Dearborn Co. Native Helps With Halftime Show

Madonna dancing on the platform hauled by 14 men dressed as gladiators, including Dillsboro native Dewayne Tiemeyer.

(Indianapolis, Ind.) – It took 114 musclebound hunks to escort pop icon Madonna onto the Lucas Oil Stadium field for the Super Bowl halftime show.

One of those bodybuilders was Dewayne Tiemeyer. He was at the lead of the 14 men dressed as gladiators carrying an Egyptian-themed platform topped with the Madonna to the stage at midfield.

Tiemeyer, 33, is a Dillsboro native and South Dearborn High School graduate. He currently lives in Indianapolis where he is a firefighter with the Indianapolis Fire Department.

It was at work where Tiemeyer learned of the call for volunteers to help with the halftime show. He went to the casting event and was selected to be a small but important part of the show.

If the platform Madonna was on at the start of the halftime show looked like a load, it’s because it was.

“Even though it was on wheels it was super heavy,” Tiemeyer said.

Tiemeyer said Madonna was very focused during the show and the estimated 40 rehearsals. She would speak occasionally with him and the other men chosen to haul the platform.

He did get one close encounter with the queen of pop. Prior to one rehearsal Madonna stood directly in front of him, sizing up his gladiator costume.

Tiemeyer nearly got nixed from the platform-carrying duty. Madonna did away with the first batch of men selected as the platform-carrying gladiators by relegating them to walking in front of or behind the platform. However, she kept him and just a couple others. The other replacements brought in were male models.

“That was kind of flattering,” he joked.

One of the biggest challenges in the week before the big game was keeping the content of the halftime performance a secret. Tiemeyer and others had to sign a confidentiality agreement stating they would not leak details of the show to anybody – family members, friends, or the media.

“I made sure not to tell a lot of people about it until the day before just so I wouldn’t be asked a bunch of questions,” he said.

Tiemeyer did not get to keep the gladiator suit (they had to be given back before the halftime show even ended), wasn't clearly visible on the worldwide telecast, nor did he see any of the game, but he took home a lifelong memory.