Harvey Updyke, the man who became famous in 2011 after calling into The Paul Finebaum Show to state that he had poisoned the two oak trees at Toomer’s Corner, has died at the age of 71, per Mike Rodak of AL.com.
From the report:
His son Bear Updyke told AL.com that his father died Thursday afternoon of natural causes in Louisiana, where he had been living. He was 71.
Harvey Updyke became a household name among Alabama sports fans in 2011 when he called into the Paul Finebaum radio show claiming to have poisoned Auburn’s iconic trees after the Tigers’ win in the Iron Bowl the previous November.
“Let me tell you what I did,” Updyke told Finebaum on live radio. “The weekend after the Iron Bowl, I went to Auburn because I lived 30 miles away, and I poisoned the two Toomer’s trees. I put Spike 80DF in ‘em. They’re not dead yet, but they definitely will die.”
Updyke, a former Texas state trooper, was ordered to pay $800,000 in court-ordered penalties and restitution, but had only paid about $6,900 by last October.