30 bucket list items college football fans need to experience

16. Rolling Toomer’s Corner

Some of college football’s greatest traditions occur outside far away from the bright lights of the stadium. One of the best, the rolling of the live oak trees on the corner of College Street and Magnolia Avenue in Auburn, typically occurs under the cover of darkness after big Tigers football victories.

The intersection marks the edge of the Auburn University campus and downtown Auburn, and is named after the Toomer’s Drugs store, which dated back to 1896. Pro tip: get a lemonade at Toomer’s before you leave town.

Legend has it the employees at Toomer’s threw ticker tape onto the power lines near the store in celebration of the news of Auburn away wins. It makes sense, since in the days before television, the drugstore apparently had the only telegraph in town and fans would congregate there to cheer on the Tigers.

However, the origins of the modern tradition rolling the trees (and just about everything else in the area) with toilet paper is hard to nail down. Some attribute the first roll to Pat Sullivan’s 1971 Heisman Trophy win, though other claim it started the following season after he incredible “Punt, Bama, Punt” victory, an improbable 17-16 comeback win that included two blocked punt returns for touchdown in the final six minutes of the game.

A symbol of the university itself, the Toomer’s Oaks hold a special place in the heart of Auburn fans. A target of vandalism in 2010, the poisoned oaks were removed in 2013 and replaced in 2015 – though the university asked fans to refrain from rolling the famous trees until the fall of 2016.