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American Morning

Alma Mater Forever

Aired September 04, 2002 - 08:55   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: They say you can't take it with you, but for die hard college sports fans, you can show your support even when you're not here anymore.
Bruce Burkhardt explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE BURKHARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Forget about roses, the sign says, you will be pushing up daisies. College football fans, they live and die with their team. Well, not literally. Or do they?

SCOTT WALLSTON, COLLEGIATE MEMORIALS: Let me show our solid mohagany University of Alabama casket, which has been very popular with our offering.

BURKHARDT: About four years ago, Scott Wallston had an idea.

WALLSTON: The catch phrase for our industry, if I can use that term, is personalization.

BURKHARDT: A casket wholesaler, Scott shifted gears and created a line of funeral products that allow customers to wear their college colors six feet under or maybe on the mantle.

WALLSTON: This is one of our newest urns. We have them in Singapore. We have the Duke insignia.

BURKHARDT: It's kind of like vanity plates for the departed. All of those people who paint their faces can now have their casket painted, the perfect way for the Me Generation to check out, with a statement.

WALLSTON: Baby Boomers, as a whole, are looking for ways to identify themselves, even in death.

BURKHARDT: This is where Scott starts to nail down that identity, his warehouse in Macon, Georgia. Scott does not actually make the caskets. He has them delivered here to his warehouse, just empty shells bland, boring, statementless boxes. But that's before Scott, cunning, country-fied, crafty, collegiate, casket customizer comes in. I think this is Tennessee.

(on camera): So this is what goes inside the door of the casket, inside the embroider?

WALLSTON: That's right.

BURKHARDT: So you are running low on Nebraska?

WALLSTON: Running low on Nebraska.

BURKHARDT (voice-over): Nebraska, Scott's biggest seller, partly because that is where he concentrated his initial marketing efforts. Scott knows his market.

WALLSTON: Eight percent of all Nebraskans on a Saturday afternoon are listening to or watching Nebraska football.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have sold a few Georgia Tech ones. We've sold an Auburn one.

BURKHARDT: At Hart's (ph) Mortuary in Macon, Milton Herd (ph) keeps up with all the latest trends, not just collegiate caskets, but other ways to announce to the living who you were, golfer, gardener, or lighthouse lover.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is Bill.

BURKHARDT: Tom's brother Bill passed away a few months ago at the age of 91. He was a rambling wreck from Georgia Tech and a hell of an engineer for the state highway department for many years. A Georgia Tech casket was chosen not by him or brother Tom, but by Tom's children, Baby Boomers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He would love that. He would be proud.

BURKHARDT: Probably would be proud. But with so many funeral rituals, it's more for the living than the dead.

Bruce Burkhardt, CNN, Macon, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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