Marty Gordon
Craig and Anne Chrisman, owners of Prestar Packaging and Creative Carding (PPCC), were in the stands at Lane Stadium on that memorable day of Nov. 26, 1999.
They watched Virginia Tech beat Boston College, where they witnessed the celebrating fans storm the field to cap off the Hokie football team’s undefeated season.
As the goal post fell and was carried off, Craig looked at Anne and said, “we need to figure out something to do with that!” Well, they did just that.
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Melanie Chrisman, spokesperson for PPCC, said in the following weeks after the game, the idea began to take shape, and Craig shared the idea with a mutual friend of former Tech Coach Frank Beamer.
Waylan Overstreet set up a meeting between Craig and Coach Beamer where they made plans for the goal post if any of it could be retrieved.
Coincidentally, Beamer was Craig’s eighth grade math teacher at Radford High School and was an assistant football coach there while Radford won two state championships in 1972 and 1973.
According to information provided by the company, a few days after the meeting in 1999 the university received a section of the torn down goal post.
“The section obtained by VT was the 18-foot crossbar. Craig took the goal post to a local machine company where they cut it into small square pieces,” said Melanie Chrisman.
PPCC then placed pieces of the goal post into acrylic pyramids along with a description of the 1999 season that culminated with Virginia Tech playing against Florida State for the National Championship.
The custom-designed pyramid is 3.5” x 3.5” x 4.5”, made of hand-polished acrylic and features a ¾” square piece of the actual crossbar from the goalpost taken down after that game suspended in the center.
The bottom of the seal at the base of the pyramid describes the significance of the goalpost.
Since there is a limited quantity of these pyramids, each one is numbered and comes with a numbered certificate of authenticity. It is packaged in a beautiful custom designed soft-touch 3-piece neck box with UV printing and a stunning photo of the sunset over Lane Stadium with a textured varnish,
Initially, the souvenir was released in 1999, but the company is now introducing a 25th anniversary edition.
“The whole Chrisman family wanted to honor the 25th anniversary of that season because there is so much nostalgia surrounding that team and Boston College game in general. So many people that were at that game remember the moment either as part of the crowd that marched through the streets of Blacksburg with the goalpost or wish they could have. The idea behind this pyramid is to give everyone a chance to own a piece of that moment,” Melanie said.
The company spokesperson said it has been extremely well-received.
“We’ve had a few customers tell us that they were at the game and joined the crowd with the goal post back in 1999 and it’s one of their favorite memories. We’ve had some tell us that a parent is a huge fan of Hokie football, and they have every piece of memorabilia they could possibly have, but this is something unique and of course, they don’t have anything like it.” Chrisman concluded.
Hokie fans can find them at vtgoalpost.com at the price of $199, another reference to the 1999 season.
