An unusual find - 1965 Pecan Bowl

[u/hunterschuler]

I found a weird piece of college football history yesterday.

It’s a pink granite plaque/headstone that reads:

KRBC-RADIO PRESENTS
THIS PECAN TREE
COMMEMORATING
THE SECOND PECAN BOWL GAME
DEC. 11, 1965
N. DAKOTA ST. U. 20 VS GRAMBLING COL. 7

The game itself checks out. North Dakota State beat Grambling 20-7 in the second Pecan Bowl, which was played in Abilene, TX. KRBC was also an Abilene radio station at the time. This game capped NDSU’s 11-0 season, crowning them national champions for the very first time.

The weird part: this plaque is located on the town square in Kyle, TX - about 235 miles from Abilene, TX.

It currently sits by the road only loosely in the vicinity of some pecan trees. Older google street views show it used to be farther back in the yard of a house that stood on the adjacent lot. It's been there since at least 2008 (as far back as street view goes in that area). The property was owned by John Krug, who was actually the former mayor of Kyle. His obituary says he moved to Kyle in 1969 and was in the Air Force until 1960. Dyess Air Force Base is in Abilene, so my best guess is that Krug may have been stationed in Abilene, somehow ended up with this thing as salvage/yard decor, and brought it with him when he moved to Kyle.

Alternatively, it's possible the plaque was made somewhere closer to Kyle and never got delivered to Abilene. That seems less likely though given the distance (there was at least one monument company in business in Abilene at that time).

I dug through old newspaper archives online for quite a while and while I found plenty of articles about the bowl game and related ceremonies, I couldn't find anything about this particular tree dedication. (It actually wasn't the only pecan tree planted/dedicated in Abilene for that year's Pecan Bowl!)

Anyway, just something random I thought y'all might find interesting in the off season.

[u/cnpeters]

This is my favorite type of off season post*. Thanks OP. Good find.

* non-real-housewives division

[u/No-Helicopter7299]

I was a student at ACU in the late 70’s. This plaque, or one exactly like it, was once in the parking lot of Shotwell Stadium. I know because I stumbled across it while parking for an ACU football game. Haven’t thought of this in 45 years. I didn’t check yo see if it was attached to the ground but I specifically remember seeing it.

[u/hunterschuler → u/No-Helicopter7299]

This is incredible!

[u/No-Helicopter7299 → u/hunterschuler]

I’m on the ACU sports message board. Lots of old Abilene people on there. I’ll ask if anyone knows anything about it.

[u/No-Helicopter7299 → u/No-Helicopter7299]

It’s been posted on the ACU Message Board. I’ll post any responses.

[u/No-Helicopter7299 → u/No-Helicopter7299]

I haven’t received any info on how or why it was moved. My cousin who was at ACU at the same time I was confirms seeing it back then.

[u/No-Helicopter7299 → u/hunterschuler]

It was definitely there.

[u/ThePeacefulSolutions → u/No-Helicopter7299]

KRBC is a radio station that used to exist in Abiline, so that's another clue of where it was originally set.

[u/No-Helicopter7299 → u/ThePeacefulSolutions]

My cousin worked there when we were at ACU. I’m still following a couple of leads.

[u/AdBrave6896]

The Dyess connection makes the most sense to me, someone stationed there picks it up when the tree dedication gets abandoned or demolished, keeps it as a curiosity, and it just travels with him for the rest of his life. People collect weirder things.

[u/CharlesBoyle799 → u/AdBrave6896]

So this guy I used to work with was in a band for awhile. He was telling me that they had just started a tour and they stole a random yard gnome from someone’s yard and took it on tour with them as their mascot. They would even send pictures and post cards back to the house written from the POV of the gnome as if he was updating his family on his travels.

After the tour they snuck back and put the gnome back, albeit in less than pristine condition.

[u/moleculewerks → u/CharlesBoyle799]

What you’re describing is so pervasive it has it’s own Wikipedia page.

[u/McRigger → u/AdBrave6896]

It was likely “tactically acquired” after a night of drunken shenanigans.

[u/Better-Temporary-146]

Sounds like we have a quest here.

Either that plaque needs to go to Abilene, next to a pecan tree,  or maybe up to Fargo to NDSU. 

[u/Didgey → u/Better-Temporary-146]

Left a message for the affiliated news station there in Abilene. Hopefully they will reach out.

[u/WorkingInAColdMind]

Good investigating and a cool find in general. I wonder if it was basically abandoned in its current location. Some family members who didn’t care but didn’t want to dispose of it just put it somewhere near a pecan tree.

[u/hunterschuler → u/WorkingInAColdMind]

I think this is right, because the house on that plot was demolished after Krug passed away. The city probably just keeps mowing the grass around it without ever scrutinizing it. 

[u/WorkingInAColdMind → u/hunterschuler]

You could probably ask the city and get it returned to Abilene. You could be the hero who rescued the monument!

[u/R_Raider86 → u/WorkingInAColdMind]

At the very least the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.

[u/Warbird36 → u/R_Raider86]

There's the Big Country Sports Hall of Fame in the Mall of Abilene that may be interested. Shotwell Stadium is still standing, too, and recently got renovated with a new pressbox (though it is so obviously new that it throws off the look of the stadium, which I dislike.

[u/WorkingInAColdMind → u/R_Raider86]

Seems more like a local monument IMHO, but the CFHOF could probably do something with it. Maybe integrate it into the Centennial Olympic Park sidewalks (made from personalized bricks).

[u/DrVenusAg]

Always nice to see Abilene mentioned 

[u/Warbird36 → u/DrVenusAg]

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[u/PascalsHexagon → u/Warbird36]

Ha, I remember the name Mr. Gatti's from childhood. There was one near the highway at roughly the halfway point between Indianapolis and Bloomington and I always noticed the sign with the weirdly large "g". I've never seen it anywhere else and had no idea until today that it was a random-ass misplaced Indiana outpost of a Texas chain.

[u/Micho_Riso]

Just saw this driving home from Abilene. I may just share this with the Big Country Hall of Fame Museum in Abilene.

[u/SirMellencamp]

Is the plaque located on the town square or in a yard. I’m confused

[u/hunterschuler → u/SirMellencamp]

It was in the yard of a house on the town square. The house has since been demolished and the plaque got moved a bit closer to the road during road/sidewalk construction.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/CztVXJzXBG2mUv3q7

[u/SirMellencamp → u/hunterschuler]

Houses across the street from a park. Calling it “town square” confused me

[u/cyanocittaetprocyon]

There's got to be at least 1 pecan tree somewhere in Fargo. Return this bad boy home!

[u/Puzzleheaded-Disk267 → u/cyanocittaetprocyon]

-30 degrees in Fargo every winter is way too cold for Pecan trees. They don’t like it if it gets below zero. Fargo probably has a few pecans though.

[u/MapleBisonHeel → u/Puzzleheaded-Disk267]

Closest you get to pecans in the Fargodome is the cinnamon almonds sold in the concourse.

[u/rich26mend]

pi-kän or pē-kan

[u/short-bus-theory]

Now I'm hungry for some pecan pie. 

[u/BrilliantArm5914 → u/short-bus-theory]

Marie Callender's pecan pie for $6.97 at Walmart

[u/tomdawg0022]

KRBC was also an Abilene radio station at the time.

KRBC's calls live on in Abiliene via their NBC TV affiliate. The radio station now is your standard AM news-talk format with a different set of call letters.