When you hear Little League World Series, you probably think of baseball, the kids, teams and the crowds. You might wonder what it takes to run this tournament you probably don’t think of the friendly and always smiling usher who have a big part in how smoothly this runs as well.

Most sporting events couldn’t run without ushers there to help with the crowd and keep some type of order when things get crowded and exciting. Numerous ushers are around both Volunteer and Lamade Stadiums during the World Series every day of the tournament.

Gary Kay has been ushering at the Little League World Series for 31 years and first got into the world of Little League in 1979 when he became a coach for his local Little League.

“I had my neighbors kid come over to me and ask if I could coach his team because, they already had a Little League team, and they weren’t going to be able to play if they didn’t find a coach,” Kay said. “I had never coached before, but it was a point in my life where I needed something to focus on, and because of that I am a lucky man, and I have now been doing the Little League World Series since 1994..”

Kay started out in Indiana and came to the Little League World Series in 1993 and was hooked, stating “I’ve got to be part of this next year.”

He then came back the next year as a volunteer usher and has been here ever since. Kay now lives in Florida and travels up each year to be a part of this special event and loves every minute of it. One of his favorite part of the ushering experience is being around the kids, the game, and all of it.

“I’m here for the kids and being here and working around the kids just makes me happy and seeing them happy, especially the kids who don’t have adult figures in their life,” Kay said. “I try to prove that there are good people out here and that they can come to us if they need them.”

Another long-time host at the Series is Tim Terry, a resident of Oregon who started at the Little League World Series in 1991 and has been here every year for 26 years. Terry started getting involved in the Little League organization in 1979 as a coach and became interested in the World Series when some of the all-star teams he coached won their state championships.

“Back in those days it was hard to get out of the western region with California and Hawaii always dominating, but my son and I decided that even if we lost, we were still going to the World Series,” Terry said. “After being here and seeing how everything was run and the different people involved, I realized that I wasn’t going to get to Williamsport with my Little League team, but I could work there and help.”

As with most people when Terry came, he was hooked on the experience and wanted to keep coming. He loves that he can meet people from all over the world and make friends as well and the different people who keep coming back as well.

“I am usually outside of Tunnel 2 (at Lamade Stadium) and so I have a real chance to engage with people, the people inside are always on alert, but out here we get to trade pins or even sit down and talk with them and enjoy people’s company.”

One of the usher supervisors at the Little League orld Series is Christina Taddeo. She works year-round for Little League doing risk management, but one of her favorite parts of the job is working with the ushers at the World Series every August.

“The ushers are such a great group of people, they come from all over the country year after year and they are dedicated to Little League and the Little League community. I can’t begin to say how much they mean to this event and the people who come into our stadiums, they welcome the families and our guests,” Taddeo said.

Taddeo has some ushers who have been ushering since the 1970s. In the end, she has very few ushers who only do it for one year. They all want to come back and help.

There is one special usher named JD Pakledinaz from Michigan. One of the reasons he is so special is because is he what you would call a legacy, as in his parents started working here when he was little and when he was old enough, he started to work here as well. Most of the seasoned ushers know Pakledinaz when he comes in.

“We actually stared to come in ’04 because we had an umpire from our area get the opportunity to umpire here at the World Series. That was the main reason that we started coming out here,” Pakledinaz said. “We came back the next year because we connected with a team here and just started coming here as one of our family vacations, and this happens to be my favorite vacation that we take all year.”

Pakledinaz started ushering in 2014 and has been here for 11 years. One of his favorite memories from the series is meeting a friend years ago who he is still in contact with and happened to just speak to him prior to being interviewed on Monday.

Pakledinaz has no bad experiences when he is here and wants to give everyone the same experience because he believes that this is something that everyone has to experience once in their life because “there is nothing like it”.

Ushers come from all over the United States with various backgrounds, and some are from the neighboring area such as Rosemary Seibert, who is from Montgomery. Seibert has been ushering for seven years.

“The World Series is fantastic, and I just wanted to be a part of it,” Seibert said.

She said she loves interacting with the fans and says that is the best part of her job.

The ushers do more than show people seats and greet and show fans a great time, they are the eyes and ears of the stadium.

“In our stadiums they are an essential part of the Little League Baseball World Series. We wouldn’t operate these stadiums without them, I don’t like to call them security in the stadium, but they are the eyes and ears,” Taddeo said. “If we need anything from a maintenance to EMT call or even security, they are right there helping out and alerting when they can.”

This year it was noted that Little League was struggling to find people to help out and are looking for anyone who would be interested in working next year’s Little League World Series.

Anyone interested in volunteering and becoming an usher at the World Series can simply apply at the Little League World series website and go under volunteers and fill out the volunteer form.