Ryne Rankin proposed in front of Sanford

*Ryne

I don't think he'd have complete access at all times. Plus, people love that bridge. Good a place as any.

I'm sure he has some access but not anytime he wanted. Especially if he wants it to be a surprise for his gf.

quote:

---

I'm sure he has some access but not anytime he wanted. Especially if he wants it to be a surprise for his gf.

---

I'm pretty sure most people, regular people, can get in pretty much whenever they want as long as it's not a game day as long as they get in touch with the right folks.

Rankin definitely has unlimited access to the stadium whenever he wants it. All it takes is a GA with a key to the right door.

I'm just thinking a player knows who to ask (maybe Kirby himself?) and wouldn't have an issue getting something like this cleared.

I sneaked in back in 1996 and also traversed the drainage tunnel underneath the stadium. And I didn't know a soul back then.

quote:

---

What was that like?

---

Wet (as you can imagine), dark, and smelly. It actually wasn't intentional that we went through it.

Me and a buddy had been hanging at the Tate gameroom that day and went over to East Campus Road and down the hill that leads over to the cemetery. The entrance to the tunnel is down there. We had a single flashlight with us (and not sure I recall why we even had one since this wasn't planned....I just know it wasn't mine). We wanted to go back up the hill as opposed to into the tunnel after looking in, but the entire hill had broken glass from old beer bottles and such protruding from the dirt all the way up and it was pretty steep. So, we decided to walk the tunnel. Couldn't really see much down there and that was with the light. Roughly halfway through, it died and we had to make the rest of the walk in the dark. Couldn't hear anything but water flowing through it and came to a fork that split left and right. I believe we went left and a short way down came upon what we thought was a homeless man laying on a ledge in the tunnel. Freaked us slap out. We stood there staring for a few minutes, trying to determine if this person was breathing. Ultimately, we crept up close enough to see that it was just a few trash bags and crap laid up against the wall. Nothing more. We kept walking hoping we took the right path at the fork and eventually came out below the Tate parking lot. This was before the fence that is currently there was installed. We climbed up and went to straight to the 1st floor restroom where we took off our shoes, threw away our socks (they were ruined, as were the shoes, really), and washed our feet off.

Honestly thought after all that we were gonna come down with some sickness given how horrid everything smelled. It's fun to look back on it now, but as a teenager, it kinda scared the shite outta me.