‘Everybody loves Jack’: Community gets behind raising funds for Lynx Fan Van

“Everybody loves Jack,” Stuart Peschel said.

The “Jack” that Peschel speaks of is the ultimate Brandon Valley Lynx fan, Jack Rice.

The incoming Brandon Valley High School freshman confirms his commitment to the Lynx.

“I’m the biggest Lynx fan – ever,” he proudly announces. 

And it’s his love for all things BV Lynx that has led the Brandon teen’s family to their recent acquisition of the Lynx Fan Van.

“He’s probably one of the biggest Brandon Valley supporters in the history of Lynx athletics, and we just thought it would be a great way for him to stay involved and show his level of school spirit, and we could help carry on the tradition and deliver it to the venues and let the kids roll when it’s there,” said Jack’s dad, Brian.

The Lynx Fan Van first surfaced in the 2016-17 school year when then-senior Christian Headrick led the charge to purchase the 1997 van from Apple Tree Daycare at a somewhat affordable $600. Headrick and a handful of his senior classmates replaced the van’s seats with a couch and painted the exterior in Brandon Valley’s signature red and black. They, too, set up a GoFundMe account to help cover maintenance and insurance costs, reaping about $1,000 from the online fund-raising venue.

Although legal to drive, the radio works, poorly, albeit, but nonetheless, produces noise. It also lacks a working heat source. In 2019, then BVHS senior Jacob Frantzen outfitted it with a box heater to keep his hands warm as he steered it down the road.

As for the gas mileage it gets, let’s just say the 7 to 8 miles to the gallon, certainly has room for improvement.

“My dad told me to say, ‘There’s rust on the inside and the outside,’ but it’s the personality that matters,’” Frantzen said in a May 2019 Brandon Valley Journal story.

Although tradition has been for Brandon Valley High’s outgoing senior class to sell it to the incoming senior class, Rice will be taking full charge of the van – and its appearances – for the next four years at tailgates, sporting and homecoming events, parades and the like.

That idea alone brings a huge smile to Jack’s face.

“Oh, my gosh, yes!” he proclaims.

“Basically, what we will do is we will be in charge of getting it to and from events,” Brian explained. “We’ll reach out to the senior class, and Jack is pretty connected; he knows kids from each class. Our involvement will be to take care of maintenance, storage, get it to the event and the kids will roll from there.”

Brian said they purchased the van from Steve Johnson, whose two children, Dawson and Danae, took charge the past several years of having the van on scene at Lynx-centric events.

“Steve asked me, ‘Do you want me to talk you out of this?’” Brian noted, who opted to waive “the talk” and is willing to give the van the needed maintenance, like an oil change and transmission flush.

“Let’s put it this way, the van has been neglected a little bit. It was due for an oil change in 2016, so that was one of the first things,” Brian said.

The Rice family has Peschel to thank for setting up a GoFundMe account all for the purpose of helping with maintenance, insurance and storage costs. Peschel set a goal of $4,000 and as of last week, nearly $2,000 had been pledged from 36 donors. 

“Everybody knows Jack and everybody loves Jack,” Peschel said. “And nobody’s a bigger Lynx fan than Jack.”

And Peschel well knows Jack’s passion for Lynx sports. As the president of the Brandon Valley Baseball Association, the group selected Jack as the honorary tournament director of the 2021 State American Legion Baseball Tournament. The honor literally took Jack’s breath away as he delivered the game ball courtesy of the Sanford Health helicopter, who delivered him right smack in the middle of the outfield of First National Bank Stadium.  

“Scary. Intimidating. Really fun,” he said moments after putting his feet on the ground. “My heart’s still pumping! Wow!”

“This is really a community project,” said Peschel, noting how BV fans – without question – support these kinds of endeavors.

The link to the Lynx Van Fan GoFundMe account is https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-jack-rice-purchase-and-store-the-bv-fan-....

With the van now in their possession, Brian said they are on the hunt for a space to store it when it’s not in use.

“We have some feelers out there where it potentially could be stored, and if there are any other possibilities that we haven’t thought about, that would be amazing,” he said. 

Former BVHS principal Dr. Gregg Talcott’s oldest son, Jack, was one of the senior boys who pitched in to help Headrick with initial renovations of the van six years ago. By default, Dr. Talcott invested a few dollars himself – “probably more than Kami (his wife) realizes that I have in it” – to make it road worthy, he said in a May 2017 Journal story. He backed the idea because of what he believed it brought to BVHS, providing “a great example of the culture and climate of this place,” he said.

Although Jack Rice ranks basketball as his favorite of all of the BV Lynx sports programs, he’s typically on the sidelines or in the stands no matter the season. He also serves as a manager for BV boys’ basketball and the Lynx track and field teams.

“There’s not very many sports that he hasn’t supported,” Brian said. ““He’s even at dance and cheer competitions.”

Perhaps that has something to do with all of the pretty girls involved.

With a boyish hand-to-the-forehead, Jack is quick to respond, “Ugh.”

And that’s just one of the many reason that “everybody loves Jack.”