On Saturday, April 14, thousands of Auburn Family members gathered on the east side of Jordan-Hare Stadium to honor its three Heisman Award winners, Pat Sullivan (1971), Bo Jackson (1985) and Cam Newton (2010). History was made as the Heisman Trophy winners’ statues were unveiled alongside a bust of John Heisman, Auburn’s famous coach for which the award is named.



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When Sullivan won the Heisman Trophy in 1971, Auburn became the only school where Heisman coached to have a Heisman winner, a bragging right that the university holds to this day.

However, the day was not only about honoring individuals, but also about honoring the teams they played on, looking toward the future of Auburn football with the A-Day Game and celebrating the overall excellence of the Auburn Family.

“It was incredible to see a bunch of Auburn men coming back and celebrating their accomplishments and not only their accomplishments, but the accomplishments of the teams,” said Ashley Kelly, an Auburn junior and War Eagle Girl. “It was just one big family reunion. It was great.”

At the ceremony, each of the Auburn legends addressed the crowd.

Sullivan spoke about the importance of faith, family, education and friends before ending the same way he concluded his Heisman acceptance speech.

“There may be other people that deserve this award more than me, but from the bottom of my heart, I can tell you, no one appreciates it more than myself,” Sullivan said.

Jackson opened his speech with “War Eagle…it means hello, how are you, I love you, I respect you, see you next Saturday,” before speaking about his teammates, the Auburn Family and recalling a special memory.

Jackson said his favorite memory at Auburn was after the 1982 Iron Bowl victory (Bo Over the Top), when fans helped his mother get onto the field so that she could hug her son, and then they thanked her for allowing him to play at Auburn.

Newton echoed the sentiments of Auburn fans everywhere when he said, “It’s always great to be home at Auburn.”

“I will forever be an Auburn Tiger,” Newton said. He later read a poem he had written about his time at Auburn, the greatness that he and his teammates achieved and the unwavering support from the Auburn Family, ending it with “War Eagle! I believe in Auburn and love it.”

On this day, when the Auburn family celebrated its storied history with permanent landmarks, they remembered that Auburn’s future is bright and will only lead to more greatness.

“As you can tell by the way we’ve laid out these Heismans, we’ve left room to grow,” said Jay Jacobs, Auburn athletics director.

In less than a month, Auburn University’s spring semester will end. After listening to a final lecture and closing the book on a year of hard work, what better way to celebrate than by attending the University Program Council’s (UPC) annual spring concert?

This year’s annual UPC spring concert, Auburn Airwaves, will take place on Wednesday, April 25 at the Auburn Arena. The event is free to students and will feature NEEDTOBREATHE, Young the Giant and Ben Rector.

“We decided on these bands from the recent surveys we have conducted,” explained Sydney Spears, UPC’s director of major entertainment. “After analyzing the results, it was very clear that students wanted a new type of genre to come to campus.”

Among students’ top suggestions were NEEDTOBREATHE and Ben Rector.

NEEDTOBREATHE is a band from South Carolina that has had success on rock, pop and Christian music charts. The band’s songs have been featured on hit television shows and in movies. They most recently toured with Taylor Swift.

Ben Rector is a Nashville-based musician who has had songs featured on hit televisions shows and had his current album, “Something Like This,” grabbed the No. 4 spot on iTunes’ album chart.

“Young the Giant is new and quickly on the rise,” Spears said. “One goal that the UPC Major Entertainment Committee tries to accomplish is to bring artists that are on the rise so students can claim that they saw them before they got big.”

Young the Giant is an up-and-coming band from California that quickly gained notoriety after they played last year’s MTV Video Music Awards.

“NEEDTOBREATHE and Young the Giant fall under the alternative genre, and Ben Rector falls under the singer-songwriter genre,” Spears explained. “These genres are very different from what we have seen for the past few concerts, but so far the response has been tremendous.”

Because of the concert’s popularity, students are encouraged to reserve their tickets online now by visiting www.auburn.edu/upc. Admission to Auburn Airwaves is free, and students will need a valid AU Ignited card for entry.

“Students should attend because it is going to be an amazing concert,” Spears said. “All three artists perform wonderful live shows, and they have recently sold out concerts around the area. It will also be held on the last day of school, and what better way to finish off a semester than with an amazing concert?”

According to Adam Pugh, manager of Big Dog Running Company in Auburn, a great Saturday includes sleeping late, running a 5K and eating pizza.

On March 24, Auburn’s Big Dog Running Company and Mellow Mushroom are partnering together with Pi Beta Phi sorority to hold the first Mellow Dog 5K. The race will start around Thach in front of Foy.

Pugh explained that there are many reasons why the community should participate in this race. “The race will begin at 5 p.m., so you get to sleep in,” Pugh said. “You get your exercise for the day, and when the race is over, we’ll have pizza. Most importantly, all of the proceeds from the Mellow Dog 5K race will benefit firstbook.org.”

According to firstbook.org, First Book was founded in 1992 to provide new books to children in need. To date, the nonprofit organization has successfully distributed more than 90 million books to needy children across the United States and Canada.

Big Dog Running Company’s goal is to be involved with the health and fitness community as well as nonprofits. Since opening in July 2011, Big Dog Running Company has impacted the Auburn community by sponsoring many runs to benefit charities.

Running in the Mellow Dog 5K will not only help children gain access to books, but it will also help to promote a healthy lifestyle.

“Some of the benefits of running include: getting in shape, improving overall health, improving mental aptitude and relieving stress,” Pugh said.

Additional benefits for Mellow Dog 5K participants include receiving a $5 gift card to Mellow Mushroom and a free T-shirt.

For competitive runners, awards will be given to first, second and third overall; under 14, 15-19 and 10-year age groups up to the 60+ category; and top male and female in all categories.

“Mellow Dog 5K is going to be a really fun 5K,” Pugh said.

Registration for the Mellow Dog 5K costs $25 through March 23 and $30 on race day. To register, participants can sign up online through March 22 at www.estartline.com or in person at Big Dog Running Company located at 758 Glenn Ave. for a $5 discount.

“We’re looking forward to the first Mellow Dog 5K,” said Lana Jackson, assistant manager of Auburn’s Mellow Mushroom. “It should be a lot of fun, and everyone can enjoy pizza when the race is over.”

Want to learn how to write a hit song, promote yourself in the music industry, jam out or just listen to great music? If yes, The Guitar Shoppe’s free monthly workshops can help turn these musical dreams into a reality.

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“Whether you are a player, want to be a player or just love music, you’ll enjoy it,” said owner Mark McKenzie. “It’s friendly, it’s casual, it’s organic. We generally do something most every Tuesday night, and all of the events are designed to be community-building events and a gathering for musicians.”

The first Tuesday of every month there is an electric jam session open to all skill levels.

“We have a wide variety of players - some are just starting, some have been playing all their lives,” McKenzie explained.

The second Tuesday of each month features varying workshops.

McKenzie said the shoppe offers different artist workshops, and there are manufacturer-sponsored events from time to time where they will demonstrate technical things on products like recording gear, amplifiers or certain guitar product lines.

Songwriter’s night is also once a month.

“It focuses sometimes on creativity and how to actually get ideas down,” McKenzie said. “It also goes into the business aspect of things like how to promote yourself.”

Adam Hood, a singer-songwriter from Opelika who has toured with numerous artists including Pat Green, Miranda Lambert and Willie Nelson, often makes appearances at The Guitar Shoppe’s workshops.

“Adam Hood has led the past three songwriter’s workshops we’ve had, and Tony Brook joined him on the last one to share songs and advice.”

Another popular event is the bluegrass jam.

“It’s really turned out to be one of the biggest ones,” McKenzie noted. “There are a lot of people who play bluegrass around here, and it’s one of my personal favorite things to do. I have my heart in that one.”

Currently, The Guitar Shoppe is working on a series of workshops for worship leaders.

“The workshop will focus on praise and worship music, how to put together programs and also how to be a leader in that situation,” McKenzie said
.

There are also showcases that feature The Guitar Shoppe's Auburn School of Music students. The program currently has about 150 students who take everything from guitar, bass, piano, drums, vocals and theater.

“The student showcase is awesome because you will see kids and adults that six months ago never picked up an instrument, and now they are performing,” McKenzie reflected. “It’s gratifying to see people really excel and learn.”

Seeing students learn to play music is not the only thing McKenzie enjoys about his job.

“I love for people to realize how much talent there is in this community,” McKenzie explained. “It amazes me when people come in that you’ve never seen or heard of, and they’re just awesome players.”

McKenzie welcomes anyone who has a passion for music to attend the monthly musical gatherings.

“It’s a great thing to keep yourself motivated or if you just enjoy hearing music.”

For more information about The Guitar Shoppe’s music workshops, visit www.auburnguitar.com or www.facebook.com/auburnguitar.

A road trip during the summer of 2010 led to the opportunity of a lifetime for friends and now business partners, Mac Helms and Harrison Jones.


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“We were on a trip across Texas and had eaten at a lot of taco stands,” Helms recalled.

One night in San Antonio, the friends began discussing their love of tacos and food trucks over margaritas, when finally deciding on a way to combine their passions.

“Let’s do it, let’s start a food truck,” Helms said. “About seven months later we started the truck, and the rest is history.”



Tex’s Tacos serves ‘Nueva Texicana’ style food with fresh ingredients and friendly service. Their menu includes tacos and quesadillas with a choice of pork al pastor, Mexican lime chicken, citrus-splashed skirt steak, pulled pork barbecue and veggies. Sides include chips and fresh salsa, guacamole and one item that stands apart.

“Our claim to fame is our lime fries, which are French fries topped with our homemade lime seasoning that’s a little sweet, a little salty and made with fresh limes,” Helms said. “It’s very delicious.”

Tex’s Tacos has quickly made its mark on the Atlanta street food scene since opening. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution named Tex’s Tacos "Best Food Truck/Street Vendor" in Atlanta, and the duo’s truck was most recently featured in Atlanta Magazine’s "Best of Atlanta" issue. Tex’s Tacos will soon gain national attention, too.

“We’re going to be on an upcoming episode of Cooking Channel’s/Food Network’s 'Eat St.,'” Helms said. “We filmed it a couple of months ago, and it will air when the new season starts in March.”

Before the guys take over the nation, they decided to introduce Auburn University’s campus to their award-winning food truck this semester.

“We’ve always wanted to come to a college campus,” Helms admitted. “Auburn’s Tiger Dining called us and said they were looking for some food trucks to come to the university, so we jumped at the opportunity.”

Tex’s Tacos is enjoying its time on the Plains.

“I love being at Auburn,” Helms said. “We usually go to office buildings, which is fantastic, but it’s a nice, youthful crowd here. I love being around the students.”

The continuous line at Tex’s Tacos confirms that Auburn students enjoy the food truck as well.

“Tex’s Tacos is awesome,” Mallory Johnson said.

Tex’s Tacos fresh food and unique menu can become quite addicting.

“I’ve been to the taco truck a couple of times already,” Rickey Smith said. “It’s really good.”

While the menu, food quality and service will remain the same, Tex’s Tacos’ campus location will change weekly.

“Check our website, www.texstacos.com, or check us out on Facebook or Twitter (@texstacos),” Helms advised.

For Helms and Jones, Tex’s Tacos is not only about sharing their love of great Texas food, but also about meeting good people.

“What I like most about being at Auburn’s campus are the people,” Helms said. “Everyone here is so friendly and we just really enjoy the interactions with students. We have a good time.”


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