12 hours Ago By JUSTIN LEE [email protected]
The entire stadium erupted in celebration, and thousands started to pour out onto the field. Auburn beat Texas A&M . Fathers hugged sons.
Mothers cheered with daughters. Boyfriends helped their girlfriends over the barricade, and best friends sprinted onto the field together . Players jumped for joy.
Shakers were thrown in the air. The band picked up their brass and fired up the fight song. And he could see it all.
One man had the uniquely complete view of the entire stadium in jubilation. Crane operator Travis Edgar watched Auburn football games this season from some 220 feet high, including the Tigers’ four-overtime thriller with Texas A&M in Auburn’s last home game this season. “You get to see everything — everything about it,” Edgar said of his view from up high.
“You get to watch all the fans, watch everything going on, on the side of the field up in the stands, down on the field. It’s just incredible.” Edgar is based out of Birmingham and is working on the construction of the new videoboard in the north end zone of Jordan-Hare Stadium.
On gamedays he manned the crane in order to keep it locked and keep it from swiveling over the stadium or any of the fans — and in the meantime, he was able to look down over Auburn football games from a unique perspective in the sky. “I would say it has been amazing,” Edgar said. “I get some outstanding views with my job.
I get paid for some of the best views there are. And this has been one of the better jobs as far as that goes. Auburn has been fantastic.
The games have been wonderful. They have been just absolutely amazing to watch, especially that last one.” Crane operator Travis Edgar took this photo in the tower crane above the north end zone videoboard construction site during a recent Auburn football game.
The videoboard construction project broke ground in the summer and is expected to be completed in time for the 2025 football season. A crane operator watches from a crane behind the north end of Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn during a college football game between Auburn and Vanderbilt on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024.
For now, Edgar and the crews have been building the concrete frame base of the new videoboard, rising up on the outside of the stadium just on the other side of the north bleachers. The crane is used to position forms, move rebar and pour concrete among other tasks. The crane will also, eventually, help tear down the old north end zone scoreboard before the new videoboard goes up.
Usually, when a tower crane isn’t being operated, the crane is in “weather vane mode,” swiveling with the wind — which allows the crane to withstand high winds without toppling over. On gamedays, even though construction work paused, an operator was needed to lock the swing locks and keep the 199-foot jib from swinging over the stadium and the fans. That’s where Edgar came in.
Before the first game, he knew he had to go find himself an Auburn shirt. “I had a blast with it,” Edgar said. “It was great.
” Crane operator Travis Edgar took this photo in the tower crane above the north end zone videoboard construction site in recent weeks. Edgar has been in the crane industry for 12 years. He works with Maxim Crane Works, which is doing the project for Stone Building Company, the general contractors on the job.
Edgar said he’s seen some “gorgeous” sunrises and sunsets from up high in his career. He helped build the Orion Amphitheater in Huntsville. Earlier this year, his job gave him a top-down view of downtown Nashville, and he got to overlook a concert there.
But nothing’s been quite like this one. “I’ve done a bunch of projects but never been right on the side of a stadium like that, especially having to be up there for ballgames,” he said. “That was pretty incredible.
” He said the Auburn University Marching Band’s halftime show for the Texas A&M game featuring an LED light show was “awesome,” and he enjoyed the up-close view of the pregame flyovers. “I can see all the players decently. It’s kind of hard to keep track of where the ball is sometimes so I’m actually watching the other scoreboard a lot of the game to see what’s going on,” Edgar said.
“But as far as that goes, it’s just outstanding, to watch the band, watch the game, the guys, all the fans — it’s been incredible.” For his part, Edgar wore Auburn shirts on gamedays and, by the end, he went all out and wore a tiger onesie to the Texas A&M, sure to get a chuckle out of any fans looking up with their binoculars. “I thought it’d be a lot of fun to get the tiger onesie — and it turns out I was right,” he laughed.
“I had a blast with it.” Crane operator Travis Edgar took this photo in the tower crane above the north end zone videoboard construction site in recent weeks. The only timetable for the project published by the university has construction scheduled to be completed by summer 2025.
The university says the concrete frame is built for compatibility with future expansions to that north end zone area. The old scoreboard has yet to go down. After it’s down, the new videoboard will start to go up.
As for Edgar, he and his family travel for his work and he’s in Auburn for as long as the project needs the crane. But even after he’s done, Edgar figures he’ll remember this project — and those gamedays — for a long time. “I haven’t been the biggest fan of any particular team,” he said.
“I like football but I work so much that I’ve never really gotten into a specific team. So this has been pretty crazy for me.” But is he going to root for Auburn more often after this experience? “I do think I will,” he said.
“This has been a lot of fun.” Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sports Editor {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items..
