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CUSTOMIZED LICENSE COLLEGE THEME CASKETS HAVE BEEN AROUND SINCE 2002 OR SOONER.

"Ga.-based company sold about 250 of the spirited coffins last year (2002), recognizes that college-themed caskets are unusual, but said he makes sure to "market the product in a tasteful way."


THEMS LIKE ETERNAL IMAGE NEEDS TO HIRE Scott Walston, president of Collegiate Memorials.

HE SEEMS TO KNOW HOW TO MARKET THESE COLLEGE THEME CASKETS.


Taking School Spirit to the Grave
Wednesday, January 15, 2003

By Jodi Noffsinger



NEW YORK — If you thought school spirit meant just plastering your college bumper sticker on your car, think again.

These days, devoted alumni and fans of their college team can show their undying school spirit — in a college-themed casket.

"I don't think any of us can deny the experience education has played in our lives," said Scott Walston, president of Collegiate Memorials, which sells the caskets for 46 schools throughout the country. "When families choose the casket, they're setting the stage to conjure up memories to celebrate who the person was."

John Shannon, who sells University of Kentucky caskets at Shannon Funeral Service in Shelbyville, Ky., attributes their popularity to a recent movement to personalize people's final resting place.

"Sometimes caskets will also include the person's hobbies to show this is what Mom or Dad was about," he said, adding that personalization brings a unique response from mourners.

"People will walk into the funeral home and they'll chuckle," Shannon said of his experience with a Kentucky casket. "It's funny for people to see, but it makes sense because in one case, the family said the deceased had a whole room of the house dedicated to the University of Kentucky."

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Collegiate Memorials doesn't sell directly to customers, but through local funeral homes in areas where there is a demand. Walston depends on funeral directors to promote the caskets because "they know the families and their communities best." The company also makes urns, registry books and monuments with schools' insignias.

The caskets, which cost from $3,250 to $4,900, are created in the school's colors with its insignia embroidered in the lining. (Regular caskets of similar styles cost from $300 to $400 less than collegiate caskets.) Colleges collect royalty fees of 8.5 percent to 10 percent per coffin in addition to annual licensing fees.

The University of Nebraska-themed casket was the top seller in 2001 with 50 sold, according to Walston. But, he added, "We have a lot of interest from other schools like Alabama, Kentucky, Auburn, Oklahoma, and the University of North Carolina."

Walston speculated that the Nebraska casket was a top seller because of increased media attention his company has had in the state. But Doug Allen, a funeral director at Fusselman Wimore Funeral Homes in southeast Nebraska, said the school's fans were finding their own ways to personalize their funerals even before Collegiate Memorials came along.

"We took the regular caskets down to the local auto body shop and had them painted victory red," he said, describing his version of the casket made for "Big N" devotees. "We'd also include a logo from the university inside the casket."

But these days, Allen orders the professional-looking coffins from Collegiate Memorials rather than resort to his homemade versions.

This year, Walston plans to increase the number of schools he represents to more than 200. While the caskets are popular in the South and Midwest, he hopes to expand to Ivy League schools in the Northeast.

"Basically we'll license to any school that has alumni interest in the caskets," he said.

Pat Walker, operations manager of Duke University Stores, said requests for caskets increased since Duke alumni heard about other North Carolina universities having them.

"It's definitely different than a T-shirt," she added.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,75528,00.html

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Where in the World are these caskets?
March 7, 2003

Take some weatherstripping, an interior, and some handles, and you actually have a way to take go from the game to the graveyard. These are casket, not car, parts. It seems now you can take the thrill of the game and the glory days of college to the grave.

"What better way to celebrate the times than the ones that were for most the year in college," says Scott Walston.

All the big schools are here, but you might be surprised to learn that the highest sales are not going to members of the football team.

"The fan base is big if not bigger than the graduate base."

Woman also make up a large portion of the sales to people who want to make a final statement of who they are, and pay homage to an institution that enriched their lives. Scott is not in a big hurry to do that just yet.

"No but a true businessman believes in his own product so I will be in one."

So what school has the ultimate fans? That is why we are here. Is it Kentucky, Iowa, Notre Dame? It seems Husker mania can be found in a grave yard near you. "Our number one seller is Nebraska. We sent probably 50 caskets up there in a year."

And it seems Scott has dug up an idea that will allow him to bury lots of cash. He now has caskets for 52 schools in 16 states. That means 400 casket sales a year. It seems great ideas keep surfacing at Collegiate Memorials in Macon.

Casket sticker shock is about the same as regular caskets prices-- $3200 to $4900 depending on wood or steel. And if you recognized some of those colors, that's because the paint is actually auto paint from current makes and models.

Collegiate Memorials is near Eisenhower Parkway off Interstate 475 in Macon.







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