Dreamcast18
10-17-2006, 11:49 PM
guess its better than donuts..
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2006/oct/13/minding-golden-acorn-labor-love-reitz-grad/
For 50 weeks of the year, Rick Weber works as a purchasing agent at Wabash Food Service in Vincennes, Ind. But for the week of the West Side Nut Club Fall Festival and, like this year, when the annual football game between Reitz and Mater Dei is played a week later, Weber assumes a different identity - as the caretaker of the West Side Nut Club Trophy.
"I kinda nominated myself to be the one in charge of the trophy years ago, and the rest of the guys pretty much decided to let me keep doing it," Weber, 52, said of his fellow Nut Club members. "It's a lot of fun for me. I'm a Reitz grad, but my wife (Molly Weber) is the athletic secretary at Mater Dei, so my family is pretty deeply involved in the rivalry."
Reitz and Mater Dei first squared off in football in 1952, but it wasn't until 1970 that the idea for a traveling trophy was broached. Dr. Vic Johnson, a prominent Nut Club member, was the one who pushed for sponsoring a trophy, Weber said, and Johnson’s cohorts quickly agreed. What wasn't initially certain, however, was what to call the trophy.
"The first plan was to call it the Golden Pronto Pup, in honor of the Fall Festival," Weber said with a laugh. "That was shot down pretty quickly."
Instead, the top half of the trophy is adorned by two large, golden footballs that flank a ring of four football players, all in a running pose. At the very top, in lieu of a pronto pup, is a large acorn, the symbol of the Nut Club. The bottom half of the trophy provides room for the
small plates that indicate the scores of the games over the years.
"The top half was made by Tri-State Trophy, while the base was custom-made made by Fehrenbacher Cabinets," Weber said. "The first acorn on top of the trophy was a plastic one made by a Nut Club member who owned a plastics company. But the plastic one broke several times. I was always having to glue it back on and a couple years ago we just decided to replace it. The acorn on there now is a wooden one. The Fehrenbachers made it, too."
In the days before the Fall Festival starts, Weber will check on the trophy at the school that has possession of it, looking for any damage he must fix and cleaning up any smudges or tarnished spots.
"The schools take pretty good care of the trophy, especially now that Mater Dei has a new trophy case to put it in," Weber said. "For the longest time they just put it on top of a Coke machine down in the cafeteria. That's the only place they had space for it."
Weber said there have been very little shenanigans involving students and the trophy.
"Nothing strange that I can recall, although one year a few Reitz players had their senior pictures taken with it," Weber said. "The Nut Club pretty much frowned on that."
After Weber shines it up, the trophy is put on display in the window of a Franklin Street business during the festival. Its next stop is a visit to a pep rally held by the school that currently holds it.
"And you should hear the roars when we bring in the trophy for that rally," Weber said. "The students go crazy. Anyone who says kids today don’t care about things like school rivalries should go to one of those pep rallies."
As game time approaches, the most important part of Weber's job as caretaker also arrives - devising a new and creative way to bring the trophy into the Reitz Bowl.
"It's the last thing that happens just before kickoff, the trophy coming into the stadium," Weber said. "We've done it a lot of different ways ... on the backs of fire trucks, convertible cars, a Plymouth Prowler. One year we got a television station to fly it in inside its helicopter and land right on the 50-yard line, which was great, although the school corporation told us never to do that again.
"I've even had a guy who’s a skydiver ask me if he could strap in on and parachute in with it, but we decided that'd be a little too dangerous. It’s getting difficult to top what we do the previous year. I'm running out of ideas."
Weber said he’s decided on a plan for tonight’s game but
wouldn’t divulge it.
"You'll have to come to the game and see it," he said. "I always try to keep it a surprise."
After the contest is over, there is very little formality in presenting the trophy to the winning team.
"The Nut Club president and I walk it out to the team gathered on the field. We just let them take it," Weber said. "The kids like to hoist it up, show it off to the fans, take it to the lockerroom or, in Mater Dei's case, take it back with them on the bus. The school’s take care of getting it into a trophy case."
Unless an emergency arises, such as a cracked acorn, Weber’s job is then basically over ... until the next year.
"I’ll keep doing it as long as they let me," he said. "And that should be a good while. We recently had Fehrenbacher remake the base of the trophy so it would be larger. We were running out of room for the game plates. This thing has lasted longer than anyone thought it would. And it’s only getting more popular. I guess that’s why it means so much to me."
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2006/oct/13/minding-golden-acorn-labor-love-reitz-grad/
For 50 weeks of the year, Rick Weber works as a purchasing agent at Wabash Food Service in Vincennes, Ind. But for the week of the West Side Nut Club Fall Festival and, like this year, when the annual football game between Reitz and Mater Dei is played a week later, Weber assumes a different identity - as the caretaker of the West Side Nut Club Trophy.
"I kinda nominated myself to be the one in charge of the trophy years ago, and the rest of the guys pretty much decided to let me keep doing it," Weber, 52, said of his fellow Nut Club members. "It's a lot of fun for me. I'm a Reitz grad, but my wife (Molly Weber) is the athletic secretary at Mater Dei, so my family is pretty deeply involved in the rivalry."
Reitz and Mater Dei first squared off in football in 1952, but it wasn't until 1970 that the idea for a traveling trophy was broached. Dr. Vic Johnson, a prominent Nut Club member, was the one who pushed for sponsoring a trophy, Weber said, and Johnson’s cohorts quickly agreed. What wasn't initially certain, however, was what to call the trophy.
"The first plan was to call it the Golden Pronto Pup, in honor of the Fall Festival," Weber said with a laugh. "That was shot down pretty quickly."
Instead, the top half of the trophy is adorned by two large, golden footballs that flank a ring of four football players, all in a running pose. At the very top, in lieu of a pronto pup, is a large acorn, the symbol of the Nut Club. The bottom half of the trophy provides room for the
small plates that indicate the scores of the games over the years.
"The top half was made by Tri-State Trophy, while the base was custom-made made by Fehrenbacher Cabinets," Weber said. "The first acorn on top of the trophy was a plastic one made by a Nut Club member who owned a plastics company. But the plastic one broke several times. I was always having to glue it back on and a couple years ago we just decided to replace it. The acorn on there now is a wooden one. The Fehrenbachers made it, too."
In the days before the Fall Festival starts, Weber will check on the trophy at the school that has possession of it, looking for any damage he must fix and cleaning up any smudges or tarnished spots.
"The schools take pretty good care of the trophy, especially now that Mater Dei has a new trophy case to put it in," Weber said. "For the longest time they just put it on top of a Coke machine down in the cafeteria. That's the only place they had space for it."
Weber said there have been very little shenanigans involving students and the trophy.
"Nothing strange that I can recall, although one year a few Reitz players had their senior pictures taken with it," Weber said. "The Nut Club pretty much frowned on that."
After Weber shines it up, the trophy is put on display in the window of a Franklin Street business during the festival. Its next stop is a visit to a pep rally held by the school that currently holds it.
"And you should hear the roars when we bring in the trophy for that rally," Weber said. "The students go crazy. Anyone who says kids today don’t care about things like school rivalries should go to one of those pep rallies."
As game time approaches, the most important part of Weber's job as caretaker also arrives - devising a new and creative way to bring the trophy into the Reitz Bowl.
"It's the last thing that happens just before kickoff, the trophy coming into the stadium," Weber said. "We've done it a lot of different ways ... on the backs of fire trucks, convertible cars, a Plymouth Prowler. One year we got a television station to fly it in inside its helicopter and land right on the 50-yard line, which was great, although the school corporation told us never to do that again.
"I've even had a guy who’s a skydiver ask me if he could strap in on and parachute in with it, but we decided that'd be a little too dangerous. It’s getting difficult to top what we do the previous year. I'm running out of ideas."
Weber said he’s decided on a plan for tonight’s game but
wouldn’t divulge it.
"You'll have to come to the game and see it," he said. "I always try to keep it a surprise."
After the contest is over, there is very little formality in presenting the trophy to the winning team.
"The Nut Club president and I walk it out to the team gathered on the field. We just let them take it," Weber said. "The kids like to hoist it up, show it off to the fans, take it to the lockerroom or, in Mater Dei's case, take it back with them on the bus. The school’s take care of getting it into a trophy case."
Unless an emergency arises, such as a cracked acorn, Weber’s job is then basically over ... until the next year.
"I’ll keep doing it as long as they let me," he said. "And that should be a good while. We recently had Fehrenbacher remake the base of the trophy so it would be larger. We were running out of room for the game plates. This thing has lasted longer than anyone thought it would. And it’s only getting more popular. I guess that’s why it means so much to me."