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IllustrateD volume 24, issue 5 81 f 2 0 1 4 g o l d e n p e t e a w a r d s BY ALAN KARPICK AKarpick@GoldandBlack.com I t was a night of accomplishment in more ways than one. Dozens of Boilermaker student-ath- letes were part of the Golden Pete Awards on April 27 in Loeb Playhouse. And, for the second year, it had its mo- ments of frivolity that keep the audi- ence engaged for the nearly two-hour event. But, if you ask co-host Stuart Schwei- gert, it was an accomplishment for him too, just to be able to survive as emcee. "It was a lot of fun to do, but it was also a big challenge for me," Schwei- gert said the morning after the event. "It took a lot of people to pull this off and that is the understatement of the year. One thing I know now, I just don't see how the hosts on the Emmys or Acade- my Awards make it look so easy. I have a newfound respect for those people." Schweigert, an All-Big Ten defensive back under Coach Joe Tiller from 2000- 03, teamed with women's basketball alum Natalia Bogdan- ova to co-host the event. They made for an entertaining duo. Bogdanova, who deftly uses her Russian heritage when- ever she can to be the foil, had the audience going early when she called Schweigert's frame a little "jiggly" when she bumped up against him, particularly contrasted with his muscle-bound "Jumbo Heroes" promotional poster from his playing days on the big screen overhead. She was also quick to show that she was at least an inch taller than co-host, which got quite the laugh. "She was awesome to work with, and she is so sponta- neous," Schweigert said. With a healthy does of self-deprecation, Schweigert said his performance started slow with a couple of early mis- takes. In one case he got his cue cards in the wrong order and failed to ask Bogdanova what she was doing with her life after she had spent several minutes quizzing Schwei- gert on the same topic. "I owe her an apology, and I am grateful she is such a good sport," said Schweigert, who runs several business- es, including an arena football franchise from his home- town of Saginaw, Mich. "To be honest, being a part of this event made me a little jealous that we didn't have it when I was in school." For the record, Bogdanova, a 2009 graduate, is married and living in Indianapolis working at her "dream job" in HR for Eli Lilly. During the event, she couldn't help but hide her affinity for women's basketball nominees, even telling senior Courtney Moses after she won an award, "I love you, Courtney." But, mostly, she worked to hold it in check, not wanting to influence the audience cell phone voting. Taking Time To Pay Tribute Event hit among student-athletes Tom Campbell Co-hosts Natalia Bogdanova and Stuart Schweigert set the scene for the show with a humorous opening to the Golden Pete Awards. Bogdanova called out Schwei- gert's height and stood near him to take a measurement. Bogdanova was a regular on the women's team from 2004-09, and Schweigert (2000-2003) remains Pur- due's all-time interceptions leader with 17.