ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 5, 1995 TAG: 9512050091
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
LITERALLY OVERNIGHT, a veritable Virginia Tech- Goes-to-the Sugar-Bowl industry has snapped into gear.
There's sugar in the Hokie bloodstream.
It got John Giesen going at 6 a.m. Monday and kept him printing Sugar Bowl T-shirts for hours.
It kept Jennifer Mason typing out ticket orders for the throng of Virginia Tech fans that crowded her box office window at 9 a.m.
It energized Bill Ortega as he spent the day attached to a telephone, answering travel questions and booking flights to New Orleans.
In the 24 hours after they heard their Big East Championship football team will spend New Year's Eve in the Sugar Bowl battling it out with ninth-ranked Texas, fans kicked travel plans into high gear.
Mel Ludovici, president of Martin Travel of Roanoke, said his agency booked 400 people for the trip Sunday. He expected to book another 800 Monday.
"I'm in the middle of a madhouse," Ludovici said Monday morning.
In fact, travel agencies from Roanoke to Blacksburg sold travel packages as fast as they could organize them.
Ortega, owner of University Travel Consultants, spent Sunday night training the 20 temporary workers he hired to handle the phone calls. Ortega said Tech should have no problem filling its share of the 69,065-seat Superdome - even if the price of airfare and accommodations is a bit steep.
Travis Poole, a retired Tech employee, has been waiting for a major bowl bid since he graduated from Tech in 1960, and the $1,398 cost of a three-day trip-for-two isn't going to stop him from watching in person.
Poole said this trip will be a bit more expensive than the one he took last year, when Tech traveled to the Gator Bowl in Gainesville, Fla. But by 10 a.m., he had reserved two places in a package deal through Martin Travel.
"You could say I'm dedicated," said the man whose basement sports maroon carpet and orange countertops.
Fans view the cost as a once-in-a-lifetime treat, Ortega said.
Don Divers said he wouldn't dare miss the game.
A fullback on Tech's undefeated 1954 team, Divers was one of the many "sugar-buzzed" fans busy making travel arrangements.
Divers, who played for legendary Tech coach Frank Moseley, said the Hokies traveled through New Orleans once on their way to a game in the mid-'50s, but Moseley - known for his hard-nosed approach to the game - herded the team onto a train.
"It was like a cattle car," Divers said. "We didn't get to see much of anything."
Tech sophomore Anthony Sykes, who sauntered into Tech's box office about 11 Monday morning to order tickets, plans to see anything and everything during his trip.
"I want to be down on Bourbon Street for New Year's Eve," he said as he scribbled a $184 check for tickets (that's three $60 seats, plus $4 for handling).
During a brief respite from phone orders and box office customers, a beleaguered Mason said she had no idea how many tickets had been sold.
"We're not even keeping count right now," she said.
Sugar Bowl officials initially allotted 15,000 seats for Tech fans, but may be able to find more if necessary.
"Well, we can't be sure," Mason warned, "so the sooner people buy them, the better."
Sales of a different sort kept Giesen and his crew standing by a large automated screen-printing machine most of Monday.
By 10:30 Monday morning, Giesen's company - Eleven West - had sent several hundred T-shirts and sweatshirts to University Bookstore in downtown Blacksburg.
Last week, the company designed the logo - a fancy lettered announcement of the Hokie-Longhorn showdown in deep maroon - along with one for the Orange Bowl, just in case.
Giesen said the company already is designing a logo for a Sugar Bowl win.
"We'll have some more time to get it out, since the students won't get back for several days," he said, "but we'll have it."
Staff writer Todd Jackson contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GENE DALTON/Staff. John Giesen (left), co-owner ofby CNBEleven West, and employee Randy Jarrells make Sugar Bowl T-shirts
and sweatshirts Monday. color. Graphic: Map & chart. color.