From the days of pencils, erasers and mimeograph machines to computers, online stats and high-speed printers, Dick and Barbara Bull have seen it all as volunteers for the University of Idaho's sports information department for more than 40 years.
November 2015, however, marked the end of an era for the sports information office and the Bulls – they've decided to stow their stat-taking gear and watch the Vandals from the stands with their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
“It wasn't a job,” said Dick Bull, who retired as a professor from Idaho in 1997. “It was enjoyable. You are right in the middle of the action, which makes it exciting.”
Barbara Bull, a laboratory technologist (now retired) at Gritman Medical Center, said student-athletes constantly were surprised when they learned that the lady about to poke them with a needle was the same one who recorded their numbers.
“It was very cute,” she recalls. “None of those players could believe the lady on the other side of the needle was keeping their stats.”
Her initiation into stat-keeping was more happenstance than Dick's association with athletics. An avid sports fan, he was invited to join the table crew (clock operator, scorebook, etc.) when one of the members decided to retire in the late 1960s. For him, the rest was history as he became more and more involved with the gameday operations. Barbara didn't join him in the pressbox until their two children were old enough to go to games on their own. She took up the crew's invitation to view the games from above, not knowing that it would develop into a 40-year stay.
“I was so nervous that first game, worrying whether I could actually keep official stats," said Barb, noting it took some restraint to follow the no-cheering mandate of a press area. “We had to really work at not stopping and cheering.”
Their volunteerism with the Vandals was a natural, Dick said.
“We were interested in athletics,” said Dick, who as time went on developed his own computerized stat system for football. “We wanted to contribute in a way that might be helpful.”
They also have given generously to the Vandal Scholarship Fund and to the University of Idaho. They were recognized as Idaho Treasures by the Alumni Association in 2001 and were granted honorary alumni status in 2012.
While it's been years since they've occupied their season ticket seats at the Kibbie Dome, they do attend at least one road game every season. They've been to Auburn, USC, Ole Miss and Texas A&M to name a few. A favorite memory is when the Vandals were at Nebraska and they experienced the overall courtesy of the Cornhuskers' fans – hospitality that extended to after the game as well.
“We were visiting with the gentlemen at the next table,” says Barbara recounting their dinner that evening at a local steakhouse. “When it came time to pay our bill, they didn't bring it and they didn't bring it. We finally asked and learned those gentlemen had picked up the tab.”
Of course, their fondest memories are of Vandals and Vandal games. They've been in the midst of some of the greatest games in Vandal history with the Sweet Sixteen men's basketball team, two Humanitarian Bowl championships, and a regular menu of football playoff games in the 1980s and 90s.
One very memorable opportunity, though, was spending their last five football seasons working in the pressbox alongside their grandson Bryce, a media relations student assistant.
“It made it special to have him there,” Barbara said. “He's graduating, and our kids have been after us for a while to join them in the stands. It's time.”
