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Michael A. MacDowell: Campus politics? Best to let sleeping dogs lie

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Tom Brady may have been the Most Valuable Player at this year’s Super Bowl as his Tampa Bay Buccaneers knocked off the Kansas City Chiefs, but the men and women working off the field may have been even more crucial to the big game’s success.

You don’t see them on your television screens, but the security team tasked with working this year’s Super Bowl put in an immense amount of time and work to ensure that the whole event went smoothly and safely.

For Brian Fischer, the president of 1st Alert Security &amp; Protection Services in Wilkes-Barre, the big game wasn’t just an excuse to kick back and relax.

This was his Super Bowl too.

“It was an incredible opportunity,” said Fischer, who received the call to come down to Tampa and work security for the Super Bowl. “I’m so blessed and thankful that I was selected.”

Fischer initially found his way into the security line of work through his position as the guest services manager for the Mohegan Sun Arena. He became the arena’s security manager, and eventually began working at venues all over the state.

“My first event was at the Pocono Raceway,” Fischer recalled. “I’ve worked all the [Philadelphia] Eagles home games, and I’ve worked games at Penn State, as well.”

After applying, interviewing for and eventually landing the job at Super Bowl LV, Fischer had to go through a rigorous process to get ready for the big game, including obtaining a new specific security license and taking multiple courses to get up to speed on the NFL’s protocols.

“I went down in mid-January, and it was right to work,” Fischer said. “The training was intense.”

As one might expect, the security around an event as massive as the Super Bowl, even in a year where Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay couldn’t fill its 65,000-pluss seats to capacity, has to be very tight.

Fischer said that he had separate credentials for the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, the week of the actual game and gameday.

“They refer to the whole set-up as a ‘campus’,” Fischer said. “It’s totally enclosed, and you have to have the proper credential to get in, and to get into the actual stadium.”

And of course, securing this year’s game would be even trickier when factoring in COVID-19 protocols on top of the NFL’s already-existing protocols.

“Everyone had to wear masks at all times, and we were screened regularly,” Fischer said.

The intense training seemed to pay off for Fischer, who received five commendations from the NFL for his outstanding work.

Fischer relayed one specific story of how he came to earn one of his commendations.

“A woman came up, she had a credential but no one was allowed into the tunnel where I was stationed so I had to turn her away,” Fischer said. “Turns out, she was testing me to see if I’d let her through.

“I guess I passed the test, because someone found out and I got commended for it.”

What made an already-incredible experience even better for Fischer was that he wasn’t the only man down there with roots in the Wyoming Valley.

“My father went to high school with George Toma,” Fischer said. “Meeting him made my whole trip that much more special.”

Toma’s grown into something of a mythical figure around the area: an Edwardsville native, the 92-year-old has worked as a groundskeeper for every Super Bowl since the very start. He’s been called the “God of Sod” and, as Fischer called him, “The Sodfather.”

According to Fischer, he stopped another groundskeeper as they were walking into the stadium, and just asked them to say hello to Toma for him.

“I didn’t think anything of it, but then the next person to walk through the tunnel was George’s son,” Fischer said. “I told him I wasn’t cleared to go out onto the field, but he brought me along.”

Toma and Fischer shared stories about Fischer’s father’s old store in Edwardsville, and Fischer was even allowed to walk into the Chiefs’ end zone.

“I had goosebumps,” Fischer said. “It was a delightful surprise.”

In addition to a local legend like Toma, Fischer also got to chat with a few other famous folks during his stint in Tampa.

“I got to meet Russell Wilson, who had just won the Man of the Year Award, and I got to congratulate The Weeknd after his show,” Fischer said.

And of course, being that this year saw the Bucs win the Super Bowl in their home stadium, something that’s never happened before, Fischer got to witness the excitement firsthand.

“They were going crazy for the Bucs,” Fischer said. “It’s so neat to get to see all of that excitement in person.”

Now that the game’s over and done with, Fischer can head home and get back to work with his team at 1st Alert.

But now, he’s got a whole wealth of the most valuable experience imaginable to pass along.

“It’s just the absolute highest level, the Super Bowl. … I can’t wait to apply and pass along what I’ve learned,” Fischer said.

“This was a bucket list moment, for sure.”

Area man has Super experience