Some time in the late 1990s Fred Uhe took a family trip to Kansas City and stayed in a hotel besieged, as he remembers it, by "10,000" kids.
The hotel manager told Uhe he was lucky to have secured a room since a major kids' soccer tournament was under way and rooms were hard to come by.
Uhe thought the manager was the lucky one — lucky to have such a flood of business.
"The thought festered in my mind ever since," Uhe said. "Why shouldn't Sarpy County attract that kind of activity, all that business?"
Such thoughts come naturally to Uhe, who has served as deputy Sarpy County clerk for the better part of two decades and is the county's lobbyist to the State Legislature.
The result, last year, was the formal incorporation of a non-profit, private entity known as the Sarpy County Sports Commission.
The commission held its first event Sept. 1, a fund-raiser "Special Events" breakfast marking the completion of the Triple-A baseball Omaha Storm Chasers' first full season at Werner Park in Papillion.
It was a milestone for the commission, whose membership will grow rapidly in coming years if Sarpy County Administrator Mark Wayne gets his wish.
Wayne is one of three Sarpy County officials who sit on the commission's six-member board of directors. Along with Uhe and Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov, Wayne brings to the private body experience of working in county government.
The board is rounded out by Bob Batt, an executive with Nebraska Furniture Mart, insurance agent Mike Williams and Papillion-area businessman Don Bellino.
Wayne said the commission is intended to become a dues-paying membership organization much like any other service club, except that its emphasis will be on attracting sports events to Sarpy County.
"We want to promote sporting activities and economic development in Sarpy County, the kind of events that will bring in people from all over the Midwest to stay in hotels and go to restaurants," Wayne said. "There are a lot of regional soccer tournaments out there, and then there's volleyball, baseball, basketball, you name it."
He said the commission's board is in the early stages of drawing up membership requirements and benefits. A dues schedule has not yet been set.
Encouraging full use of the county's new Werner Park baseball stadium will be a big part of the commission's work, Wayne said.
He said the stadium can be about more than baseball games.
"We really want to get our legacy program off the ground," he said. "We want to add beautification to the entrance of the ballpark.
"We have acres available where we could build a tribute to Nebraska's hall of famers, in particular Bob Gibson. We could have an arboretum as a destination place for weddings, art exhibits.
"We can bring people there for more than just ballgames."
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