The tailgating vision of two University of Memphis students has finally come to life.
Ethan Edwards, a junior economics and geology major, and Greg Donahue, a junior history major, debuted their Tiger party bus at the football game against Ole Miss. Edwards and his friend and fellow U of M student, Jonathan Frazer, drove to Kankakee, Ill., and bought the bus from Midwest Transit Equipment.
"It took 10 hours to drive back from Memphis," Edwards said. "I got passed by everyone on the highway."
Edwards, who has been described as "the mastermind" by Frazer, paid $2,000 for the bus, which is a 1991 Bluebird that can hold 71 passengers.
"We had been talking about getting a bus since high school," Donahue said. "And we like to tailgate."
Edwards and Donahue attended St. Benedict High School together. Now they work at FedEx together while they finish their respective degrees.
"We needed a bigger and better way to tailgate," Edwards said.
The duo, with a little help from their friends, worked for " two and a half months for four to five hours a day," according to Donahue, to change the yellow school bus into the blue and gray tailgating flagship it is today.
The new features of the bus include hardwood flooring, provided by Tim Hogan's, a CO2 system for the kegs, a Jägermeister machine and sound system.
The interior also boasts shelves and leather couches that were constructed, stuffed and upholstered by Edwards and Donahue.
"Some ideas worked and some didn't," Edwards said. "We still have some things that we want to do to it, but they'll probably happen after football season."
The back third of the roof has been cut off and converted into a porch. The "MKU3000," as it is has been dubbed by Edwards and crew, will be residing in its usual space under a large tree just off of the corner of Central at Tobey Field this weekend for the game.
"No one else has anything like it." Frazer said. "It's what everybody wants."
It had been parked at Frazer's house, when it's not in action, until the neighbors complained, and Frasier was threatened with a fine from the city.
The bus has since been moved to a new location.
Edwards plans on taking the bus to basketball games and concerts. The only road game that they plan on attending this season is UT Knoxville in November.
"It gets a lot of honks," Frazer said, who has been a regular attendee at the bus. "It brings people out who wouldn't have come out otherwise to see the games."
The MKU3000 promises to become a "staple" of U of M sporting events tail gating, according to Edwards.
"It was a little too rowdy," Donahue said about the pregame celebration before Ole Miss, but he feels that it has been "fantastic" experience overall.
