20 for 20 - Buses and Planes - picture features a bus and a plane

Posted: Jan 15, 2021

20 for 20: Buses and and Planes

The 2020-21 athletic year is the 20th year that I (Paul Welker) have served as Alfred State's Sports Information Director. During this school year I plan on writing a 20-part series on my time covering the Pioneers.

When the countdown to the Holidays ends, I start a countdown to Spring Break. Spring Break is one of the three times I have been able to travel during my time covering Alfred State Athletics. It is definitely an amazing perk of being in the athletic communication field. During my tenure, I have spent countless hours on buses and have experienced many flights around the country.

Spring Break Trips

I have traveled to Cocoa Beach, FL, Myrtle Beach, SC, and Ft. Myers, FL to cover Alfred State athletics during Spring Break over the years.

Cocoa Expo was a always an unique experience. Flying from Rochester or Buffalo to Orlando was always a challenge with all the players and luggage for the baseball team. Once in Orlando, we finished the trip with a bus or van ride to Cocoa (around an hour).

The former major league spring training complex was not only where the team played for numerous years it was where the team lived and ate. The all-in-one spot featured barracks for the players and coaches to live in and the All-Star Buffet for all the meals. First games started at 10 a.m. daily and the last games each night in the stadium started at 10 p.m. Trips to Cocoa Expo always featured tons of batting practice, ping pong tournaments, and day trips to see the Atlantic Ocean and a spring training game.

Whether it was a trip to the Cal Ripken Experience or Fast Pitch Dreams, trips to Myrtle Beach, SC were different than Spring Break trips to Florida. Trips to Myrtle Beach were done on a bus and the weather was not as perfect as Florida trips (I watched our baseball team play in snow one year and I think I bought hat and gloves more than once on my trips there).

One of the most memorable trips to Myrtle Beach was a trip that saw baseball, softball, and lacrosse all competing in different areas of Myrtle. If my memory serves me well, I covered every softball game (12), all but two baseball games (8), and the one lacrosse game played during that week. I traveled to Myrtle with the softball team and came home with the baseball team. I also spent at least one night in the living arrangement of each of the teams. During the 10-day trip I put nearly 1,000 miles on my rental car that I used while in South Carolina.

The softball team has spent the most time in Ft. Myers at the Gene Cusic Classic. In my four or five trips to that part of Florida, Alfred State has not had a game rained out and I only recall a few times when it actually rained. Getting to Ft. Myers has always interesting. I have flown into four different airports during my time (Tampa, Ft. Myers, Ft. Lauderdale, and Clearwater). The flights to anywhere other than Ft Myers featured a nice van or bus ride to the hotel.

Each of the facilities that are used for the games in the Ft. Myers area are unique. The softball games are played just outside the current spring training complex for the Minnesota Twins while the other games are played in a county facility in Naples and features five games being simultaneously. The baseball team has played games at Terry Park, another former spring training complex, or at the Player Development Complex. Both complexes can feature up to five games playing at the same time.

The trip to Ft. Myers last year might be the most memorable mainly because the COVID shutdowns were just starting when the Pioneers were playing there. Daily I saw teams being told they were going home or that their seasons were coming to an end after the trip. The announcement of the cancellation of the rest of the Alfred State athletic year was made while we there.

National Championship Trips

Jumping on a bus or a plane to cover a national championship has always been a highlight. The lead up to each of these events builds up as the days count down to the start of the event. I have had the opportunity to travel to Rochester, MN, Charleston, WV, Uniontown, PA, Virginia Beach, VA, Canton, NY, Buffalo, NY, and Delhi, NY (I think I got them all).

The back to back trips to Rochester, MN were my first experience covering a championship event on the road. I recall a long day of travel, vans to Buffalo, flight or flights to Minneapolis, and a van ride to Rochester. The atmosphere around the event was exciting from the practice sessions, to the championship banquet, to the intensity of the tournament.

The trip to Virginia Beach to cover not only one championship but four was probably one my most memorable. To have four of our teams competing over three days and two miles apart was amzaing. One of the days, I went from watching a volleyball match, to watching both the men and women's cross country championship race, and the women's soccer team play within three hours. Another highlight of that trip was the massive banquet in which they honored all the USCAA All-Americans and Academic All-Americans from soccer, volleyball, and cross country.

Traveling to Delhi for the NJCAA Track & Field Championships served two purposes. It gave me a chance to see a team that I don't get to see in person as much as I do others and it also gave me lessons on how Track & Field Championships are run. It was a great precursor to Alfred State hosting three of the next four NJCAA National Championships at Pioneer Stadium (A 20 for 20 Story about Track Nationals is coming later in this series)

Trips to Buffalo to watch NJCAA Swimming Nationals were different because they were usually day trips but it was always inspiring to see our athletes compete versus the best competition in the NJCAA.

One of the best parts of these championships was getting to meet and work with other professionals from the national offices or from the opposing teams. I have created lifelong friendships with many of these people.

(I wrote specifically about USCAA National Championships in Story #8 and Story #9 of this series and about the Volleyball team and the NJCAA National Championship teams in Story #5)

Football Trips

During the NJCAA era there were very few games (home or away) that I wasn't in attendance. I traveled to every single game from 2001 until the day I got married in 2005. After missing a game for my wedding, I was on a bus my first day back from my honeymoon to work a football game. I traveled to Troy, NY (Hudson Valley CC), Franklin, MA (Dean College), and Media, PA (Williamson Trade) many times during the NJCAA years. I remember fondly the long bus or van trips, the hotels, the Friday night and Saturday morning meals, and exploring campuses prior to kickoff.

The NCAA era and the start of live stats and live video has limited my travel during the last few years. I have had the opportunity to travel to the first NCAA DIII era game at Ohio Northern, work in the press box at Eastern Michigan as the Pioneer took on Concordia (MI), and probably one of my favorite games of all time on opening day of the 2017 at Coast Guard (Read more about this game in Story #4).

Concluding Thoughts

I fail to talk about the countless times I jumped on the bus over the years just to cover regular season games or to cover opening rounds of postseason play. Stories of riding in snow storms, to buses breaking down and teams huddled in front of one TV, to restaurants closing before we were done ordering all came from road trips.

After over 300 days of no competition by Alfred State athletes, I am looking forward to resuming any competition. I would happily jump on a van, a bus, or a plane to see some Pioneer action.

Previous 20 for 20's:

Story 1: The First Fall

Story 2: Gina and Juice

Story 3: Nose, Ear, Knee

Story 4: Football Tales

Story 5: Sand Storm

Story 6: The Voice of the Pioneers

Story 7: Homecoming

Story 8: USCAA Championships - Part 1 - Women's Soccer

Story 9: USCAA Championships - Part 2 - Volleyball, Women's Basketball, Cross Country

Story 10: Friendsgiving

Story 11: Facility Upgrades