12C SATURDAY, AUGUST 17, 1996
PROFILES
LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
Baby Jay can still wow 'em at ripe age of 25
Continued from page 1C
Baby Jay costume was used for 13 years. In 1984, Hurst returned to retire her Baby Jay costume. Tufts of white feathers were attached to the eyebrows and head and she was given a cane to carry out onto the football field. There she was greeted by a new Baby Jay. Hurst's original costume has been housed in the university archives since.
The current Baby Jay costume is made by the same company that creates the characters for Walt Disney World. This Baby Jay had a lot of flaws in it when it first arrived. After getting a beak job and a hair cut, Baby Jay is finally appearing
"A lot of times you want to tell little kids that as they're punching your head, they're hurting you."
a little more trai-
— Sara Jarrell, Baby Jay
a little more ditional.
The latest Baby Jay costume was introduced before the 1995 KU-UCLA basketball game. All of the old Baby Jay costumes were brought onto the court, so the costume history could be seen by all.
"I think that the outfit moves itself sometimes," said Sara Jarrell, a current Baby Jay. "It's impossible to simply walk in the outfit, you have to do the Jayhawk strut. And you think, 'I feel gross, I smell gross,' all the same. You forget that you're hot, you're just wet. And when you get an itch, there is nothing you can do about it."
Standing out
Atormer KU cheerleader,Jarrell wanted to have more than KU school spirit. She wanted to be the Jayhawk, the symbol of the university.
Jarrell, a junior from Albuquerque, N.M., is 5-foot-2-inches tall and is one of the three women to wear the current Baby Jay featherweight costume.
Last spring, Jarrell attended Baby Jay tryouts along with seven or eight other women. She and the others ran for 12 minutes to see if they had enough stamina to make it through an average game. Jarrell also had an interview in which she let her personality shine.
In addition, the auditions required the prospective Baby Jays to wear the costume while performing a one-minute skit, the Rock Chalk cheer, the alma mater and expressing a series of Baby lay emotions.
"The judges yell out situations, three of them, like, 'Baby Jay's tail is on fire' or, 'The Jayhawks just scored,' and you have to react to what they have just said," recalled jarrell.
The mascots traditionally go to camp with the KU cheerleaders. At camp they attend special mascot training sessions and even get a chance to wear their costumes out into the community for a service project.
Not all experiences are good for the mascots. Willie the Wildcat humiliated Jarrell while parading her in front of the crowd this past year at the KU-K-State football game in Manhattan. And she admits that seeing smaller children and dealing with their abuse is sometimes hard.
"A lot of times you want to tell little kids that as they're punching your head, they're hurting you," larrell said.
Little children try to give Baby Jay potato chips during warm weather picnics. Jarrell says that she simply throws the chips over her shoulder and hopes that the kids do not notice.
For the most part, however being the Baby Jay has been positive for Jarrell.
Jarrell's favorite experience so far has been attending a man's birthday party in Topeka. He was a lawyer and had been a longtime fan of the Jayhawks. Recently, it was discovered that he had a brain tumor, and his family wanted to make his birthday extra special.
"It was the greatest day of this man's life," Jarrell said. "He could not get over it. He was so worked up that he could barely talk. His wife wrote me a thank you note, his daughter wrote to me, and his law firm called the Sports Information Office and thanked them. It was really special. I even want to go back and visit him again. I like knowing that I made someone's day."
KU hostess has recipe for successful dining
- Keeping food on the plates of thousands of people keeps Dottie Nordlund the hostess with the mostest.
BY MEGAN POPLINGER
JOURNAL-WORLD
EARL RICHARDSON/JOURNAL-WORLD PHOT
Dottle Nordlund, assistant manager of catering at the Kansas Union, has her hands full in the summer when she works to feed 600 people three times a week during student orientation.
From preparing entrees for classy parties at the Lied Center to getting 60,000 cookies and 680 gallons of punch for activities on commencement day, Dottie Nordlund keeps people at Kansas University functions fed.
victory. Nordlund's love for cooking and entertaining friends began with dinner parties in her home. Her reputation as a good hostess landed her a job as a cook for the Chi Omega sorority more than 20 years ago and now she organizes banquets for thousands of people as the assistant manager of catering at the Kansas Union.
Nordlund's first food industry experience came from working as a soda jerk at a Walgreens in her home town. While she was in high school, she worked in the kitchen of a hospital.
Seeing many changes that have taken place in the food industry has been an exciting part of her job.
"When I worked at the hospital, we squeezed every orange," Nordlund said with a smile.
She took time off from cooking professionally while her children were young. The Chi Omega sorority lured her back into the kitchen, a job she held for three years.
From there she moved to cooking for the chancellor and baking for students in Hashinger Hall. In 1978 she began at the Union.
While at Hashinger, she did all of the
baking from scratch. That job is not as time consuming now that so many baked goods some frozen, Nordlund said. Seeingly minor things, such as ready made orange juice, make food preparation easier.
Union has proved successful because students know the names.
One of Nordlund's disappointments comes from the change to faster, easier foods. She has noticed that family dining is no longer the norm and she thinks it is partially because people are getting used to eating food on the run.
Food interest have also changed according to Nordlund. She said that students are now more interested in food they can take with them on the way to class. Because of this, bagels are a very popular item. Students are also interested in low-fat foods and brand names. Bringing Pizza Hut and TCBY into the
"I'm just amazed that no one knows how to set a table anymore," Nordlund said. Many of the students who come to work for her must be taught how to set a table.
Because of this observation, one of
Nordlund's goals is to start offering an eating etiquette class to teach students how to properly eat a six-course meal. This may seem outdated, but, she pointed out that many interviews include a lunch or dinner and the interviewee should know proper dining manners.
This concern for the students goes along with Nordlund's job, as she hires many students to help with the catering. Carrie Frazier is a student who has worked for Nordlund for the last year as a lead caterer. Nordlund gives her the details, up to how many forks will be needed, and then Frazier instructs other caterers.
"She's got the job down pat," Frazier said.
Frazier noted Nordlund's devotion to her job to ensure everything runs smoothly. "She works an amazing amount of hours; Saturday, Sunday — I don't know how many days straight," Frazier said.
Nordlund doesn't seem to mind.
"I've really enjoyed it," she said. It is especially fulfilling when things turn out perfectly, like the Lied Center opening banquet and the farewell party for Chancellor Gene Budig. The Union catering won special dining awards from the National College Food Service Assn. on both occasions. For Nordlund it is events like these that the hours counting pieces of rented china or the last minute changes pay off.
Even with all the work she puts into her job, Nordlund still enjoys throwing dinner parties at her home. Working in food service for a large university has a lot of hidden responsibilities, but it is a perfect job for Dottie Nordlund.
She is a natural born hostess.
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