At Southern Illinois, solar eclipse party mixes science, fun and BBQ
Southern Illinois men’s basketball coach Barry Hinson put on his barbecue apron and, like many of his fellow Carbondale residents, welcomed more than 50,000 visitors to the small town that was a hot spot to watch Monday’s solar eclipse, one of the most anticipated sky-watching events in decades.
Carbondale was in the path of totality, which meant it experienced a longer period of darkness than almost anywhere else in the country. The school opened up Saluki Stadium, where scientists from NASA gave demonstrations and bands performed.
Hinson said the crowd kept chanting “move” repeatedly until the eclipse occurred about
1:20 p.m. local time. It lasted
2 minutes and 38 seconds; some clouds moved during the totality, but the corona was able to shine through it and emerge for the final 15 seconds of totality.
“The crowd went nuts. You would have thought someone intercepted it and ran it back for 98 yards,” Hinson told USA TODAY Sports by phone shortly after the event. “You could not have scripted (the eclipse) any better. It was like an Academy Award movie and it was the last five minutes of the movie.”
Hinson said he and his basketball staff and colleagues in the athletics department helped in planning an eclipse party at the stadium, with some working security, concessions and emergency response.
Hinson, who has crafted his own barbecue sauce, took the ini- tiative with his “BBQ Trailer” and put it to good use. Hinson said he had been “cooking BBQ for the last 72 hours” and, along with staff members, sold 400 pounds of pork, 400 pounds of chicken and 100 pounds of bologna.
They also got creative by serving the “Saluki Solar Sandwich” and “Total Eclipse,” which featured chicken or pork with slices of bologna on top to resemble “totality.” They also showcased “Cosmic Cookies.”
“It was a hit,” Hinson said. “We didn’t know what to expect. Outside the stadium, it was just nonstop gridlock. Now people will always have something to remember Carbondale, Ill., for.”
With spectators leaving the stadium and making the trek back home, Hinson joked, “We’re going from totality to normalcy within 24 hours. That doesn’t happen every day in Carbondale.”