Too tempting, too weird a connection. Too good a tale to tell. So, here goes ...
Harvey is not a friend. Harvey is an outlaw. Harvey, I suppose (but don't know for sure), is a friend, or at least an acquaintance of someone we wrote about seven months ago.
To be sure, Harvey is no friend of mine -- or yours.
Yeah, it took seven months for a response. And what a source for the response.
You might not know Harvey, either. But once we tell you who Harvey is, you likely are going to remember his story, his sordid and infamous place in our little world.It likely will hiss you off again. Especially if you are an Auburn fan.
That's one hint. Here's another: The name is Harvey Updyke.
Auburn -- and Alabama -- fans will know the name. It took me a few minutes to remember.
The note from Harvey on Facebook/Messenger came in Sunday at 4:17 p.m., and it was about the blog piece we wrote and published on Nov. 30 last year.
It was about one basketball official's "charging" call made in March 1970 -- yes, only a 48-year gap when the blog was published -- that was crucial in the titanic Captain Shreve-Brother Martin showdown for Louisiana's Class AAA championship. The subject, the official: Bobby Olah.
Our take, then and now: Olah blew the call, gave in to the South Louisiana crowd he was right in front of when the play happened. He could have called the play a block, giving Captain Shreve free throws to take the lead and possible the game. https://nvanthyn.blogspot.com/2018/11/cannons-friend-but-not-captain-shreves.html
Heard from a few Captain Shreve faithful then, but nothing from South Louisiana, specifically Bobby Olah. Not sure he ever saw the blog piece.
But now I think he did. Because here is the note from ol' Harvey:
"Please call Bobby Olah at (phone number) if you would like to discuss the infamous call made 48 years ago."
OK, I was surprised, and I tried to answer -- yes, and don't laugh -- diplomatically:
Me: "No need. Call was made, not going to change anything. We did not like it, but it was one call out of thousands he made over the years. And he was well-regarded by many people and honored for his educational and officiating careers. So one blog piece is not going to change his life."
Then I added: "Tell Bobby I am sorry about his wife [who died last year]. I waited to post the blog a couple of months. Also was impressed reading about him and Billy Cannon."
(Olah was a high-school basketball opponent and later friends with LSU's biggest icon.)
So I sent those notes, and now I start thinking. Harvey Updyke? Hmmmm. Where do I know that name? (I had not really stopped to look at his Facebook photo that went with the message.)
Sent another note to Harvey: "You were Cannon's good friend, right?"
Wrong. My connecting Harvey to Cannon was a temporary lapse in memory; perhaps it was the prison-term link.
No answer from Harvey.
A couple of minutes pass; I go on to other things. But it is bugging me. And, and ... then it kicks in!
Another note to Harvey: "Or are you the guy who burned down the trees at Auburn?"
(OK, not exactly right ... but he IS the guy who poisoned the trees at Toomer's Corner.) There you have what you might have guessed by now.
Now I look at the picture a little closer. Yep, older guy, handlebar mustache with goatee ... and wearing a red-and-white checkered Alabama hat. No question who this is.
Go to Google and find so many story links to the infamous Harvey. And my next note to him:
"OK, just a bit of research -- you are the Alabama fan and I see you live in Albany [Louisiana, Bobby Olah's hometown], so that's where you know Bobby. Hey, now I can do a post about getting a note from you (not gonna do that, but it would make a good story). And how are those Tigers fans in that area treating you as the rabid Alabama fan?
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Just for background, we interrupt our blog to present a Sports Illustrated story by Scooby Axson published March 7, 2019 ...
An Alabama fan who poisoned Toomer’s Oak Trees at Auburn University opened up about why he did it, saying he just doesn't like the Crimson Tide's biggest rival.
Harvey Updyke, Jr. poisoned the 80-year-old trees in 2011 and was eventually busted after he called into the Paul Finebaum radio show admitting the crime. He also left a phone message to an Auburn professor saying he knew who poisoned the tree.
Updyke Jr. pleaded guilty to a Class C felony of criminal damage of an agricultural facility, was ordered to serve at least six months in jail, spend five years on supervised probation and ordered to pay $800,000 in restitution.
Updyke's probation recently ended allowing him to speak to the media about the incident.
“I wanted Auburn people to hate me as much as I hate them,” Updyke tells CBS News in a podcast named "Mobituaries," hosted by Mo Rocca.
“I just don’t like Auburn,” added Updyke, who is banned from Auburn's campus for life. “You know, there are several things in this world that I really and truly don’t like, and Auburn is one of them.
Updyke told CBS News he planned the crime for a month and placed a specialty herbicide called Spike 80DF on the trees. Updyke poured 500 times the amount of herbicide actually needed to kill the trees.
“Every night I’d stay up all night long, and they used to have cameras on the trees, and I figured out when the slowest time, what day of the week and what out of the night was the slowest around those oak trees, so I could go in there at that time and not get caught,” Updyke said.
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Harvey's Facebook page says he is a retired Texas state trooper who attended Milton (Ala.) High School, studied at Jeff Davis Junior College and Stephen F. Austin University, he's single and he lives in Albany, La.
Do not have an explanation for why he is in Albany.
It was a day after my last note to Harvey, asking how LSU fans treat him that he replied: "They keep an eye on me because I have ALABAMA gear on me every time I go out and I run my mouth a lot. lol."
Gee, that's a surprise.
My reply to him: "I imagine they do. Alabama fans have a lot they can brag on. But if LSU ever beats Alabama again [in football], don't mess with those beautiful trees on the LSU campus, please. ... So I take it you know Bobby Olah?
Have not heard back from him, or Bobby. And it is all right if I never do.
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