No longer looking rusty, the interior campus's water tank now sports a spiffy new paint job. (Cheng Saechao/UC Davis photo)
New sightline, paint job for beloved campus landmark
Up to 11,000 people will be watching when the Aggie football team opens play in UC Davis' new multiuse stadium on Sept. 1.
And, while spectators will be looking down on the sunken field most of the time, you can expect them to look up every now and then, occasionally taking in that old, rusted water tower next to the dairy barn across La Rue Road.
Wait! That old tank has new paint — just in time for the first football season in Aggie Stadium.
The tower is not only has a new paint job (complete with the UC Davis logo) but a name (unofficial at this point): Touchdown Tower.
"It seems to be a good fit," said Scott Brayton, assistant athletic director for marketing.
The tower's location
Of course, it is a good fit, considering the tower's location. People sitting on the stadium's west side will have a perfect view of the tower. Ditto for the TV crews on the west side.
"We think a lot of the TV cameras will be interested in the tower," Brayton said.
And, in the absence of the Goodyear blimp, maybe a television crew will decide to put a camera on the tower.
"We've been affectionately calling it Touchdown Tower since we started leading tours of the new stadium over a year ago," Brayton said.
Workers from Jeffco Painting & Coating Inc. of Vallejo prepare Utility Tower No. 1 for painting. The seats in the foreground are on the east side of the new stadium. (Karin Higgins/UC Davis)
'Nice ring' to unofficial moniker
‘We've been affectionately calling it Touchdown Tower since we started leading tours of the new stadium over a year ago.’
Scott Brayton, UC Davis assistant athletic director for marketing
Touchdown Tower has "a nice ring to it," Brayton said. "There's a lot of interest in it."
And a lot of potential, he added. Other schools have their own touchdown traditions - UC Berkeley, for example, fires the California Victory Cannon after every Cal score.
The Aggies might want to consider putting a water cannon atop the tower, and firing a blast into the air after every touchdown, Brayton said.
The 150-foot-tall tower, officially known as Utility Tower No. 1, has no lighting now, other than a red navigational beacon at the top.
But, if lighting were to be added, the university could light up the tower after every Aggie victory, Brayton suggested.
South-entry tower lights up
The campus’s signature water tower, at the south entry, visible from Interstate 80, is lit up nightly. That 150-foot-tall tower, Domestic Water Tower No. 1, under went a face lift in 2000.
Utility Tower No. 1, the one visible from the new stadium, had long been scheduled for a paint job of its own. And campus officials made sure to get it done before the stadium’s opening.
“Let’s face it, that’s something that’s an eyesore right now,” Tom Emme, director of project management for Facilities: Operations & Maintenance, said July 24 as the paint job was just getting under way.
He said the university negotiated a contract of nearly $90,000 for the paint job, logo, and safety repairs to the tower railings and walkways.