Albany native instrumental in staging historic game
[EDITOR’S NOTE: David Waller, a 2007 graduate of Albany High School, is the Director of Stadium & Football Operations for the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic at AT&T Stadium. At the end of November, he and other members of the staff found themselves scrambling after the unexpected announcement that the Rose Bowl would be held in Texas.]
By David Hooks Waller
2020 was a year that will be remembered forever. Most of these memories were things we wish we could forget. The COVID-19 pandemic turned all our lives upside down, and it changed everything.
In my almost 10 years working for the Cotton Bowl Classic, I have seen some amazing things at AT&T Stadium. 2020 would prove to be one of the wildest endings to a season in my career. Despite the pandemic, college football found a way to play in the fall, and the staff here at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic still planned and hoped to have a game… and would end up getting more than we ever dreamed possible.
Toward the end of November, we had a Cotton Bowl staff meeting and our president, Rick Baker, gave us some wild news. He told us he received a call from the man in charge of the College Football Playoffs, Bill Hancock.
Bill asked Rick if he thought the Cotton Bowl staff could help run the Rose Bowl Game at AT&T Stadium if they were unable to play in California due to state and local mandates. Bill said he thought this scenario was unlikely, but they wanted a backup plan in place.
The Rose Bowl Game was also a semifinal this past season, so the stakes were even higher. Rick told him we would be honored to help out a friend in the Rose if it came to that. He told our staff to start planning what we could without disrupting our planning for the Cotton Bowl.
A couple of weeks went by, and it seemed like the chances of the Rose Bowl Game coming to AT&T Stadium were dwindling. We believed that the Rose staff members would be sure to do everything in their power to leave it in Southern California. However, the week of Dec. 14 rolled around, and the landscape began to change quickly.
The local laws in Pasadena, as well as California, did not allow any fans to attend sporting events. Two coaches that were in the running to land in the Rose Bowl Game voiced their displeasure with these laws. Dabo Swinney of Clemson and Brian Kelly of Notre Dame said that they would potentially boycott the Rose Bowl Game if they did not allow their staff and player families to attend the game.
The pressure was beginning to mount on the Rose. Team selection Sunday was on Dec. 20, so a decision had to be made. The Rose Bowl Game staff went to the local and state officials one last time to try to persuade them to allow fans at the game. Their request was once again denied.
The Cotton Bowl staff and AT&T Stadium was hosting the Big 12 Championship on Dec. 19, so we were busy planning and running that game. This game featured the Oklahoma Sooners and Iowa State Cyclones. Throughout this day, we kept hearing rumblings that things were trending towards the game moving to Texas.
At halftime, my boss Marty MacInnis came to me confidentially and told me it looked like the Rose was coming to AT&T Stadium. I could not believe it. He told me to keep quiet until it was final. It was hard to concentrate on the Big 12 Championship knowing this, but we kept going and made sure the game went smoothly.
After the game was over, Marty pulled me aside and told me that the deal was done. The Rose Bowl game was coming to Arlington. It still wasn’t public, but we went to the Cotton Bowl staff and several AT&T Stadium staff members to inform them. Later that evening, the announcement was made.
For only the second time in history, the Rose Bowl Game would be played outside of California. The first happened in 1942 due to fears that the Japanese would attack the game mere weeks following the attack on Pearl Harbor. We were in the midst of history being made.
The next day on Dec. 20, our staff met at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas to discuss plans. On team selection Sunday, our staff usually meets at our office at the stadium, but we were unable to due to the Dallas Cowboys game at the stadium.
The Anatole set up a room for us, and it was quickly nicknamed “The War Room.” This was exactly what it was. We stayed in this room most of the day preparing for these two games. It usually takes us a year to plan a Cotton Bowl, and here we were, planning out the Rose Bowl in a matter of days.
The Cotton Bowl would be held Dec. 30 featuring the Oklahoma Sooners and the Florida Gators. Forty-five short hours later, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish would face off against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl Game at AT&T Stadium. I never thought I would write those words.
The next week and a half was a sprint to the finish. Balancing and keeping both games separate was a major battle, but it was something that had to be done.
My role with the Cotton Bowl is managing all team and stadium operations. I work hand in hand with the schools and make sure they have everything they need while at the stadium for practice and game days. It was incredible to be able to work with the Sooners, Gators, Fighting Irish and the Crimson Tide all at the same time.
The Rose Bowl staff members that came to North Texas were incredible to work with. They shadowed our staff on Cotton Bowl game day so they could be well prepared on how we operate college games at AT&T Stadium. Once the Cotton Bowl was over, the stadium field crew worked relentlessly to repaint the field for the Rose Bowl Game. It was an incredible transformation that proves AT&T Stadium has the best field crew in the business.
The Rose Bowl Game being played in North Texas was full circle for the Cotton Bowl. Our game’s founder, J. Curtis Sanford traveled to the Rose Bowl Game in 1936 to watch SMU vs Stanford. Sanford traveled back to Texas and thought Dallas could host a bowl game just like Pasadena.
He founded the Cotton Bowl the next year in 1937, and the rest is history. If only he knew the Rose Bowl Game would one day be played in his home state, and that the staff of his bowl game would help run it.
Within the span of 12 days, we hosted three major college football games at AT&T Stadium. The Sooners outlasted Iowa State in the Big 12 Championship, and then they came back and blew out the Gators in the Cotton Bowl.
The Crimson Tide easily beat the Fighting Irish in the Rose Bowl Game, and Alabama then went on to win the National Championship against Ohio State in dominating fashion.
It was a wild and stressful month of December, but it was an incredible moment in college football history, and I am proud to say I helped make this history happen. Growing up on a ranch in Albany, I never thought in my wildest dreams I would one day help run a Rose Bowl Game.
