Crunch time for thousands of volunteers with Final Four under 2 weeks away

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The Minneapolis Final Four is less than two weeks away.

Preparations for the national event have been underway for months, but it’s officially crunch time for thousands of Final Four volunteers. More than 2,000 volunteers signed up in less than four hours.

“We actually had over 3,000 people on our waitlist, which is insane and so wonderful that we have so many great volunteers,” said Shelia Her, the volunteer director.

Many of the volunteers gathered in Minneapolis Sunday will be experiencing the Final Four for the first time.

Few of them, like Bion Beebe, have been through Final Four volunteering before.

“I worked at the airport at a booth where we helped college coaches that were coming to town,” Beebe said.

He was one of the first faces people saw when they arrived in Minneapolis for the Final Four in 1992.

“This is what we got 27 years ago,” he said. “I kept it as a souvenir. I’ve probably only worn it half a dozen times in those years.”

In his souvenir shirt, Beebe sat among hundreds of other volunteers in Williams Arena Sunday afternoon. They’ve gone through some trainings and now they’re learning more about their roles and about what Final Four weekend will bring.

“It’s so much bigger now. I mean, there’s way more people around. It’s just a bigger event,” Beebe said.

The group of volunteers will be greeting, directing and even dribbling as Final Four weekend comes back to Minneapolis in a big way.