SALEM (WSLS 10) -- Clark Ruhland has been going to Virginia Tech games for decades.
"I've been going to Tech for over 20 years. Who knows maybe the reason I went to Virginia Tech is because Frank Beamer was there and I love Virginia Tech that much."
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The Virginia Tech graduate and communications specialist for the City of Salem is also a graphic designer who says he was thrilled when friends in the athletic department asked him to come up with a tribute the Virginia Tech football team could wear on its uniforms for Coach Frank Beamer's last home game Saturday.
"I started mowing around with some ideas in my head great you know what would be great to do."
He relied on mem
orable moments and images from Beamer's career to come up with a throwback to the Boston College game in 1999.
"When he got up on the stand and raised his fist in the air and said, 'You know I want to see everybody in New Orleans,' I remember that game very vividly. I was there. So I was like this is the perfect design for this patch. Especially with that fist in the air."
It was the peak of Virginia Tech football when the team beat BC, clinching its trip to the national championship. That moment is now re-created on a decal players will wear on their helmets Saturday and as a patch on their uniforms.
"It's pretty cool to be able to design the patch that the team is going to wear. They've got the special black uniforms they're wearing the weekend and should really stand out on the shoulder."
The image highlights Beamer's titles, four stars on the left representing the ACC titles under his leaderships and three stars on the right representing the Big East.
"To me it's like giving back a little bit of what he's given to this community."
Commemorative t-shirts displaying the same image are available for fans as well as a way to honor the legacy coach Beamer established during his 29 years.