Despite losing 'souvenir', S.D. man still big NU fan
Did you hear about the guy who tried to steal a football at the NU-Missouri game Saturday?
University of Nebraska-Lincoln police say Andrew Siemonsma of Dell Rapids, S.D., didn’t throw back the ball after Missouri kicked it through the goal posts. Instead, they said, he tucked it under his jacket and left his seat in South Stadium.
UNL police took the ball — kicked in a first-quarter point-after-touchdown attempt — from him and returned it to Missouri.
The incident prompted a police report and a blotter on JournalStar.com.
Here’s Siemonsma’s story:
First of all, he’s a big Husker fan, like a lot of South Dakota people.
“As a kid, I followed those guys with Frank Solich. And Lawrence Phillips and those guys. I followed them, too.”
He watched them on TV.
“I always wanted to go to a game.”
He played quarterback for his high school team in Dell Rapids, a town near Sioux Falls. He continued his love of the game, playing flag football at Southwest Minnesota State. (The jacket he tucked that football into was his black Southwest Minnesota State jacket.)
He’d been to Lincoln a few times for regional flag-football tournaments. His team placed second one year and he won first time all-region offense honors twice.
On those trips to Lincoln, he’d see Memorial Stadium and think about going to a game some day.
After graduating last year with a business finance degree, he took a job at a Wells Fargo Bank in Sioux Falls. He’s a sales representative who sells home-equity lines and second mortgages. He also helps his dad and brothers farm. They have about 500 acres of corn and beans and about 3,000 pigs.
And, he said, he’s the kind of guy who tries to avoid the police. One speeding ticket when he was 16. That’s it.
On Saturday, he came down to Lincoln with a buddy.
They walked around Memorial Stadium before the game, taking photos with the cheap camera he bought at a gas station, and they met some friendly Husker fans at a tailgate party.
Then he and his buddy took their seats in the South Stadium.
He’ll never forget the screams, the sea of red.
“The crowd was amazing. The atmosphere was great. Everyone was up on their feet. It was a great experience.”
He laughed.
“At least for that quarter I was there.”
The kick went up. The ball sailed his way. He jumped. He caught it!
People around him applauded.
“I thought that was kind of cool. I thought it was a great catch — I just reached back and caught it out of the air.”
He tucked it under his jacket.
“Then I took off because I thought they were going to start attacking me. It was my first game. I don’t know how Nebraska fans react. I figured they’d all try to go after it.”
Thrilled to have a souvenir to show people back home, he headed to the bathroom. When he came out and headed back to his seat, his buddy told him that about five guys were looking for him.
“I said, ‘Oh, really?’”
Then a guy grabbed his arm and took the ball, he said. Soon, several UNL police officers surrounded him. One guy was real nice. But one guy was real stern, telling him how dumb he was for taking the ball.
He explained that he didn’t know it wasn’t allowed, that if he’d thought it was stealing he’d have taken off out of the gate and not tried to return to his seat.
“There was no net up, no signs. I figured it was OK, like at baseball games, where fans can keep the balls.”
The officers took his ticket stub (he’d wanted to keep it as a souvenir, too) and kicked him out.
He walked around the stadium awhile, then found those friendly Husker tailgaters he’d met earlier in the day and told them his story. They invited him to watch the rest of the game on their big-screen TV, which he did.
He says he’s still a big Husker fan.
Reach Colleen Kenney at 473-2655 or ckenney@journalstar.com.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln police say Andrew Siemonsma of Dell Rapids, S.D., didn’t throw back the ball after Missouri kicked it through the goal posts. Instead, they said, he tucked it under his jacket and left his seat in South Stadium.
UNL police took the ball — kicked in a first-quarter point-after-touchdown attempt — from him and returned it to Missouri.
The incident prompted a police report and a blotter on JournalStar.com.
Here’s Siemonsma’s story:
First of all, he’s a big Husker fan, like a lot of South Dakota people.
“As a kid, I followed those guys with Frank Solich. And Lawrence Phillips and those guys. I followed them, too.”
He watched them on TV.
“I always wanted to go to a game.”
He played quarterback for his high school team in Dell Rapids, a town near Sioux Falls. He continued his love of the game, playing flag football at Southwest Minnesota State. (The jacket he tucked that football into was his black Southwest Minnesota State jacket.)
He’d been to Lincoln a few times for regional flag-football tournaments. His team placed second one year and he won first time all-region offense honors twice.
On those trips to Lincoln, he’d see Memorial Stadium and think about going to a game some day.
After graduating last year with a business finance degree, he took a job at a Wells Fargo Bank in Sioux Falls. He’s a sales representative who sells home-equity lines and second mortgages. He also helps his dad and brothers farm. They have about 500 acres of corn and beans and about 3,000 pigs.
And, he said, he’s the kind of guy who tries to avoid the police. One speeding ticket when he was 16. That’s it.
On Saturday, he came down to Lincoln with a buddy.
They walked around Memorial Stadium before the game, taking photos with the cheap camera he bought at a gas station, and they met some friendly Husker fans at a tailgate party.
Then he and his buddy took their seats in the South Stadium.
He’ll never forget the screams, the sea of red.
“The crowd was amazing. The atmosphere was great. Everyone was up on their feet. It was a great experience.”
He laughed.
“At least for that quarter I was there.”
The kick went up. The ball sailed his way. He jumped. He caught it!
People around him applauded.
“I thought that was kind of cool. I thought it was a great catch — I just reached back and caught it out of the air.”
He tucked it under his jacket.
“Then I took off because I thought they were going to start attacking me. It was my first game. I don’t know how Nebraska fans react. I figured they’d all try to go after it.”
Thrilled to have a souvenir to show people back home, he headed to the bathroom. When he came out and headed back to his seat, his buddy told him that about five guys were looking for him.
“I said, ‘Oh, really?’”
Then a guy grabbed his arm and took the ball, he said. Soon, several UNL police officers surrounded him. One guy was real nice. But one guy was real stern, telling him how dumb he was for taking the ball.
He explained that he didn’t know it wasn’t allowed, that if he’d thought it was stealing he’d have taken off out of the gate and not tried to return to his seat.
“There was no net up, no signs. I figured it was OK, like at baseball games, where fans can keep the balls.”
The officers took his ticket stub (he’d wanted to keep it as a souvenir, too) and kicked him out.
He walked around the stadium awhile, then found those friendly Husker tailgaters he’d met earlier in the day and told them his story. They invited him to watch the rest of the game on their big-screen TV, which he did.
He says he’s still a big Husker fan.
Reach Colleen Kenney at 473-2655 or ckenney@journalstar.com.
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