Coach Dye in the foreground with Bear Bryant, taken way back when. Lucky for me, he did not have his shotgun handy on the day of our video shoot.Former Auburn University football coach Pat Dye runs a beautifully landscaped Japanese maple tree nursery on his 1,500-acre property near Auburn University.
When I learned of the business, I thought the timing was perfect for a video interview with “Coach” and visuals of his more than 6,000 trees in springtime.
This time, he was almost clobbered by a set light blown over by the wind.
The nursery manager happily agreed to the visit, and I was soon traipsing to eastern Alabama with my brand new video camera.
Only problem was this would be my first-ever professional video shoot. The action played out as you might expect.
After shooting the sit down interview with Coach, who then left to attend a funeral, I discovered there was no audio recorded on the camera.
Moment of panic and guilt ensued. But after recovering from the embarrassment, I arranged another session with Coach for the following week.
This time, he was almost clobbered by a set light blown over by the wind. Soon thereafter, I stepped on the paw of his hunting dog, which let out a bone-jarring yelp.
Coach was not pleased.
Somehow, we managed a decent video and a great learning experience.
But you can be the judge of that: Coach Pat Dye Talks Trees
