Featured Testimonial About Creighton University
The five-plus acres of space across the Mall from the Ahmanson Law Center, right next to the Mike and Josie Harper Center, will soon be the Creighton Quad.
But for 50 years, it’s served students in so many ways.
We’ve chronicled some of the memorable (and humorous) games and events that took place there.
The Jonas Brothers once shared a field with Creighton softball players. The same stadium had to be resurfaced a decade earlier after students discarded too much tobacco and cigarettes during a concert. There was an attempt to break the world’s longest sandwich record, lots of snowman building, and a whole bunch of intramurals and program milestones for the Creighton baseball and softball teams.
Check out our tribute to the CU Sports Complex: The 10 things we’ll remember the most.
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1. It's where intramural legends were born
A 1977 Creightonian article announced the installation of a new “all-purpose athletic field” at 22nd and Webster Streets. Instead of traveling a mile and a half north to Adams Park, students could stay on campus and participate in their various outdoor events.
And so it began…
Intramurals, which were always a part of campus life, began to become more convenient and more popular. The field eventually transformed into the CU Sports Complex and its more durable turf playing surface.
In 2004, Creighton had a record 103 teams playing flag football. A year later, the Creightonian reported that the University had one of the highest rates of intramural participation in the country at approximately 25%. An intramurals website was launched around that time, specifically to track schedules, release rankings and offer commentary.
There have been, undoubtedly, an endless amount of you-had-to-be-there moments, cherished by the competitors who indeed were sharing the field together to live out their athletic dreams and have a little fun.
“We played the Mongeese (in intramural football) and the baseball field had about four inches of snow,” Brent Beller, BS’02, JD’07, said to the Creighontian in 2006. “It was awesome because everyone was wearing gloves and everyone was running and sliding.”
Beller was part of a dynasty, the Louis BBs, comprised of students who finished their undergrad coursework and stayed on campus for their professional degrees. The Golden Mongeese, too. They battled on the fields and the courts for supremacy in various sports for several years.
Do you have an epic intramural story to share or memorable championship to brag about? Email Jon Nyatawa and you could be featured in an upcoming article on the alumni website.
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2. Before the turf, it had several quirks
The architect of Creighton’s softball program, coach Mary Higgins, BA’73, remembers checking out the grass field for the first time in the 1970s. She was told that her team finally had a place to practice.
The only problem: The ground wasn’t flat.
“I remember we took this old, beat-up sedan — nicknamed ‘Old Maroon’ — and put it on the field in neutral and it started to roll down the hill,” Higgins said, laughing. “We were like, ‘See! The field isn’t level.’”
Once leveled, the field still had some oddities. Higgins detailed a few from those early years:
- The clay playing surface would take days to dry out if it rained. A student manager went out with dixie cups to scoop out the water that collected around home plate.
- They would use sand to mix with the clay, making the surface more durable. Once, a delivery truck dropped off sand unexpectedly. Said Higgins: “My husband and I, we were just looking at this massive pile of sand. So, we rented a tractor with a front loader scoop and did our best.”
- One of Higgins’ family friends built the first dugouts.
- Higgins, coaches, their family members, student managers and more all volunteered to “mow the grass, plant the grass, run the sprinklers and pull the weeds.”
- The first outfield wall was basically a wooden snow fence.
- They sometimes used “Old Maroon” to drag the infield. It stalled out once during an exhibition game.
But this was their home, Higgins said.
A space for softball, which was the first intercollegiate women's sport at Creighton. Plus, the on-campus field definitely was a better option than the previous scenario — Higgins and her husband often spent their lunch hour driving around town to search for a park to host the team’s practice later that day.
“We were just thrilled to have a field,” Higgins said. “It was a labor of love, and we truly put our heart and souls into it. But we couldn’t have done it without a lot of help.”
The upgrades eventually came.
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3. A windy day spoiled its record-setting sandwich promo
In 1988, to celebrate the opening of the CU Sports Complex (a state-of-the-art conversion of the grass field to a more durable turf surface), University officials had an idea. A bit of an odd idea. But an idea, nonetheless.
Creighton would try to break the Guinness World Record for the world’s longest sandwich.
A local Subway donated $12,000 to make it happen — 1,600 feet of bread, 1,500 pounds of ham and turkey, 600 pounds of tomatoes, 600 pounds of onions, 500 pounds of lettuce and 300 pounds of cheese.
But in classic Nebraska fashion, the weather ruined it. Too much wind.
The sandwich project had to be moved inside. Students did still manage to break a state record by building a 1,100-foot-long sandwich. Then-President the Rev. Michael Morrison, SJ, said it was “an exciting and great day for Creighton University.”
More than 1,000 people attended the event. Bands, cheerleaders, pep squads. Campus leaders delivered speeches. And students hosted an intramural flag football tournament on the fields.
The CU Sports Complex opened as one of the largest artificial turf sports fields in the nation. A gift from the Ahmanson Foundation made it possible. It became the home of the Creighton baseball and softball teams (as well as a host site for intramural games and student events).
Check out the full story about the wild and windy afternoon on campus.
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4. It was home to the best snowmen
When you have THAT much open grass/turf, and Omaha gets pounded by one of its infamous winter storms, an opportunity arises for students looking to have fun in the snow.
Sometimes, it was the baseball or softball teams that needed to shovel all the snow off the playing surface so it could be used for practice once the weather warmed.
If there's work to be done, you might as well have a little fun, too.
In 1993, a photo of a gigantic snowman published on the front page of AlumNews.
It was the creation of four baseball players — Bryan Gillis, BA'96, Mike Browning, BSBA'95, Rick Heiserman, BA'95, and Dan Hower, BA'97. At least they were the ones who posed for the photograph, and earned all the credit for their large, snowy masterpiece.
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5. Its turf was ruined during a Violent Femmes concert
The concert must have been a good one. There were a reported 3,000 students on hand for the Spring Thing event in 1994 with the Violent Femmes as the headliner.
It was the first concert at the CU Sports Complex.
And the last.
After the concert ended, the facility’s field turf was discovered to have chewing tobacco stains, cigarette burns and other significant damage. The turf all had to be replaced, and the Student Board of Governors was required to chip in (in addition to the $30,000 cost to bring the band to campus).
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6. Nearby parked cars definitely got hit by errant baseballs
There were towering nets installed to keep foul balls and home run balls contained. But occasionally, an errant baseball or softball soared beyond the reaches of the field.
And sometimes, where they landed, happened to be the windshield of a parked car.
Just a few examples from the campus police report log published in the Creightonian during the early-to-mid 2000s:
- An employee reported that a baseball from the sports complex damaged a window on a parked vehicle north of McGloin Hall. 3:35 p.m.
- A student reported damage to the windshield of his vehicle parked in the baseball field parking lot.
- A student reported possible baseball damage to the windshield of her car parked in the McGloin parking lot.
- A student reported that the front windshield of her parked vehicle was damaged by an errant baseball.
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7. It hosted a secret softball game for the Jonas Brothers
In July 2009, the Jonas Brothers were on tour and performing at the then-Qwest Center. They wanted to play some softball.
It was supposed to be secret. An invite-only event. But there were crowds of fans lining the CU Sports Complex gates and fences to cheer and scream for the pop culture icons.
The game did unfold amongst the chaos. the Jonases' Road Dogs team (which included the brothers, their father, band and road crew) played slow-pitch softball against teams sponsored by Marquis Jet and NetJets — the private jet company owned by Berkshire Hathaway. Several Creighton softball players were on the team opposing the Jonas Brothers.
Read more about a very weird day in Creighton history.
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8. It showcased Creighton’s support of the College World Series
Creighton, as its host institution since 1950, has played an integral role in the College World Series’ success. Read more about Creighton’s longtime partnership with the CWS.
Players who’ve participated in the CWS over the last two decades likely have spent at least some time at the CU Sports Complex — especially in recent years, once the Greatest Show on Dirt moved into its new downtown stadium, Charles Schwab Field Omaha.
The best college baseball players in the sport have shagged fly balls on the outfield turf and taken swings on the indoor batting cages. Sometimes, they signed autographs for the clever kids and fans who figured out the CWS practice schedules.
Occasionally, sports royalty would show up. Like in 2010. Former Major League Baseball star Barry Bonds made a guest appearance at the CU Sports Complex. Bonds addressed parents, coaches and kids taking part in an NCAA Youth Education through Sports (YES) clinic, which Creighton helped host on its campus. The YES clinics took place in conjunction with the College World Series and provided baseball instruction and life skills to kids.
Starting in 2026, the CWS off-day workouts and drills will all be taking place at Creighton’s new baseball practice field. Read more about the new training grounds for CWS and Bluejay baseball players.
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9. MLB players trained there
So far, 22 Bluejay players who trained at the CU Sports Complex eventually made it to Major League Baseball (there’s a few in the minors who could soon work their way up to the big leagues).
The pros include Alan Benes, Kimera Bartee, Scott Stahoviak, Darin Ruf, BSBA'09. Pat Venditte, BSBA'08, Ty Blach, BSBA'13, Nicky Lopez, BSBA'19, Will Robertson, BSBA'20, and Isaac Collins, BA'20. Just to name a few.
Benes, Bartee and Stahoviak were part of the 1991 Creighton team that reached the College World Series.
They all sprinted around the bright green turf next to Burt Street. And after 2001, when Creighton opened the Kitty Gaughan Pavilion, the Bluejay standouts over the years walked the same halls.
The locker room, batting cages, the entryway lounge, the offices, and the deck rising above the first-base dugout were all features of the indoor practice facility that served as home base for baseball and softball players until 2025. The Kitty Gaughan Pavilion was made possible by a generous gift from Jackie Gaughan, who named the building after his mother.
A couple of Creighton baseball legends — Dennis Rasmussen and Scott Servais — finished their college careers before the CU Sports Complex was built. The program’s all-time great, Bob Gibson, did as well.
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10. It’s where the Jays won big
From 1988 to 2024, Creighton’s softball team won nine regular-season conference championships and earned 10 NCAA tournament berths. Many of the best players in program history performed at the CU Sports Complex, including All-Americans Jody Schwartz, BA'89, Kelly Brookhart, BS'93, Tara Oltman, BA'10, and Renae Sinkler, BA'11, MS'20.
The baseball team’s milestone season came in 1991, when it reached the College World Series. The Jays eventually started playing some of their home games at Rosenblatt Stadium and in 2011, they officially moved into what is now Charles Schwab Field Omaha.
But their on-campus diamond was home to many landmark moments — so many games where fans packed the bleachers, lined the fences and peered in from the sidewalk.
From 1988 to 2011, the Jays’ baseball team won three regular-season conference titles and made nine NCAA tournament appearances. They battled with Wichita State for supremacy in the Missouri Valley and tussled with Nebraska for bragging rights. Creighton Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Jim Hendry coached in those first few years. Ed Servais, the program’s all-time winningest coach, led the program from 2003 until he retired last season.
Perhaps the most fun that took place for both baseball and softball programs came in 2005.
For a moment during that season, Creighton’s combined baseball-softball winning percentage was the best in the country. The baseball team finished with a record of 48-17 (20-3 at its home complex!), won a conference regular season crown and reached an NCAA Regional. The softball team went 44-13, won its conference tournament title and earned an NCAA tournament berth.
“We know when their guys are having a good practice and when they’re doing well in their games,” then-softball coach Brent Vigness told The Omaha World-Herald during that season. “On the flip side, they know when we’re not having a good practice because they can hear me yelling, and vice versa.”
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CU Sports Complex through the years
There's memories in store for this cherished campus space. The Creighton Quad will be a new central hub for student activity and events. It's slated to open in fall 2026. Here's a couple more photos of the field through the years.
1983 photo of the field
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Turf installation in 1988
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A snow-covered CU Sports Complex in 2000
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Rendering of the new Creighton Quad
