ST. LOUIS – A thought entered Chris Kirn's mind as he drove east toward Hannibal, Mo. Why not congratulate blue-chip wide receiver and hometown star Dorial Green-Beckham on his college choice?
Kirn, vice president and general manager for Lamar Advertising of Springfield, Mo., was traveling toward his company's office in the northeast corner of the state Wednesday morning when he tuned into a sports-radio station. He heard Green-Beckham, considered by many to be the nation's top prospect, had slipped on a black Missouri cap at Hillcrest High School and announced he intended to play for the Tigers next season. Green-Beckham chose Missouri over schools including Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
Kirn picked up his cell phone and dialed Angela Shadel, the art director at Lamar's office in Springfield. His company had two open digital billboards in the Springfield area — one at the corner of Route 65 and Chestnut Expressway and the other at the intersection of Glenstone Avenue and Independence Street — and he thought it would be appropriate to create signs congratulating the player known throughout the country as "DGB."
About 15 minutes later, Shadel completed a design that included a message that read, "CONGRATS! MIZ-DGB" with black-and-gold tiger stripes in the background. Digital billboards are networked to Lamar's office, so the uploading process for the open locations took about 10 minutes. By noon Wednesday, they were filled.
"I think everybody in our office was hoping he was going to choose Missouri," said Kirn, who held his position in Springfield since October 2010 before being transferred to Lamar's Hannibal office Wednesday. "Once the announcement was made, our art staff threw together the billboard real quick, and we took it live.
"We thought this would be something nice to do — congratulate Mizzou, congratulate him as well. And so we just put it together. There was no money (involved). Nobody rented it. No money exchanged hands. It was just nothing more than Lamar Advertising of Springfield saying, ‘Hey man, congratulations.'"
Kirn said Lamar expects to keep the design live for the next few days before changing it by early next week. Open billboards are usually reserved for messages related to Crime Stoppers, AMBER Alerts and local service organizations, he said.
Green-Beckham's choice ended an extensive courtship that included an official visit to Missouri last weekend. The 6-foot-6, 220-pound athlete has drawn comparisons to current NFL players A.J. Green and Julio Jones. He set the national record for career high school receiving yards with 6,353. And Wednesday, he cited the desire to remain in-state as the reason for choosing Coach Gary Pinkel's program.
"Everyone is just so excited and felt it was right that he stayed in Missouri and showed his support that way," said Shadel, who has held her role at Lamar's Springfield office for 5 ½ years. "I think the excitement is definitely on the street and in the air, for sure."
That excitement was displayed on two billboards Wednesday in Green-Beckham's hometown. The message is sure to become a fixture on fall Saturdays in Columbia to come.
