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For decades, as a business owner in the Atlanta area, Ole Miss alumnus Tad Provence (BBA 67) has crossed paths with Georgia Tech\u2019s \u201cRamblin\u2019 Wreck.\u201d The old Ford Model A, named after the school\u2019s fight song, is a rolling gold and white symbol of Georgia Tech athletics.<\/p>\n
Provence has witnessed how the crowds are stirred by the appearance of the car grumbling onto the gridiron, flanked by cheerleaders. The school\u2019s football team streams onto the field behind it.<\/p>\n
Make no mistake \u2014 Provence still bleeds Rebel red and blue. But he couldn\u2019t help but feel the rumble of Georgia Tech\u2019s jalopy during his 42 years in Atlanta. Evidence of the car is everywhere \u2014 even on the cover of the Atlanta phone book. At one point, the car\u2019s driver lived across the street from him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got so many friends who are Georgia Tech fans,\u201d Provence says. \u201cThrough the years I\u2019ve been to a lot of ball games, and as a fan, seeing that thing come onto the field, it\u2019s a great, exciting thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then, something happened that for Provence, was Providence. Expanding his carpeting and flooring business in the late 1990s, he bought an 800-square-foot metal building previously owned by a car buff.<\/p>\n
Inside were the scattered, disassembled pieces of a 1930 Ford Model A Sport Coupe.<\/p>\n
Provence says he knew exactly what he wanted to do with his find.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I bought the property, the pieces to this Model A were strewn all over that building, so I piled them in a corner and said, \u2018One of these days, I\u2019m going to do something with them,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cDeep down inside, I had already decided that I really wanted to copy the idea that Georgia Tech had with their Ramblin\u2019 Wreck. I decided I would build the car for that purpose and then kinda hang out and wait for my time to bring it to Ole Miss.\u201d<\/p>\n
Realizing a dream<\/strong><\/p>\n Provence is one of a steady stream of family members to attend Ole Miss. He reckons he\u2019s related to 21 Ole Miss alumni. Paving the way were his older brothers, with him following close behind. After them have come more generations of Ole Miss students.<\/p>\n \u201cNow we\u2019ve got nieces, nephews, grandchildren, who are Ole Miss alumni,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd we\u2019ve got more on the way.\u201d<\/p>\n After graduation in 1967, Provence, a New Albany native, worked in Memphis for a few years for the Frigidaire division of General Motors. He followed the company to its regional office in Atlanta. After a few years, he found himself marrying into a flooring business. After divorcing out of it, he started his own successful flooring company, and later bought his ex-father-in-law\u2019s business.<\/p>\n Through the years, he has stayed connected to Ole Miss through family in New Albany, visits to campus, and active involvement in the Atlanta-area Ole Miss Club.<\/p>\n Now, retirement is beckoning for Provence. He is still connected to his company \u2014 \u201cI moved from my big office to a small office,\u201d he says, and has turned day-to-day operations over to his nephew, a Georgia Tech grad.<\/p>\n (There\u2019s that Ramblin\u2019 Wreck connection again.)<\/p>\n About six years ago, Provence got serious about his Model A. He began researching the car model on websites. He picked the brain of his old neighbor, the Ramblin\u2019 Wreck driver. He found a top-notch car restorer in the Atlanta area.<\/p>\n But, first things first. How would he justify the expense to his wife, his company\u2019s chief financial officer and not much of a football fan?<\/p>\n \u201cWith my wife, who is the CFO of the company, I thought the best idea was, we\u2019ve got an 80-year-old company, we ought to have an 80-year-old car.\u201d But he had visions of red and blue.<\/p>\n The painstaking restoration began in 2005, and lasted more than two years. \u201cI found a guy here in Georgia who is a fine restorer and rebuilt the car, built it from the ground up, piece by piece,\u201d Provence says. \u201cThe car has been rebuilt to the original specifications except for the red and blue color. It\u2019s basically like a brand new car now.\u201d<\/p>\n Provence made his dream a reality. The time had come for him to share it with the Ole Miss faithful.<\/p>\n \u2018Just started showing up\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Provence first brought his car to campus in 2008. \u201cI just kind of started showing up, parking the car wherever I could,\u201d he says. \u201cNobody really bothered me, even though I was parked illegally, by the Grove, showing the car.\u201d<\/p>\n He returned in 2009, and discovered that even an Ole Miss-themed Model A can\u2019t drive around campus parking rules forever. Police relegated him to whatever parking space he could find around the Loop, early on Friday, just like any other car.<\/p>\n Last season, Provence found Providence again, in the form of Alumni Association Executive Director Tim Walsh, who gave the Model A a prominent spot at the Triplett Alumni Center, at the corner of Grove Loop and Alumni Drive, next to the throngs of Grove tailgaters.<\/p>\n Provence has been blown away by the response to his car, which is a magnet for Rebel fans and opponents alike. Countless people have stopped to snap pictures and reminisce about the good old days.<\/p>\n \u201cAnybody can take a picture with the car, whether they\u2019re Ole Miss fans or the opponents\u2019 fans,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing to watch our opponents respond to the car and get their picture made with it.\u201d<\/p>\n While anyone can take a picture next to the car, Provence says there are a few perks, for some: Anyone over 65 can have a picture sitting inside it, and anyone 5 or younger can jump into the car\u2019s rumble seat. \u201cWe give the very young and the old ones a little special treatment,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is really neat to see the old-timers who actually drove Model As enjoy the car, and think back to those times,\u201d Provence says. \u201cYoung kids who have never really seen an antique really do enjoy it too.\u201d<\/p>\n Don\u2019t tell his CFO, but Provence says he has more than $50,000 invested in the Model A \u2014 a car, by the way, which retailed for around $1,000 in 1930. \u201cShe likes the car now, that\u2019s the main thing,\u201d he says. \u201cShe knows how much I\u2019m enjoying it. She wouldn\u2019t deny me the opportunity to have fun with it.\u201d<\/p>\n The car makes appearances at club meetings and other Alumni Association events, in addition to being parked at the Alumni Center for every home football game.<\/p>\n Provence hasn\u2019t realized his ultimate dream: His Model A leading the Ole Miss Rebels into Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, cheerleaders hanging onto the running boards, Ole Miss\u2019 new mascot in the rumble seat. But he says he has been talking to Athletics Department officials, and still hopes to contribute the car in a more official way.<\/p>\n In the meantime, it remains a conversation piece at the Grove. And, Provence is content with the fact that countless fans have already taken notice of his Ole Miss Model A.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it gets fans fired up, then I\u2019m fired up,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s a toy that I\u2019m just glad to let everyone else enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"