Famous Trio - K-State Style

There are plenty of famous trios.
The Chipmunks - Alvin, Simon & Theodore.
Huey, Dewy & Louie - Donald Duck's nephews.
The Bee Gees
Peter, Paul & Mary
The list goes on.

Now, our little family has a famous trio, too. Well, maybe not famous, but this trio spruced up K-State Athletics' debut of its master plan for the Vanier Football Complex.

Eric & Jill called Saturday afternoon.

"Did you look at the master plan for the Vanier complex?" Eric asked.

"Yes, I watched the video," I told them.

"Well, go to www.kstatesports.com/masterplan/vanierfootballcomplex/. The photo you took of us going toward the stadium last fall is there."

When I finally clicked through to the right place, I could see it, too ... if I looked closely enough.

Eric circled their little K-State family in the photo he posted to Facebook, where he wrote:

I guess they needed to spiff up the renderings of the Vanier complex, so they added the best looking K-State family they could find ; ) Check out the original picture; and then find our family (mini sized) in the bottom left of the renderings!

I downloaded the rendering and cropped it so we could see it more closely. Yep, that was Eric, Kinley and Jill walking hand-in-hand toward Bill Snyder Family Stadium at Kinley's first football game of 2013.

Here's the original photo, which appeared on the blog September 17, 2013, where Kinley the K-Stater gave a Wildcat sideline report.

I think it's amazing that Eric saw it and recognized it.  I don't know who at K-State Sports found the photo, but this K-State family is loving being a tiny (and I do mean tiny - almost microscopic) part of this next phase of K-State football history.

It's a legacy that began long, long ago with my Grandpa, Shelby Neelly, who got K-State letters as a football player in 1927, 1931 and 1932. (He had to go back home and earn money before he could come back to finish his degree. That's the reason for the gap in years.).

(At left above, a page from an old K-State program. Grandpa is at the top righthand corner of the old program page. At the top right, he's wearing his K-State sweater. He was Fan of the Game at a K-State women's basketball game in 2002 at age 98.)

My Dad was also on the 1953 K-State football team. He's No.35 in the photo below. When he arrived on the K-State campus in the fall of 1952, he tried out for football and lettered his freshman year. He was on the squad his sophomore year and made the traveling squad for the game at Colorado State University. His most unique football experience was getting knocked out during practice by K-State's All-American and future pro player, Veryl Switzer.

Is it any wonder we bleed purple around here? Randy & I sit in the south end zone during football games, so the new Vanier complex at the north end zone (and its accompanying giant scoreboard and video board) will give us an even better view for Wildcat Victories!

I'm sure that cute little family on the renderings will inspire donors to give the big bucks, right?!