Pelini featured speaker at chamber event

COLUMBUS -- Bo Pelini, Nebraska’s new football coach, will be the featured speaker at Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Celebration.

The event will be April 29 at Platte County Agricultural Park, according to a press release from K.C. Belitz, chamber president.

The evening is described as a casual event, which the organizers hope will attract a larger crowd.

“We are sure that hearing Coach Pelini will be of interest to a lot of people in the area,” said Matt Gotschall, chairman-elect of the chamber’s board of directors. “Because of this, we want to create an event that everyone would feel comfortable attending.

“The event is open to everyone,” he said. “They will not only hear from Coach Pelini, but will also hear an exciting story of the chamber’s past fiscal year and our plans to keep this region moving forward.”

Pelini has coached on three NFL teams, including earning a Super Bowl ring with the San Francisco 49ers.

He was the defensive coordinator for Louisiana State University’s national championship team of 2007. He lead Nebraska to a victory over Michigan State in the 2003 Alamo Bowl as interim head coach after serving as defensive coordinator during the season.

After leaving NU in 2003, Pelini was co-defensive coordinator at Oklahoma for one year before being hired as LSU’s defensive coordinator before the 2005 season.

Pelini is a native of Youngstown, Ohio. After earning his bachelor’s degree in business marketing from Ohio State in 1990, he completed his master’s degree in sports administration at Ohio University in 1992.

Pelini was a four-year letterwinner and a two-year starter at free safety at Ohio State. He was named Academic All-Big 10 three times.

Chamber members who have reached a significant anniversary in their years of membership will be honored that evening as well.

Tickets for the event are available for $20 to any employee of a Chamber-member business. Non-member tickets are $25. Chamber businesses can reserved a table of eight for $250. Student tickets are available to any full-time student for $15.

Contact the chamber at 564-2769 to reserve a table or purchase tickets.