Virginia Tech alum kicks off first game of season by tailgating

BLACKSBURG, Va. (WDBJ) - Virginia Tech alumni and football fans filled the parking lots for the first game of the season Saturday.

“We graduated from Virginia Tech many, many years ago and we have our son who just graduated last year, so this year we decided to get some season tickets,” says VT alum Glenda Fralin.

Although the day is full of football, some fans are celebrating what tailgating means to them.

“This is a very special day for me,” says VT alum Kris Debernard. “This was my dad’s rig that he used to bring it up for every single game.”

Debernard’s dad passed away two years ago.

“So, this is a tribute to my dad,” says Debernard. “This is all for him.”

His dad came to every game for 15 to 20 years.

“We’ve done a few legacies in his name. This is kind of the last one I wanted to do for him.”

His family set up their private section eight hours before kickoff. He says his dad would’ve been out there while the sun was still coming up.

“I mean you can’t beat it, the energy, the crowd’s going to be insane, the camaraderie, I mean there’s no better place to be than in Blacksburg for a night game,” added Debernard.

Christina Daves’ family is full of alumni. She calls her spot the best tailgate ever with a trailer hooked onto another trailer.

“We are VT’s best tailgate. This is the place where everybody comes to see all their friends. We’ve become the spot that as they walk in the stadium like this is the place to be.” says Daves.

She says this is the perfect place to connect with people who share the same love of football.

“A lot of people only come to one game, We’re of course at every game. So, they know that if they are only coming to one they can come here and see everybody,” stated Daves.

Daves’ setup has TVs all around and people come to watch games all day.

“We started out, there were three of us in lot seven and then we moved and then we grew. Friends were like ‘Hey, we want to be a part of this’ and we now have ten spots.” added Daves.

Click here to check out Virginia Tech’s football game schedule.