Custodial cleans Breslin after Final Four, championship viewings

Even though the basketball championships were in Detroit, Physical Plant Custodial Services crews were armed for cleanup for those who chose to root for the team on home turf.

Officials opened the Breslin Student Events Center for fans to view both the Final Four game on April 4 and the national championship two days later. Breslin Center custodial staff put forth a championship effort to welcome a few thousand Spartans for some serious big screen action. Crew members included Custodian IVs Tom Bemrose and Ty Southwell, Custodian III Glafira Manuell, Custodian IIs Domenica Porco, Jeremy Stevens, Ashword Johnson, Custodian I Rudy Limas, and student custodians Janae Jones, Brittany Williams, Jeremiah Hawkins, Devin Hunter and De Andre Thomas.

Custodial Set-Up Supervisor Jay Jacobsen and his Set-up Crew also helped return the Breslin Center to its pre-tourney state. Members of his crew included Set-Up Worker Is Robyn Perry, Tim Fox, Mark Bossenbery, Brian Walker, Olga Pathfinder and Kurt Wagner and Laborer II Rick Taylor.

Jacobsen estimated more than 4,000 people showed up for the Final Four game, while a "significant amount more" were present to view the championship game on the Jumbotron Monday night.

MSU beat the University of Connecticut 64-52 in their Final Four game on April 4 and lost to North Carolina 89-72 in the national championship on April 6.

Landscape Services tidies campus after celebrations

When the Spartans once again pushed late into the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, Landscape Services crews knew what that meant: Outdoor celebrations at MSU.

After the Final Four and national championship celebrations, the Landscape Services Gardening Crew walked the streets on north campus, cleaning trash and keeping MSU tidy after crowds of students and bystanders flocked along Grand River Avenue and Bogue Street after the men’s basketball team pushed toward the national championship.

"From what I saw, I didn't clean up anything that I considered 'bad,'" Gardener Anna Siegel said, continuing that the "fire" crowd was in downtown East Lansing, away from their campus boundaries.

Other workers involved included Grounds/Site Construction/Group Leader Jim Delinescheff, Gardeners Bobby Lyon, Mike Hammond, Randy Oesterle and Tammy Hazel and Grounds Attendant III Reyna Ramirez. They divided along the Grand River Avenue corridor, where Siegel said most of the celebration mess was left.

April 9, 2009