A Fish-Stomping Spree

Keith Ward, Patrick Crandall, Colin Camacho, Josh Gates, and Drew Roberts were sitting around discussing the upcoming marathon they planned to run as a relay. They needed a team name. Samford would be part of it. And they were also sort of old, out-of-shape, cigar-smoking types. Samford Stogies it was. And while they were at it, why not run while smoking cigars?

He created a Website for the Stogies, and a couple of months later he heard from Dylan Austin, marketing assistant for Camacho Cigars in Miami. "Do you have a sponsor?" Austin asked.

"Of course we don't have a sponsor," Roberts said.

Well, they did now. Since then, Camacho has provided jerseys and cigars for the Stogies, who have done pretty well, despite the fact that running with a cigar can quickly dry your mouth out. In the 2007 Mercedes Marathon in Birmingham, in which six Stogie relay teams competed, the women's team finished first in its division.

The Stogies are hoping to expand their operation, and they're looking to eventually run a marathon down here near their Miami sponsor.

Until then, a Samford Stogie named Jeremy Harper has moved on to other high jinks, broadcasting himself online counting out loud to a million. The effort is expected to take three months.

Harper has no sponsor to date. — Ashley Harrell