.png&width=32&height=32&type=webp)
The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss To Unveil New Chopper On Saturday
9/21/2005 | Football
Sept. 21, 2005
OXFORD, Miss. - As the 2005 Ole Miss Rebels get set for their home opener against Wyoming this Saturday, a new attraction is being prepared to be unveiled along with Coach Ed Orgeron's team.
The UM Athletic Association has struck a deal with the Orange County Choppers, who host the popular TV show American Chopper (airs Mondays at 9 p.m. CT on the Discovery Channel). The crew built a custom motorcycle for Ole Miss.
Fans will feel the excitement when the chopper leads the team out of the tunnel at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium/Hollingsworth Field prior to kickoff at every home football game this fall.
Special plans are in place for the bike at the end of the season.
"We plan to raffle off the bike after the end of the season with the proceeds going to the Ole Miss Student-Athlete Hurricane Relief Fund, to scholarships for Ole Miss students who were directly impacted by the hurricane, and to the FedEx Academic Support Center," said Ole Miss Athletics Director Pete Boone. "The cost of the bike itself was covered by the contribution of an anonymous donor. Tickets for the raffle will be $30 each, and we hope to start selling them next week."
Details on how to purchase the tickets are expected to be announced in a few days.
Wide eyes and a big smile spread across Orgeron's face when he saw the bike for the first time on Wednesday.
"It's fantastic," said the first-year head coach. "It's unique, powerful and sleek, and it will represent the University in a first-class manner."
O.C. Choppers Director of Sales Michael Burkhouse said that prior to the Ole Miss chopper the only other university the company had made a bike for was the United States Military Academy. He noted that the one sent to West Point has not been used extensively at sporting events.
"We are happy to have built the Ole Miss bike, as it is the first one we've done for a major college football program," Burkhouse said. "Other schools are buying bikes from us, but Ole Miss will be the first to drive it out with the team, as far as we know."
Louisville and Ohio State have also placed orders, but it is believed the Cardinals and Buckeyes will use their vehicles strictly for auctions as opposed to on-the-field entertainment and promotion.
The custom-built softail motorcycle combines the power of a 1650cc motor with a sleek Nub Grafix paint job that features a football gridiron interwoven by streaks of blue and red all around the bike.
On the primary cover of the bike located on its left side is a stunning replication of a photograph of game action at Vaught-Hemingway, which is overlaid in vinyl attached to the metal casing. The primary cover's paint job by Custom Krew Paint out of Rochester, N.Y., marked the first time O.C. Choppers and Custom Krew have collaborated on a bike.
The bike also includes one-of-a-kind custom wheels with Ole Miss logos engraved throughout, a Danny Gray custom-designed seat, a Pat Kennedy-built gas tank and an Orange County Chopper original fabrication football helmet headlamp. Attached to the left handlebar is a custom-designed rearview mirror in the shape of a football with a red Ole Miss logo fixed on the front side.
