This student is fired up for final game

Saturday"s (Dec. 6) final Green Wave football game in the inaugural season of Yulman Stadium will be an emotional one for all graduating seniors affiliated with the event — players, cheerleaders and marching band musicians. Spectators won"t see Lenny Bresler throwing the pigskin down the field, but without his contributions, the game would not be the same.

The senior engineering major has worked for AFX Pro, a special effects and pyrotechnic production company, since his first year at Tulane University. He helps produce effects for Tulane and the New Orleans Saints games as well as the Endymion Ball. He also worked the 2013 Super Bowl at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

For the Green Wave, the group produces fog, fire and cryogenic “frosted air” to create a dramatic pregame atmosphere. New this year for Yulman Stadium was a specially produced Tulane light board that displays the American flag during the national anthem.

“When we do our job right, we get the team pumped up and ready for the game,” Bresler said. “It makes me feel personally like I"m contributing to the win or the outcome of the game.”

While producing effects on football"s biggest stage for the Saints is exciting, the Cincinnati native says nothing compares to working in the Green Wave"s home stadium.

“It"s definitely closer to home,” Bresler said. “I know a lot of the football players, the cheerleaders, a lot of the people associated with it. We don"t necessarily interact with the Saints players. It feels like you"re part of the team a little bit more, which I enjoy. You"re doing something for your own school.”

The senior has already accepted a job for May 2015 as a field engineer for Schlumberger, a Tyler, Texas–based oil field services engineering company.

It"s tough to leave New Orleans, but the fourth-generation Greenie won"t be away for too long.

Johanna Gretschel holds bachelor"s and master"s degrees from Tulane University. She is a freelance writer living in New Orleans.