Harvey Updyke, Alabama football fanatic who poisoned Auburn University’s signature oak trees, has died
The Alabama man who pleaded guilty to poisoning Auburn University’s signature oak trees in 2010, died this week.
Harvey Updyke died of natural causes Thursday, his son Bear Updyke told AL.com that day. He was 71 and had been living in Louisiana.
In 2011, the elder Updyke, a die-hard ‘Bama football fan, became well-known in Alabama sports circles after he called into Paul Finebaum’s radio show alleging he’d poisoned the Toomer’s Corner trees at the university in Auburn — about 55 miles northwest of Montgomery — after the Tigers won the Iron Bowl in November 2010.
“The weekend after the Iron Bowl, I went to Auburn because I lived 30 miles away,” he said at the time. “I poisoned the two Toomer’s trees. I put Spike 80DF in ‘em. They’re not dead yet, but they definitely will die.”
In 2013, the former Texas state trooper pleaded guilty to a felony charge of criminal damage of an agricultural facility.
He spent more than 70 days behind bars and by October 2019 had only paid about $6,900 of the $800,000 he was ordered to pay in restitution and court-ordered penalties.
In April 2013, the university cut down the trees, which had stood tall since 1937.
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