A Brief History of the Auburn Toomer Oak Trees

Traditions are one of the biggest parts of what many of us love about college football. Among the more historic and more well known, especially in SEC country, involves the Toomer Oak Trees at the corner of Magnolia Avenue and College Street in Auburn, Alabama and has always been a major part of the Auburn football lore. Hanging over the corner of Magnolia and College Street are two massive oak trees that after many major causes for celebration, the War Eagle faithful decorate the two large trees with toilet paper which has came to be known as rolling Toomer's or rolling the corner. This tradition was started when Toomer's Drug Store, located on the same corner as the two massive oak trees, that had the only telegraph in the entire city would alert the townspeople of a road win by tossing the ticker tape from the telegraph over the nearby power lines  This has been a tradition among the Auburn fans since the early 1980s.

Originally the rolling Toomer tradition was solely reserved for football celebrations, but recently the

celebration has expanded to anything positive regarding Auburn, be it athletic or otherwise. Toomer's corner has become a popular pre-game rally position for both home and away contests.

In January of 2011, a local radio show was alerted by a caller that he personally poisoned the two trees with Spike 80DF, which is a very potent herbicide, some were worried about not only the trees themselves but the potential effects the herbicide had on the Auburn water supply as well. This tree poisoning garnered national attention when it was featured in the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary "Roll Tide/War Eagle" diving deep into the heated Alabama/Auburn football rivalry. The caller to the Paul Finebaum Radio Network identified himself as "Al from Dadeville."

After investigation, the Auburn police took Harvey Updyke Jr, a resident of Dadeville, Alabama (and controversially a life long Alabama Crimson Tide fan) into custody and was charged with class C criminal mischief  which classifies as a felony in the state of Alabama. He could face up to 5 years in prison for the poisoning of the trees, on top of the two he has already served.

Despite efforts to save the trees, it came out that the trees could not be saved and had to be cut down. After being cut down on April 23rd, the Oaks have been made into several different mementos available for purchase commemorating the history of the trees, with all proceeds going towards a a specialized scholarship fund.

- Josh Gamez

@itsjoshgamez

josh.projectcfb@gmail.com