Touchdown Jesus: what to do with an old scoreboard

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GATEWAY BUILDERS AND PROPERTIES

************************* Touchdown Jesus scoreboard finds home in Elkhart restaurant and sports bar Elkhart, IN - A piece of college football history has found a home near the stadium it once served. One of the most visible scoreboards in the history of college football, the north-end zone scoreboard from Notre Dame Stadium, was recently acquired, restored and installed in a restaurant sports bar in Elkhart, Indiana just a few miles from its original home.

The eight-foot by 38-foot scoreboard was removed from the stadium and replaced during the recent renovation of Notre Dame Stadium.

It was originally acquired during an auction by Tom Spiece, an Indianapolis businessman who used to own a clothing and shoe store in Mishawaka.

Spiece had the scoreboard dismantled and placed on skids and was warehousing the collectible until he was approached by local businessman and avid sports memorabilia collector Dan Brekke.

Brekke saw an opportunity to include this rare sport collectable in one of his commercial properties in Elkhart.

"A good friend of mine mentioned in passing that he knew where the scoreboard was and thought Spiece might be interested in selling it. I made a few calls, made an offer and picked it up that was just the beginning of a great project," stated Brekke.

"I was in the middle of constructing a restaurant sports bar for South Bend-headquartered Wings Etc. and thought what a great place to display this great piece of football and local history. This scoreboard has been seen by billions of people and has had some the greatest scores of football games in the history of the sport: Miami, Florida State, Penn State, as well as the great rivalries USC, Michigan, Michigan State and Army. It needs to be displayed locally and the Wings Etc project was the best fit," stated Brekke.

The Wings Etc. project was well underway when Brekke acquired the scoreboard.

It was much larger than Brekke had anticipated so an alterative display was necessary.

"Since the scoreboard was disassembled and on skids we looked into the possibility finding a natural break in the scoreboard so we could place it in a corner, while still looking like the original scoreboard. We found the perfect spot and realized the pieces could be assembled to take advantage of a natural break. It had a new home in the southwest corner of the Wings Etc. building on County Road 6 in Elkhart, Indiana," stated Brekke.

Brekke personally worked on restoring the scoreboard to is original glory with his father, Lee Brekke.

The two spent hours sanding the exterior preparing the surface so it could be painted.

"I was surprised to find that the original color blue is licensed to the university and we were unable to match the paint perfectly but we did match it as close as we could to its original finish," stated Brekke.

Brekke and his father also reverse-engineered the wiring so the scoreboard could once again light up and display scores.

All of Brekke's hard work and dedication to sports memorabilia is greatly appreciated by the patrons of Wings Etc.

Without his vision a true piece of college football history might be collecting dust in a distant warehouse instead of on display in a community that enjoys and respects the tradition it once looked over every Saturday.

About Gateway Builders and Properties

Brekke is the president of Gateway Builders and Properties, a commercial construction, land development, real estate brokerage and commercial property management firm based out of Elkhart, Indiana that services northern Indiana and southern Michigan.

Gateway and its staff have been involved with the construction of more than 10 major industrial construction projects over the past six years.

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