When the original owner and founder of the Omaha Beef, Jim Klimschot, overheard two women talking about the college football letter of intent signing day in 1999 he was fascinated. Overhearing one say to the other that the University of Nebraska-Lincoln team had gotten some real ‘beef’ it struck a cord with him.
After mulling it over for sometime, Klimschot decided that his newly awarded professional indoor football team would be called the Omaha Beef. Once Klimschot had found a fun name for his team the work had only begun. He decided that the dance team would be known as the Omaha Prime Dancers and their male counterparts would be know as the Rump Roasters. The mascot became Sir Loin and he renamed the Omaha Civic Auditorium the 'Slaughterhouse'. Klimschot even named the fan club the ‘Beef Jerkys’.
Klimschot knew that developing a professional indoor football team would take marketing and a solid fan base if it was going to be successful in an area of the country that loves the Nebraska Cornhuskers and all of the traditions that accompany college football. He knew it would be hard to introduce a game that is played indoors, on a shorter and narrower field, and with fewer players. Fortunately, the fans took to the new idea and he ran with it.
The successes of the Omaha Beef were many in the seasons that followed. Until the untimely death of Mr. Klimschot in August 2001, after a two-year fight with colon cancer, the Beef were on the move. Mrs. Judy Klimschot became the Beef's majority owner when her husband passed. Realizing that the task was too big to handle herself, Mrs. Klimschot decided to take on partners or sell the team.
Keeping her husband's dream alive, Mrs. Klimschot decided to sell the Omaha Beef in October 2002. A father and son team of Jay and Harlan Noddle took a quick interest in the Beef. After looking over the paperwork and knowing that Omaha fans are some of the most loyal fans anywhere, the Noddles made the decision to form Heartland Sports Enterprises and purchase the Beef.
Omaha played in the Indoor Professional Football League in 2000 and 2001 before moving to the National Indoor Football League in 2002. The Beef then joined the newly formed United Indoor Football in 2005.
The Omaha Beef's will begin their ninth season of hard-hitting, in-your-face excitement. The Beef will again be playing in the United Indoor Football. The UIF allows the Omaha Beef to play against some of the best indoor competition in the country today.
