian to the crowd and first part of the rally was that he presented President Jakubowski, David Patterson, Pete Ciancone, and the absent Kevin Burke, autographed championship hats signed by Tony Dungy and Bill Polian.
His speech consisted of describing what it was like on their road to their Super Bowl Championship, what it feels like to go through the heartbreaks of a loss in the Super Bowl, and how everyone is so proud of the Colts.
Polian described what it’s like to receive the Lombardi Trophy. “When you go up there, you take so many people with you…who helped to get you there.”
Polian expressed gratitude towards the Rose employees and housekeepers. “We had the poster [signed by all the housekeepers] in our locker room in Indianapolis, and we took it with us to the locker room in Miami. We have it in the Stadium. We thank you all for what you’ve done for us.”
“I’m amazed by the number of people who have come up to me and said congratulations, we’re proud of your team and what you’re doing,” said Polian.
Polian also provided some inspiration to the crowd members. “It’s what you do today and what you do tomorrow that really counts. Perseverance is the thing that carries the day in the long run.”
“It’s about time the best engineering school could have a team of who to be proud of,” commented Polian. This comment elicited mixed emotions from the crowd members.
Jakubowski also provided some facts about the summer camp. “The Colts specify what type of turf they want to play on. It comes to us from Oklahoma, so every year we re-sod the field. This sod grows so fast that it has to be cut twice per day. It is this kind of effort that people just don’t realize.”
“Hosting the Colts on the Rose-Hulman campus brings a tremendous amount of publicity to Rose-Hulman and our programs. This is a good thing for Rose-Hulman, and for Terre Haute, and for the community,” commented Jakubowski.